ORIGINAL: jecole360
Ok I have a question. As you all probably know by now. I don't know hardly anything about handguns. I have several rifles and shotguns but I have never owned much less shot a handgun. I keep hearing people talk about +p and +p+ ammo and whatnot and I have no idea what that means. I think I need one of those handguns for dummies books or something!
There are standards for chamber pressure for every caliber. Ammo thatis +P ratedproduces a chamber pressure above the normal approved pressurebut no higher than themax approved pressure for +P. Ammo that is +P+ rated produces a chamber pressure that is above the approved max for+P ammo but not higher than the approved max for +P+. The higherchamber pressure ammo will give you more velocity which will give you more energy at the muzzle. It will also give you more muzzle blast, muzzle flash and recoil. I recommend AGAINST shooting +P and/or +P+ ammo unless your gun is approved by the manufacturer for this ammo. Ammo that is +P and +P+ will also be harder on your gun.
Many self defense trainers recommend a muzzle energy of at least 400 ft/lbs at the muzzle for a self defense handgun (the rules change for .44 and larger bullets due to the bullet diameter and weight). For a 9MM to producemore than400 ft/lbs at the muzzle, it pretty much has to be a +P load. The Black Hills 9mm +P produces about 430 ft/lbs at the muzzle from a 4" gun in the 115 gr and 124 gr bullets.