More handgun ?'s – Best Personal Defense load / Ported barrel

I have a few more ?’s for all you handgun owners. What rounds are you all using for your personal defense choice ( 9MM if it matters ). I went to the range and shot a few different handguns last night. The gun I liked the best was a M&P Shield 2.0 in the compact size. The one I shot had a ported barrel. The one I am looking to purchase is the same model with the non ported barrel. Not sure how much of a difference a ported barrel makes in a 9MM. I could have them order one with the ported barrel but the cost is about 75.00 higher than the sale price they have on the non ported one. Do you think it is worth the extra wait and $ for the ported barrel? I think I shot decent for my 1st time shooting a handgun in over 25 years – All shots were from a distance of 5-20 Yards

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Ported barrels do make a decent difference in felt recoil. BUT. The extra flash you get in return is no-bueno for self defense. You will be instantly blinded if you have to fire a ported handgun in the dark.

Federal HST and Corbon Pow’R Ball gets my vote for best HP ammo in 9mm.

Oh boy this one is quite the question. Its more of a whole ford vs chevy deal. Personally I carry the critical defense loads. They are optimized for a 3 inch barrel and They are good for winter and summer (yes winter vs summer people carry different rounds ) Whatever you buy, don’t be that guy that carries FMJs

Use the load that shoots best from YOUR actual gun when you receive it. Nobody else can pick a load for you.

This question comes up with all forms of shooting. Ignore all the hype and urban legend that uses words like “stopping power” or “knockdown power”. Pick the load that shoots best from your gun. There is so much good ammo out there that I think people are suspicious that some of it just HAS to be really bad and they don’t want to make the “wrong” choice. The reality is if it shoots well and every round goes bang, what more do you want?

Forget the porting. In addition to muzzle flash, there’s simply no need for it on a 9 MM. I’ve noticed that suddenly there is a fad where everyone wants to port every handgun like they are some kind of steel target comp pro or something.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Use the load that shoots best from YOUR actual gun when you receive it. Nobody else can pick a load for you.

This question comes up with all forms of shooting. Ignore all the hype and urban legend that uses words like “stopping power” or “knockdown power”. Pick the load that shoots best from your gun. There is so much good ammo out there that I think people are suspicious that some of it just HAS to be really bad and they don’t want to make the “wrong” choice. The reality is if it shoots well and every round goes bang, what more do you want?

Forget the porting. In addition to muzzle flash, there’s simply no need for it on a 9 MM. I’ve noticed that suddenly there is a fad where everyone wants to port every handgun like they are some kind of steel target comp pro or something.

Grouse

Grouse – Do you use the same Ammo for target practice as for personal defense? I would think that some of the better personal defense ammo would be rather expensive to shoot for lots of target and practice rounds. I would think some of the lower cost rounds that most use for practice are not the best choice for actual defense purpose. I may be totally wrong on this – I just assumed that most used different ammo for different purposes.

I use the least expensive round I can find for target shooting. I do slowly use up the PD rounds as they start wearing in the barrel/mag.

fishthumper wrote:

Grouse – Do you use the same Ammo for target practice as for personal defense? I would think that some of the better personal defense ammo would be rather expensive to shoot for lots of target and practice rounds. I would think some of the lower cost rounds that most use for practice are not the best choice for actual defense purpose. I may be totally wrong on this – I just assumed that most used different ammo for different purposes.

Of course, you’re correct in that cost matters.

My point was to pick the personal defense loads that shoot the best from your gun and make sure those are the rounds that are in the gun if you should ever need it. IMO it would be foolish to NOT to practice with at least a few boxes of your chosen personal defense round to verify function in your gun and POI. Again, I understand the cost issue, but the point is that all rounds don’t shoot the same or to the same POI potentially. There is also the off chance that your gun could have issues cycling a certain load. Rare, but not unheard of.

Where you go from there in terms of choosing a different cheaper practice round is up to you, but I would not mess with the sights between practice and “real deal” ammo brands.

Since I handload, I basically arrive at “the round” pretty early in a new gun’s life and once I have a load that I like, I run it. But because I handload, I have a tremendous cost advantage and I can make “premium” ammo loads for less than the cost of generic plinking rounds, so there is no reason to switch back and forth.

Grouse