EDC With FMJ ammo?

[In God We Trust]

Just curious what the consensus is on carrying with FMJ (ball, whatever) instead of fancy self defense rounds.

ammo is in short supply, but I have a good stash of range ammo. I guess over penetration can be a concern, but FMJ will do the job in a pinch I figure.

Does anyone prefer to carry FMJ?

 

[Nick Leduc]

I do in certain guns that I have better results with. I'd rather have a hit with FMJ than no hit with self defense rounds.

 

[ProGun]

I do in my Ruger LCP (pocket summer carry only). That gun has been fussy with SD ammo, but always 100% reliable with FMJ.

 

[Mudflap621]

The biggest downside in my opinion is where is that round gonna go after passing through the bad guy. Obviously it’s better than no ammo but I prefer a round meant to expand and put energy into what I’m shooting at.

 

[FalArAk]

Just squeeze off a few extra rounds to be sure.

 

[AHM]

I do in my Ruger LCP (pocket summer carry only). That gun has been fussy with SD ammo, but always 100% reliable with FMJ.

If you ask around, someone can show you how to bend the magazine lips
and polish the feed ramp -
so that it's fussy with 100% of ammo.

 

[Mtn_Guy]

If I’m carrying a 3rd or 4th magazine in a backpack/bag because I’m cheap and don’t stockpile SD ammo, I’ll load up the extra magazines with ball ammo. I don’t ever plan to be in a gunfight needing 4 magazines. The spare mag I carry on me is in the unlikely event of a malfunction. A 3rd or 4th magazine is if I’m traveling and want to have a bit more options available to me.

 

[Buck F]

If I didn't have an JHP ammo I'd carry FMJ, but otherwise I'd only carry JHP. Doesn't have to be fancy carry ammo and you don't have to buy a whole lot of carry ammo.

 

[ReluctantDecoy]

I personally wouldn't if there was an option to carry defensive rounds, but beggars can't be choosers in this F'd up world we're current living in. I suppose the argument for ball is that it might be better at defeating barriers, but I'm not sure how often that concern comes up for common self defense scenarios.

 

[cfbackrow]

if you have plenty of range ammo have you thought of offering to trade some for some decent self defense rounds? might be a better solution

 

[Deleted member 67409]

I think the most common situation where people prefer FMJ is .32ACP and .380ACP or if someone has a milsurp carry gun in a cartridge that simply doesn't have modern carry ammo, like how 7.62x25 used to be back before PPU and S&B defensive ammo became a thing.

Some guys will also carry FMJ in woods guns for better penetration against dangerous animals, but that's not really an issue in New England.

 

[drgrant]

Just curious what the consensus is on carrying with FMJ (ball, whatever) instead of fancy self defense rounds.

ammo is in short supply, but I have a good stash of range ammo. I guess over penetration can be a concern, but FMJ will do the job in a pinch I figure.

Dies anyone prefer to carry FMJ?

Only if the gun doesn't run with anything else.

Or in some 380s IMHO ball ammo is far better than unknown JHPs in 380, as well.

As a general rule unless I know what the JHP is and what it does unless its got tests or a reputation, I dont use it.

 

[Asaltweapon]

It's better than throwing a rock.

I carry mostly Black Talon because I'm racist and old in my 40's and 45ACP. Critical Defense in my 9.

 

[drgrant]

The biggest downside in my opinion is where is that round gonna go after passing through the bad guy. Obviously it’s better than no ammo but I prefer a round meant to expand and put energy into what I’m shooting at.

One thing to bear in mind.... any JHP worth carrying can still go through a bad guy, depending on how thick they are, lol.

 

[moojpg2]

Just curious what the consensus is on carrying with FMJ (ball, whatever) instead of fancy self defense rounds.

ammo is in short supply, but I have a good stash of range ammo. I guess over penetration can be a concern, but FMJ will do the job in a pinch I figure.

Dies anyone prefer to carry FMJ?

Larry P has 9mm defense ammo in stock. I would not carry FMJ unless it was all I had but if I had to I would.

 

[Mudflap621]

One thing to bear in mind.... any JHP worth carrying can still go through a bad guy, depending on how thick they are, lol.

I 100% agree with you but the FMJ gonna go a lot farther. It’s also gonna inflict a lot less damage into the bad guy. Like I said if that’s all you got than by all means but I’ll take a defensive round every day of the week.

 

[FalArAk]

Ball ammo worked pretty good in close combat in just about every war we ever had

Like I said, just shoot extra !

 

[Mudflap621]

Ball ammo worked pretty good in close combat in just about every war we ever had

Like I said, just shoot extra !

I agree but I don’t think we were talking about all out war here maybe I wrong. We have a responsibility to not harm innocent people either. That’s something that I couldn’t live with personally.

Here’s a thought why not trade some of your plinking ammo for a cpl boxes of SD ammo.

 

[appraiser]

I'm so old I remember round nosed lead .38 Spl .... then JHP's started showing up....

Now we have a smorgasbord to choose from (in normal times)

If you are out of SD ammo, and you have reliable FMJ then carry it

In the last 40 something years we have always had a pretty good supply of JHP, until recently, time to adapt

 

[Drix]

If your options are edc FMJ or nothing, take the FMJ.

The liability is a matter of diminishing returns. You're incredibly unlikely to ever need a gun, but if you do, the chances of somoene being behind your target are even smaller.

 

[FalArAk]

I agree but I don’t think we were talking about all out war here maybe I wrong. We have a responsibility to not harm innocent people either. That’s something that I couldn’t live with personally.

Here’s a thought why not trade some of your plinking ammo for a cpl boxes of SD ammo.

I don't know about you, but in my sadistic fantasy of a self defense shooting, there are like 3 bad guys standing right in front of each other at Chipotles while I am trying to order a burrito bowel. I shoot one round of ball center mass at the the lead guy, and it goes through center mass of all of them.

1 shot, 3 kills !

Then the regional manager of Chipotles gives me certificate of appreciation and a free meal on my next visit.

 

[Deleted member 67409]

I don't know about you, but in my sadistic fantasy of a self defense shooting, there are like 3 bad guys standing right in front of each other at Chipotles while I am trying to order a burrito bowel. I shoot one round of ball center mass at the the lead guy, and it goes through center mass of all of them.

1 shot, 3 kills !

Then the regional manager of Chipotles gives me certificate of appreciation and a free meal on my next visit.

Nonsense, you wouldn't be at Chipotle because they don't allow open carry.

 

[cams]

I don’t even think about it as much as some of you brainiacs do. If it has bullits or lugars in it it’s good to go.

I do like carrying ball in my 1911 because they love ball ammo and I’m ok with that. If it was good enough to kill all those Japs, Gooks and Krauts it’s good enough for me to handle the occasional crackhead.

 

[StevieP]

I don't know about you, but in my sadistic fantasy of a self defense shooting, there are like 3 bad guys standing right in front of each other at Chipotles while I am trying to order a burrito bowel. I shoot one round of ball center mass at the the lead guy, and it goes through center mass of all of them.

1 shot, 3 kills !

Then the regional manager of Chipotles gives me certificate of appreciation and a free meal on my next visit.

it'll work.


View: https://youtu.be/2tGDSAs_uU4?t=210

 

[drgrant]

I don't know about you, but in my sadistic fantasy of a self defense shooting, there are like 3 bad guys standing right in front of each other at Chipotles while I am trying to order a burrito bowel.

Is that new on the menu? Sounds... shitty?

 

[In God We Trust]

if you have plenty of range ammo have you thought of offering to trade some for some decent self defense rounds? might be a better solution

I have 4 mags loaded with Hornady Critical defense right now and maybe another box or two floating around. I do like to practice with what I carry, but I don’t think it’s that important at the moment.

 

[Quite_Exasperated]

Reliability above all..

 

[Salyeica]

I haven't done it yet, but am considering loading the bottom half of my mags with FMJ and the top half with JHP. If I never need more than the JHP, I have bigger worries than collateral damage.

Won't really accomplish anything though, now that I think about it. Twenty rounds of JHP is 20 rounds, whether it's in two mags or four mags.

 

[ReluctantDecoy]

Here's a slight deviation from the original question: Do any of you subscribe to the concept of picking and testing a defensive round, then finding a ball round that shoots similar and then trusting that the reps with the ball round will always translate to the defensive round?

I picked that up early in shooting after reading it off some blog, but I never actually peer-reviewed that concept. Assuming the defensive round you picked does feel reliably into your pistol as close to 100% as possible, is there any harm in that line of thought?

 

[moojpg2]

When it comes to range ammo I shoot whatever is cheapest, I don't care if point of aim/point of impact is perfect. I just select a carry ammo that shoots to point of aim in my gun and stick with it. If I am using range ammo for anything scored I'll make sure to select something in a similar bullet weight to my carry ammo and it's usually close enough. Right now I'm reloading 9mm due to the insane prices so I don't care I just load the bullet weight/velocity I like.