Low Budget Self Defense Ammo -- Geco Red Zone -- Part2

wild cat mccane

New member
Save you a ton of gel dollars? :)

Without expensive bonding, a fast opening bullet will shed it's jacket (old Golden Saber).

Without good bullet design, a bullet won't open unless pushed too hard. (old Speer bullets, Federal B9 at +P 115gr).

There is no replacement for the consistency of HST, Gold Dot, or Ranger T. And if you want deeper with less expansion by design, Hornady XTP.

Cheap doesn't work in this area.
 

IdaD

New member
I like 115 grain Winchester White Box JHPs for budget combo carry/plink ammo. It runs well in my pistols and seems to function fine in Paul Harrell's meat target tests. I do pony up for the higher end ammo in 380 and the 9mm I load in my Shield, which are the two things I primarily carry.
 

Walt Sherrill

New member
I see no reason to try to save money with SELF DEFENSE AMMO.

Once you find a particular round that you shoot well in your gun -- there's little reason to shoot it a lot.

You may have to try several types to get the performance you want, but that's money and time well spent.
 
Without expensive bonding, a fast opening bullet will shed it's jacket (old Golden Saber).

Without good bullet design, a bullet won't open unless pushed too hard. (old Speer bullets, Federal B9 at +P 115gr).

There is no replacement for the consistency of HST, Gold Dot, or Ranger T. And if you want deeper with less expansion by design, Hornady XTP.

Cheap doesn't work in this area.

Wait, Golden Saber weren't cheap. Hydroshoks weren't cheap and didn't open consistently, but they were bonded, right?

Apparently, spending a lot of money doesn't necessarily work either.

That is what makes ballistics tests interesting. Sometimes you find things that you don't think will work well that work fine and things that should work fine that don't.
 

T. O'Heir

New member
"...Cost effective self defense ammo..." Doesn't have to be jacketed. A regular cast bullet, including a gentle thing like a .38 Special WC, will do nicely.
Geco Red Zone will be fine if your hand gun shoots 'em well. A 124 grain JHP at 1150 fps is exactly the same as a Federal HST.
Hydroshoks were a gimmick. Supposedly originally designed for Sky Marshalls back when airline hijacking was all the rage for terrs.
 

kenny53

New member
I shoot a verity of defense ammo. Most is some sort of hollow point. I
believe it is all going to work. I also believe most bad guys are not made out of ballistic gel and the defense ammo will act different in human tissue. Ballistic gel is nice to show what a round is capable of but falls short of real world applications. That's just the opinion of this old man.
 
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