[mcgeemosoby]

I was told when I bought my gun to buy 165+ grain ammo. I have since then heard that I should be using 124 grain. Is the higher # better or not?

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[vincent]

Believe half of what you see and NONE of what you hear. There is no "better or best". Exactly what are you using it for? CCW? HD/SD? Target?

The grain is the weight of the bullet...

Please take a moment to stop by the intro thread and say hi, you know, when you can...

[firedawg60]

Not sure if you can get 124 in .40. But I'm not sure.

[sweeper22]

Originally Posted by mcgeemosoby

I was told when I bought my gun to buy 165+ grain ammo. I have since then heard that I should be using 124 grain. Is the higher # better or not?

All 40sw defense ammo is very effective. For weights, you've basically got light 135-140gr, medium 155-165gr, and full weight 180gr. Figure out what you and your gun shoot best. They'll probably all run great through a G23. I like Winchester Rangers (check here for great prices) because they offer a 50rd box of high end defense ammo at a very fair price. It's also among the most popular LE rounds.

For the range I mostly buy 180gr FMJs from Wally World, but the medium weight FMJs would also suffice.

124gr is 9mm.

[JDAMSrUS]

It really depends on what u are looking for in terms of use. Target/plinkin, I like an inexpensive heavy weight bullet with slower speed. For self defense, I prefer mid weight. 165gr Speer gold dots work pretty well for me. Semi heavy bullet with higher velocity (compared to the 9mm, 380, etc.) hits harder and has greater chance of causing "hydra-shock" which is actually hydrostatic shock or hydraulic shock. This is the result of impact pressure of such force that it over pressurizes the internal organs causing massive internal hemorrhaging in parts of the body that wouldn't normally be affected outside the wound channel. xVel X xMass = hydrostatic shock. Diff bullet styles and weights require different velocities to achieve the desired hydrashock result. For example, a HP 115gr 9mm would most likely need around 1500 fps in order to cause hydrostatic shock where as a 165gr .40 S&W may only need 1300-1400 fps and I believe the .45 only needs roughly 1200 fps. It's Hard to even reload a stable .45 that will safely travel over 1200 fps. Without going way over max powder charge. 40 has same problem but luckily they have the 10mm(.40 bullet) and 357 sig(9mm bullet) which more than makes up the needed velocity for hydroshock.

Alright who's on deck for the soap box??? Haha