MD Police Ammunition

Scott92 · Oct 19, 2012

I recently heard Massad Ayoob recommend that civilians use the same ammo for home defense as the local police use. Does anyone know what ammo the MD State Police and Anne Arundel County police use in their .40 S&W? Thanks.

Indiana Jones · Oct 19, 2012

BCoPD federal hydra shocks

pop-gunner · Oct 19, 2012

Anne Arundel used 180gr hydra shocks for years but I don't know if they still do.

Big country · Oct 19, 2012

My boss is coast guard and they use hydra shocks as well

MdImport · Oct 19, 2012

Hydrashock or HST...HST is a little hotter. Cant go wrong with either.

jrumann59 · Oct 20, 2012

MdImport said:
Hydrashock or HST...HST is a little hotter. Cant go wrong with either.

HSTs expand better than hydrashock. The HSTs do not have the same issues with denim or thick clothing binding the post in the hydashocks. HSTs come in pretty much all the same loads.

Typical 230 grain Hydra shock is the top pic and the same size HST below. The HST "blossoms" whereas the hydra shock deforms.

I personally buy my "LEO Only" HD rounds online since most shops in MD do not carry them for civilian use.

zoostation · Oct 20, 2012

AA County no longer carries Hydra Shoks, they switched to 180gr. Gold Dots a few years ago.

I am not a fan of the Hydra Shok in .40. I saw enough recovered ones from autopsies that I decided I didn't like how it performed. I think it's a great round in 9mm, in fact I still carry it in my LC9. I think it's fine for .45 too if the weapon in question will feed it reliably. Has also been my experience it's one of the crankier .45 JHP's as far as feeding due to its shape. Bullets designs take on different performance characteristics when you change calibers and one that may be great in one caliber could also be marginal in another. It's old technology and you really want a bonded round for the energy delivered when a 40 caliber round hits. Gold Dots, Winchester SXT, or Golden Sabre are the three I would recommend for that caliber.

Just my .02.

jrumann59 · Oct 20, 2012

zoostation said:
AA County no longer carries Hydra Shoks, they switched to 180gr. Gold Dots a few years ago.

I am not a fan of the Hydra Shok in .40. I saw enough recovered ones from autopsies that I decided I didn't like how it performed. I think it's a great round in 9mm, in fact I still carry it in my LC9. I think it's fine for .45 too if the weapon in question will feed it reliably. Has also been my experience it's one of the crankier .45 JHP's as far as feeding due to its shape. Bullets designs take on different performance characteristics when you change calibers and one that may be great in one caliber could also be marginal in another. It's old technology and you really want a bonded round for the energy delivered when a 40 caliber round hits. Gold Dots, Winchester SXT, or Golden Sabre are the three I would recommend for that caliber.

Just my .02.

I was a big fan of the hydrashock but seeing how it performed against clothing really had me searching. I saw how the "replacement" HSTs performed and I was in love very similar to Golden Sabres nice big wound track.

Ironnewt · Oct 20, 2012

The BPD issues Winchester 180 gr SXT

Blaster229 · Oct 20, 2012

What is his reason? I am guessing for a defense saying " If it's good enough for my local PD it's good enough for me"?

Scott92 · Oct 20, 2012

Thank you all very very much for your time answering my question. I really appreciate it. My understanding of why it was recommended was that local police departments have completed testing for the local environment of weather, uses, and situations and therefore you would be getting the advantage of their study for your decision making.

Kilroy · Oct 20, 2012

As much as I like Ayoob, I would ignore that advice and buy the ammo that performs best out of your gun. I'll second what Zoostation said: Gold Dots, Winchester SXT, or Golden Sabre.

Typically, when I buy defensive type ammo, I buy two boxes. I shoot one to make sure it works, and load the other box. After a year or so, I shoot that and replace it with new ammo.

Blaster229 · Oct 20, 2012

Kilroy said:
As much as I like Ayoob, I would ignore that advice and buy the ammo that performs best out of your gun. I'll second what Zoostation said: Gold Dots, Winchester SXT, or Golden Sabre.

Typically, when I buy defensive type ammo, I buy two boxes. I shoot one to make sure it works, and load the other box. After a year or so, I shoot that and replace it with new ammo.

True. I would rather have a round that may not expand like my local police dept round that feeds through my weapon than one that gets to the size of a dinner plate that doesn't have a chance to expand that big.

Name Taken · Oct 20, 2012

Blaster229 said:
What is his reason? I am guessing for a defense saying " If it's good enough for my local PD it's good enough for me"?

When you get paid to speak sometimes you'll say something that really has no merit. Other times since you get paid you come up with some relatively crazy stuff that you can rationalize and someone might buy into it.

IMHO.....buy a good quality JHP round....fire a few boxes to make sure it works...and be happy.

smokey · Oct 20, 2012

get one of the following:

gold dot
hst
pdx-1
golden saber bonded(the bonded is important as non-bonded show jacket separation)
critical duty
dpx

You'll be happy with any of them in 40.

As for me...I'm happy with the capacity of a 9mm with the performance of these.....

.791" expansion and 12.75" penetration...that'll work.

swinokur · Oct 20, 2012

The HST is superior technology to the Hydarshok. Just because the police use it doesn't automatically make it the most effective to defend your life..

There are better choices IMO.

I use HST's and GD's in my 45's and Underwood in my 10mm's.

Sorry Mas.

mikec · Oct 20, 2012

Blaster229 said:
What is his reason? I am guessing for a defense saying " If it's good enough for my local PD it's good enough for me"?

Several folks in the past have suggested that a private person should carry the same handgun and ammo that the local cops carry. The theory is that if it is good enough for the police, it is a good choice for a private person.

Some of the same folks have also written that you should never use a handload in a self defense situation because a lawyer could claim you were making rounds that were so nasty that a factory would never make them. One person on another forum did a legal search and was unable to find any proof that has occurred.

swinokur · Oct 20, 2012

Is there any case law that proves any of this? Without some real life cases to prove how a jury might think, this iis mostly conjecture IMO.

Name Taken · Oct 20, 2012

swinokur said:
Is there any case law that proves any of this? Without some real life cases to prove how a jury might think, this iis mostly conjecture IMO.

It's all silly fodder really.

Guns in any caliber with any load can be lethal.....it's arm chairing by a bunch of folks who have no experiance in the real world.

It would take an expert about 10 minutes to put any claims like that to rest with a judge and maybe 15 minutes with a jury.

swinokur · Oct 20, 2012

Ask Harold Fish. CO tried to prosecute him on this bogus thinking and he eventually prevailed.

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