Critical defense vs critical duty

[Armadillofz1]

sportsmans has critical duty 135g +P, and critical defense 100g. Their 115g are backordered. What are some of the differences performance wise?

 

[Uncle Duke]

Here you go....

http://m.hornady.com/support/critical-duty-and-critical-defense

 

[Armadillofz1]

Here you go....

http://m.hornady.com/support/critical-duty-and-critical-defense

Thanks for the link. I had read that before. In practice through, for example, a Glock 19, How do they compare. I'll check Youtube for back to back. Maybe someone made a video.

Cheers

 

[Fox123]

Look for tnoutdoors9 channel. Pretty sure he did one already on both rds. Keep in mind if you see videos of their gimmick round "zmax" zombie bullets, they are just the critical defence rds with different color polymer tip.

 

[DC-W]

 

[montoya32]

Just my impression from what I've read in the past, I thought the Critical Duty was designed to remain effective after penetrating barriers/windshields.

Looks like the Critical Defense would be just fine. I highly doubt there would be any observable difference by anyone here. I do think the Critical Defense is supposed to be loaded for optimal performance out of shorter barreled concealed carry weapons.

 

[alucard0822]

critical defense-barely adequate penetration at best, light loads with low recoil

critical duty-FBI spec penetration and barrier performance, moderate recoil.


For most any competent shooter the critical duty would be the better load, it outperforms critical defense in every test, and usually by a significant margin. The bullet has a thick jacket with a thick cannelure crimp to lock in the hard lead alloy core. Critical defense could help with some tiny BUGs, and for some shooters that have a tough time with recoil, the core alloy is softer, the jacket is thinner, easier damaged through barriers, made primarily for expansion. In some calibers there are more than one load of each, 9mm has 2 duty and 2 defense.

I've tried 3 of the 4 loads(not the 100gr defense), found them to have incrementally more recoil, but still more than manageable from my little Kahr PM9. I carry the 135gr (non +p) duty load, ran about 1000FPS in my short 3" barrel and was supremely accurate, +p load ran about 50FPS faster, but had significantly more blast and recoil, you have to shoot it side by side with the 115gr to notice the difference in recoil compared to the lighter load, and while the 135gr loads had excellent accuracy, the 115 didn't group as well for me, but still more than adequate.

The gel tests they have tell the story fairly well, more weight increases penetration, more velocity increases expansion/decreases penetration. These are all the heavy clothing block pics in the links below


critical defese lite, 100gr


critical defense 115gr


critical duty 135


critical duty 135+p

 

[swinokur]

I'm an HST guy myself.

 

[Armadillofz1]

critical defense-barely adequate penetration at best, light loads with low recoil

critical duty-FBI spec penetration and barrier performance, moderate recoil.


For most any competent shooter the critical duty would be the better load, it outperforms critical defense in every test, and usually by a significant margin. The bullet has a thick jacket with a thick cannelure crimp to lock in the hard lead alloy core. Critical defense could help with some tiny BUGs, and for some shooters that have a tough time with recoil, the core alloy is softer, the jacket is thinner, easier damaged through barriers, made primarily for expansion. In some calibers there are more than one load of each, 9mm has 2 duty and 2 defense.

I've tried 3 of the 4 loads(not the 100gr defense), found them to have incrementally more recoil, but still more than manageable from my little Kahr PM9. I carry the 135gr (non +p) duty load, ran about 950FPS in my short 3" barrel and was supremely accurate, +p load ran about 1000FPS, but had significantly more blast and recoil, you have to shoot it side by side with the 115gr to notice the difference in recoil compared to the lighter load, and while the 135gr loads were very accurate, the 115 didn't group as well for me.

The gel tests they have tell the story fairly well, more weight increases penetration, more velocity increases expansion/decreases penetration. These are all the heavy clothing block pics in the links below


critical defese lite, 100gr
View attachment 164361

critical defense 115gr
View attachment 164362

critical duty 135
View attachment 164363

critical duty 135+p
View attachment 164364

Great write up, thanks! I ordered 50 rounds of the critical duty 135 +P.

 

[redeemed.man]

I'm an HST guy myself.

I am old school in my 9 mm's. Federal 115 gr. +p+ BPLE

Gold dot 185 gr +p in my .45's

Now I shockingly have acquired Glock's in .40 and .357 sig, not sure what round I will use yet.

 

[Blaster229]

I am old school in my 9 mm's. Federal 115 gr. +p+ BPLE

Gold dot 185 gr +p in my .45's

Now I shockingly have acquired Glock's in .40 and .357 sig, not sure what round I will use yet.

The 125 gr gold dot that is in that box I gave ya

You're " NOT DISAPPROVED" btw

 

[alucard0822]

I am old school in my 9 mm's. Federal 115 gr. +p+ BPLE

Gold dot 185 gr +p in my .45's

Now I shockingly have acquired Glock's in .40 and .357 sig, not sure what round I will use yet.

I love the 180gr HSTs in 40, carry them in my G27, can usually find them in 50rd LEO boxes for a good price, probably the best performance in gel of ANY brand, and recoil is relatively light, especially compared to hot 165gr loads. Used to carry the 147gr HSTs in my PM9 till the LE boxed ammo dried up, switched to Critical duty instead of the much more expensive 20rd civvie boxed HSTs. For a fast caliber, I'd probably trust XTPs or the similar Critical duty bullets more, they tend to hold up better than most. I'm not a fan of bonded bullets, the process limits the lead core and jacket to a relatively narrow alloy makeup, uniform thickness(can't control expansion with a thicker jacket base), they tend to underexpand or overexpand outside of a small velocity window, and often shear petals. Of course minor "on paper" performance differences are low on the list of importance, most any quality defensive load is suitable.

 

[redeemed.man]

The 125 gr gold dot that is in that box I gave ya

You're " NOT DISAPPROVED" btw

LMAO "not disapproved"

The gold dots are what it is loaded with right now. Going to carry it today.

 

[redeemed.man]

I love the 180gr HSTs in 40, carry them in my G27, can usually find them in 50rd LEO boxes for a good price, probably the best performance in gel of ANY brand, and recoil is relatively light, especially compared to hot 165gr loads. Used to carry the 147gr HSTs in my PM9 till the LE boxed ammo dried up, switched to Critical duty instead of the much more expensive 20rd civvie boxed HSTs. For a fast caliber, I'd probably trust XTPs or the similar Critical duty bullets more, they tend to hold up better than most. I'm not a fan of bonded bullets, the process limits the lead core and jacket to a relatively narrow alloy makeup, uniform thickness(can't control expansion with a thicker jacket base), they tend to underexpand or overexpand outside of a small velocity window, and often shear petals.

Your feedback is always appreciated. You have great insight into all things for and about Glock.

 

[highli99]

I've kept my glock 36 loaded with the zombie max .45 which is the critical defense load I think. I'm thinking of switching because the 185 grain is light for the caliber. Might go gold dot jhp at 230 grains if I can find a box

 

[Dave Greenberg]

I'm an HST guy myself.

Same. They have the best performance in just about any gel test I have seen.

 

[smokey]

I'd go 147 gold dot, 124 +p gold dot, 147 great hst, 124+p hst, or the dpx loads out there. MAC did some tests with critical duty where they failed to expand and seriously overpenetraded. When they do perform as advertised, they favor deeper penetration of 15-16" over larger expansion. Dpx, hst, and gold dots all reliably expand larger (especially dpx) while stopping around 13" or so. Critical defense is out from the get-go, as it was designed to stop around 10-11".

 

[terp91]

What are people's thoughts on the American Gunner line as compared to Critical Duty, in particular for 380? I've read that the XTP will not expand as much as other/newer bullet designs, which for the lower power cartridge seems like a plus to me.

 

[RoadDawg]

What are people's thoughts on the American Gunner line as compared to Critical Duty, in particular for 380? I've read that the XTP will not expand as much as other/newer bullet designs, which for the lower power cartridge seems like a plus to me.

Critical Duty is NOT available in .380...

Critical Defense is...

http://www.hornady.com/store/380-Auto-90-gr-Critical-Defense/

 

[Ender]

Lucky Gunner did a pretty good test of a lot of commonly used 380, 9mm, and 45 acp.

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self-defense-ammo-ballistic-tests/