Testing Defense Ammo Performance in Handgun

Hi,
Would like the benefit of your experience. I've read recommendations which advise to cycle at least 200 rounds of chosen hollow point handgun ammo through a SD/HD semi-auto before trusting it to perform when needed. Wondering realistically what most folks actually do. I guess I'm looking more towards the civilian population here since LEOs are able to qualify with work-provided ammo. However I will hold great value in the opinions of the LEOs from the perspective of the civilian.

For your information the pistol in question for me is a Walther P99 9mm and I plan to use Speer Gold Dot +P 124 gr. as my SD/HD ammo. So far I've put 450 rounds through the piece breaking it in and getting to know it, with 35 of the rounds being the Speer GDs, and the rest being 115 and 124 grain WWB and UMC FMJ. I've had no failures of any kind through three range sessions with a cleaning in between each. Wondering if it's necessary to now run 150-200 rounds of GDs through it, knowing how it's performed thus far. The negatives I see to doing so are a) cost and b) wear and tear on the gun from the +P's. What say you? And thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forum.

My carry ammo is Cor-Bon DPX, which runs more than a buck a round. My financial situation doesn't really allow me to drop $2-300 on test ammo, so no 200 round test for me. I ran 50 rounds through my gun before switching over to it (no failures). I also periodically shoot my carry ammo, so eventually, I'll get over that 200 round count (though it'll take a while). The USP has a reputation for reliable feeding, so I'm comfortable relying on a relatively small test. If I were carrying a gun with a reputation of a finicky feeder (a 1911, for instance) I'd probably want to test more ammo.

I wouldn't worry too much about extra "wear" from +P rounds. If a gun is made for +P, it should be able to handle a lot of them.

from Central Florida!

Each new weapon gets 300-500 rounds first... and then 50 more of whatever SD rounds I'm using...no problems...then it's OK for me...

Stay armed...stay safe!

ret:urla9ub:

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Originally Posted by retsupt99

Each new weapon gets 300-500 rounds first... and then 50 more of whatever SD rounds I'm using...no problems...then it's OK for me...

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About the same for me.

Same for me also. Steve48

Welcome!

I'm going to mirror what everyone else has said so far. New gun gets as least 200 rounds of ball ammo to test function. Thats out of the way after the first range session. Then I run 2 boxes of defence ammo which usually comes out to about 50 rounds.

Call me crazy but I use FMJ ammo because I like it better then the so called defensive ammo! :hand10: It's also a hell of a lot cheaper to :urla9ub:

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Originally Posted by gunsblazin

Call me crazy but I use FMJ ammo because I like it better then the so called defensive ammo! :hand10: It's also a hell of a lot cheaper to :urla9ub:

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Wait, you carry FMJ ammo for defense?

Don't you worry about overpenetration and lack of transfer of kinetic energy into the target?

Your good to go.