What Ammo Should You Carry for Self-Defense? Here’s What the Pros Use
What's in your magazine?
Why Ammunition Matters
Ammunition selection is one of the most important decisions a church safety team can make. It’s not just about ensuring you can stop a threat effectively—it’s about protecting lives while minimizing unnecessary risk to bystanders. In a crowded environment like a church, where walls are thin and people are often in close proximity, the wrong choice in ammunition can lead to devastating consequences.
The responsibility of a church safety team goes beyond stopping a threat; it also includes avoiding harm to innocent members of the congregation. Every round fired must achieve its intended purpose while limiting the risk of over-penetration or stray bullets. This requires thoughtful consideration of ammunition designed specifically for self-defense.
Unfortunately, misinformation about ammunition selection is rampant. Common myths, like alternating full metal jacket (FMJ) and hollow-point rounds in a magazine, or the idea that FMJ is better for winter because it penetrates heavy clothing, continue to circulate. These misconceptions can lead to decisions that increase liability and reduce effectiveness in a real-world defensive situation.
In this article, we’ll address these myths, explain the science behind terminal ballistics, and provide practical advice on choosing the best ammunition for your church safety team. We’ll also discuss training standards and liability concerns, ensuring that every team member is prepared to act responsibly and effectively when called upon.
Types of Ballistics
When discussing how ammunition performs, it's important to understand the three types of ballistics:
Internal Ballistics: What happens inside the firearm as the round is fired (e.g., pressure, velocity, and the mechanics of the weapon).
External Ballistics: How the round behaves in flight, including trajectory, wind resistance, and stability.
Terminal Ballistics: What happens when the round impacts its target—this includes penetration, expansion, and the damage caused.
Today, we’ll focus on terminal ballistics because it directly relates to stopping a threat and ensuring the safety of bystanders.
The Risks of Over-Penetration
Over-penetration is one of the most significant risks to consider when selecting defensive ammunition for church safety. This occurs when a bullet passes through its intended target and continues traveling, potentially endangering innocent bystanders or damaging property. In crowded environments like churches, where thin walls and adjacent rooms are common, this risk cannot be overstated.
Learning from Law Enforcement Testing
Law enforcement agencies have long grappled with the issue of over-penetration. Their testing protocols are designed to evaluate how ammunition performs when passing through barriers like drywall, glass, and heavy clothing. These tests ensure that rounds are effective at stopping threats while minimizing the likelihood of collateral damage.
For example, police snipers once favored the 168-grain Sierra MatchKing Boat Tail Hollow Point (HPBT) round for its accuracy. However, real-world incidents revealed that it had significant over-penetration issues. In one incident during a hostage situation inside a vehicle, a sniper’s bullet traveled through the suspect, passed through the car’s B-pillar, exited the vehicle, pierced the wall of a nearby house, and came to rest inside a refrigerator. Incidents like these prompted a reevaluation of ammunition choices, leading many agencies to adopt alternatives like the Hornady TAP round. According to the American Sniper Association, in over 100 police sniper shootings, the Hornady TAP round exited the suspect’s body in only one instance.
Implications for Church Safety Teams
Church safety teams must adopt the same level of scrutiny when selecting ammunition. Hollow-point rounds, designed to expand upon impact, are generally the preferred choice for self-defense. These rounds are engineered to transfer energy into the target, creating larger wound channels while reducing the risk of over-penetration compared to full metal jacket (FMJ) rounds. By selecting ammunition that prioritizes controlled expansion, teams can enhance their ability to stop a threat effectively without endangering others.
Understanding Wound Ballistics
Wound ballistics is a critical component of terminal ballistics, focusing specifically on the effects of ammunition on living tissue. This includes how a bullet penetrates, expands, and creates a wound channel. Properly selected ammunition can mean the difference between merely injuring an attacker and effectively stopping the threat.
Penetration and Expansion
The goal of self-defense ammunition is to achieve sufficient penetration (typically 12-18 inches in ballistic gel) while maximizing expansion. This ensures the bullet disrupts vital structures within the body, such as arteries and organs, which is essential for incapacitating a threat. For example, full metal jacket (FMJ) rounds often push soft tissues and arteries aside as they pass through, creating smaller wound channels. In contrast, hollow-point rounds expand upon impact, creating a larger wound channel that disrupts critical structures and increases the likelihood of stopping the threat.
Energy Transfer
Hollow-point ammunition is designed to transfer its energy into the target efficiently. This energy transfer not only creates a more devastating wound channel but also reduces the bullet’s ability to over-penetrate. By depositing its energy within the target, hollow points minimize the risk of collateral damage, making them ideal for use in crowded environments like churches.
Real-World Performance
The science of wound ballistics highlights why boutique or untested ammunition, often marketed with flashy claims, can be a liability. Defensive ammunition must perform consistently under real-world conditions, not just in controlled environments or YouTube demonstrations. Trusted brands like Speer Gold Dot, Federal HST, and Hornady Critical Duty have undergone rigorous testing to ensure they perform as intended when lives are on the line.
Church safety teams must rely on ammunition with a proven track record in law enforcement and civilian defensive encounters. Choosing rounds backed by extensive testing and real-world use ensures reliability and effectiveness in critical moments.
Myths and Misconceptions About Ammunition
One of the most challenging aspects of selecting self-defense ammunition is navigating the numerous myths and misconceptions that persist, particularly among less experienced firearm users. These myths, often perpetuated online or in casual conversations, can lead to poor decision-making in real-world defensive scenarios.
Myth 1: Alternating FMJ and Hollow Points for Winter Use A common misconception is that alternating full metal jacket (FMJ) and hollow-point rounds in a magazine provides a tactical advantage, especially in cold weather. The argument is that FMJ rounds penetrate heavy clothing better, while hollow points expand more effectively once inside. However, this strategy is both unnecessary and ineffective. Modern hollow-point ammunition is designed to perform consistently, even after passing through barriers like denim or leather. Mixing ammunition types can create inconsistent recoil, affect reliability, and complicate defensive scenarios.
Myth 2: Boutique Ammunition Outperforms Established Brands The allure of boutique ammunition, often marketed with flashy videos or claims of “guaranteed stopping power,” can be tempting. However, most boutique rounds lack rigorous testing or a proven track record in real-world defensive situations. Defensive ammunition should be selected based on consistent performance in independent testing and use by law enforcement. Trusted brands like Speer Gold Dot and Federal HST have been refined over decades and vetted under conditions that boutique brands rarely replicate.
Myth 3: Ball Ammo is Better for Penetration in Defensive Use While FMJ, or ball ammunition, is excellent for target practice due to its affordability, it is a poor choice for self-defense. Ball ammunition tends to over-penetrate, posing significant risks to bystanders and limiting stopping power. Defensive hollow-point rounds are specifically engineered to mitigate these risks while maximizing their effectiveness in neutralizing threats.
Church safety teams should rely on proven facts, not popular myths, when choosing their ammunition. Misinformation can lead to poor preparation, increased liability, and a reduced ability to protect the congregation effectively.
Ammunition Recommendations for Church Safety Teams
Choosing ammunition with a proven record of reliability and effectiveness is essential. Here is a list of law enforcement-tested ammunition that is ideal for church safety teams:
Speer Gold Dot
Known for consistent expansion and penetration.
Widely used by law enforcement agencies nationwide.
Federal HST
Designed to expand reliably, even after passing through barriers like heavy clothing or glass.
Offers controlled penetration within the ideal 12-18 inch range in ballistic gel.
Hornady Critical Duty
Optimized for barrier penetration and terminal performance.
Meets stringent FBI testing protocols, making it a popular choice among law enforcement.
Winchester Ranger T-Series
Features a sharp, petal-like design for deep expansion and stopping power.
Trusted by police departments for its consistent performance.
Each of these options has undergone rigorous testing and proven itself effective in high-stress scenarios. Safety teams should choose the round that functions reliably in their specific firearms and meets their training and operational needs. Regularly testing ammunition in your firearm is critical to ensure compatibility and performance.
By selecting one of these trusted brands, church safety teams can ensure they are equipped to defend their congregations responsibly and effectively.
I retired as a lieutenant out of a Bay Area (California) agency. I assisted many church, school, and corporate security groups over the years. My input was to try to use the ammo the local law enforcement uses. Here's why:
- If you use ammo deemed "hotter" than what the local LEOs get issued, some plaintiff's lawyer (or even your local D.A.) can and will bring that up, that you were using "killer ammunition so powerful that even the police don't use it."
- The ballistics and reliability of the local LEOs ammo will have been tested, gone through a vetting process and that information should be readily available to you.
- Most agencies use a pretty decent round, so don't be concerned about lack of stopping power
- Consider getting a copy of the local LE's ROEs / use of force policy. Again, your security team's UOF policy should avoid being pointed out by a lawyer as "more aggressive than the police policy." It may bite you in court. Be sure to have the church's legal advisor / risk management / insurance carrier know what your ROEs are so they can't deny coverage if things go south.
- In a real world incident what might be considered a "good shooting" by a police officer will be, under identical circumstances, be held to a higher standard and greater scrutiny if it involves a civilian or licensed security officer. Shouldn't be, but that's the reality in many courts.
Be well, stay safe.
At my PD we had a close range shooting. Bad guy was shooting a 380, and fortunately missed everyone. Officer fired a single 230 grain Federal bonded hollow point which went through the bad guy's chest, pretty much destroying everything and stopping him instantly. The expanded 45 bullet was recovered sitting on the couch cushion beyond. It had almost no energy left after taking out the suspect. I thought that was a fine example of what a defensive bullet should do.