Choosing Handgun Ammo - The Facts that Matter Most for Self-Defense

Not sure where to start, but I'm sure Mr. Sweeney was trying to help people out. Sadly there are too many holes that make the limited analysis in the book pointless. Lets start with a pet-peeve of mine, I write analytical reports as major part of my job, tables with incomplete information are not very helpful. Not only are there gaps in most of the data tables that you can shoot through with a 12 gauge shotgun, the tables do not list the firearm model or even barrel length used. So the data is near useless even if its there. Also, too many exotic loads listed instead of what people can find at their local store, saw very few Remington white box JHP's or SJHP's. Yet lots of stuff I have never seen on the shelf even in Texas or Alaska (gun nut states by the way) let alone the less refined states.WAY TOO much reliance on jello, as far as I know, no jello men are out there attacking people. Yes I know its ballistic gelatin, just being funny. Bare gelatin is next to worthless, most crooks are not running around naked getting shot. Clothes do amazing things to bullets, especially the generally slow ones like a 45 auto. Shooting gelatin seemed to be the main focus of the book without much comparison to reality. Thankfully there were some realistic thoughts that popped out on the rare occasion. In the short hunting section, Mr. Sweeney was dead on with lets start with a 357 magnum as deer are basically people sized (pg 245). If we are going to use a minimum of a 357 magnum on a deer who poses zero risk to us but its ok to use a 9mm luger or 380 on a person intent on killing us, that makes zero sense. Also, gelatin does not do well on representing penetration in humans. For example, most 45 auto FMJ's shot do not generally fully penetrate a human, but go through many jello people. Now 9mm FMJ's do go through a person or two.Surgeons (ones mentioned in the book) that say there is no difference between calibers in the damage caused must be smoking some good stuff. Humanely shoot and kill a deer with a good 30-06. Then go shoot it with a 357 magnum 125 grain SJHP (Remington or Federal) and then shoot it with a 380 ACP 90 grain JHP. You will see the difference, apparently all that medical school didn't help but this real life experiment will. There are some good knowledgeable physicians that can analyze this out there, but the ones used in the book are not.Interesting how the author and the late Dr. Fackler totally dismisses the temporary shock cavity (TSC) of the handgun. That is correct for anemic 38 special LRNs and most other 38 specials, but certainly does not apply to the TSC generated by some 357's, 40's, and 9mm's. There are many scientists who have studied terminal ballistics, he is the only one that I know that had to start his own organization to push his idea. Some great ones work for the military and but they don't rely on Dr. Fackler in their work, interesting.Some other complaints are the poor handgun knowledge, such as no mention of the 45 GAP, saying that a 1911 is big, and forgetting about the Sig 220 which was available at the same time (pg 231). I know more than one petite female that use a 1911 far better than me and many people of all sizes and ages that carry 1911's. There are many small controllable 45 autos, snowflakes need not apply. You have to put some effort into using a firearm for self-defense or hunting. Also missed the 44 special in the small Charter Arms Bulldog and the medium frame S&W in 44 special.Thankfully there was some honesty about why the FBI and some others are moving back to the 9mm luger. Its not because of effectiveness, its cost. They don't want to train their people to use the superior cartridge (40 S&W) nothing other than that.Anything the FBI does has to be taken with a large bottle of salt. Especially when the whole 9mm luger is a bad cartridge idea started after the Miami shootout in 1986 just because the FBI wouldn't admit their training was total crap back in 1986. Most of the 100+ rounds fired by the agents sadly missed. The 30 or so fired by the crook did not. Only two of the agents made effective hits, the first agent and the last agent to engage. If those two knuckle heads criminals had messed with the TX DPS or AK Troopers in that year, it would not have been a known incident as those troopers would have dropped them both with their first 6 shots from their 357magnums. The agents were not properly prepared by their agency, poor planning leads to poor results. Just remember, the FBI hardly every shoots criminals (or anyone else), they are investigators. As in the Army, train hard, fight easy, or don't train and die.Almost enough ranting, some major inconsistencies are things such as pg 225 44 Special lead bullets are not good but on pages 233 + 241 45 Colt lead bullets are fine. Even looking at the magic jello man, these bullets pretty much do the same thing. Another one that must be mentioned, on pg 237 author praises the wound track, but the only thing good is the TSC, the permanent crush cavity (PCC) is the same as FMJ. So which is it, does the TSC not matter or does it. Plus the round on pg 237 penetrates too much in the jello man to be safe. I wouldn't want to hit a criminal and have that round go through and harm an innocent person.Some things that need mentioned but were not are the facts about reliability in semi-automatics. Many of the soft shooting rounds discussed will have reliability issues. Two handed perfect stance, maybe not, but one handed limp wristing will. Semi-autos have a window of reliability, for example, 9mm luger 115-124 grain bullet at a velocity of 1100 to 1400. When going outside that window reliability issues will come about. The 90 grain bullet at 1300 won't cut it on the street, but will be nice on the range. When you are pushing someone away with one hand and have your pistol in the other at your waist firing in an odd position, you'll see what I'm talking about.Mr. Sweeney knows a lot, but the analysis was nearly non-existent. Hope there is a version 2 soon to correct the issues noted. Until then, save your money.

Didn't meet my expectations. Nothing here that I haven't already seen in articles in American Handgunner magazine. Shot placement above all, then penetration, and finally expansion.

After watching a plethora of YouTube videos & reading multiple magazine articles I really didn’t expect to get much out of this book but I bought it anyway. I’m GLAD I did. There is a wealth of PRACTICAL information in a very digestible format. Many thanks to the author & all who supported this project.

Sweeny includes quite a few charters. The one conclusion I have derived fron the book is that without sufficient velocity, no bullets will expand AND that expansion is very derifeable.

Buy it. Great information, makes the reader think for themselves with the information presented.

Great book, lots of ammo info about current personal defense rounds

Really just started reading it, but so far so good.

Disappointing. The first half of the book is an exhaustive description of how handgun ammo incapacitates people, and how handgun bullets are tested. Good info there. But when Sweeney gets to discussing specific calibers, his recommendations are pretty vague. In several calibers, he pretty much says there are lots of good options, pick one. He is especially brief when he addresses the 10mm. His "chapter" on the 10mm is four paragraphs and a bunch of pictures. When it comes to self-defense ammo in the 10mm, his "recommendation" if you can call it that is to "simply use the information from the .40 S&W chapter." That is just ridiculous. Many bullet types available in .40 (commercial ammo) are not available in 10mm and vice versa.I'm especially disappointed when I get to the end and read the FBI's summary of it's conclusions on handgun ammo. On p259, we read, "9mm Luger now offers select projectiles which are, under identical testing conditions, outperforming most of the premium line .40 S&W and .45 Auto projectiles tested by the FBI." Wouldn't it be nice to know what some of those "select projectiles" are? If the author knows, he isn't telling. At least, I haven't found any such info in the book, definitely not in his chapter on the 9mm.I own 2 of Sweeney's books on the AR (books 2 and 3) and his book on the tactical rifle. There is a *ton* of good info in those volumes. But this text is different. The title says it will help readers choose handgun ammo; the product does not live up to that. Lots of prelims, gobs of big pictures, and few/no specific endorsements of specific loads. How is this helping me choose ammo? :-(