Review of the Hornady Critical Defense .380 ammo - G&A Handguns Feb/March 08
It's rare that you find any one issue of a gun magazine so chocked full of valuable information but the Feb/March 08 issue of G&A's "Handguns" is such a read. From a straight-to-the-point review of the Hornady Critical Defense .380 ammo to peforming perfect practice drills, measuring and testing handgun fit, to an excellent buyer's guide on holsters. There's more good information in this one issue than I have found in a whole year's reading of other magazines. But back to the Hornady Critical Defense .380 review by Patrick Sweeney...
Key extracts from Sweeney's article are as follows and you can decide if this is the right carry ammo in your LCP:
- "The FBI has long insisted that anything less than a foot of penetration was deemed insuficient for law enforcement needs, emphasis on long enforcement not for civilian defense. "Hornady specifically designed the Critical Defense line for .380, 9mm, .38 Special and .357 Magnum, the calibers we're more likely to be carrying. The bullet is intended to perform wll in gelatin - clothing or no-but auto glass, metal and pylwood are not as good. That's the price you pay for an easy-to-shoot load that works well in the non-law enforcement world."
- "The (Hornady Critical Defense) .380 load fell short of the FBI minimum, which is 12 inches of gelatin with full expansion. The Critical Defense out of a Ruger LCP managed only nine to 10 inches of penetration. But again, this is designed for civilian needs, not law enforcement, and compared to other .380 loads, this is darned good."
- " As for velocity, the 90-grain bullets averaged a very consistent 860 fps. No, that isn't a blazing speed, but w ho wants to shoot a compact pistol with a .380 load that does all it can to approach 1,000 fps? No, 860 fps is a good velocity when you consider that you get nine to 10 inches of gelatin penetration, Hornady accuracy and reliability, and consistent expansion."
- "If you're certain that you'll be shooting miscreants through barriers such as glass, metal and wood.....Critical Defense is not for you. For the rest of us, who balance all the factors that go into load selection, Hornady has another winner."
I think Sweeney's review pretty much says it all. For those in LE, the best application for this ammo would be for when-all-else-fails backup not for primary carry. For civilians who legally carry, odds are you are not going to have to defeat metal or glass barriers to save your skin, and you might legally challenged if you did so (depending on the situation). But for up front and personal defense, the Hornady Critical Defense .380 makes a lot of sense. My question is how does it perform as a one-stop head shot. I am inclined at this point to load 5 Hornady Critical Defense rounds on top of one Buffalo Bore FMJ or JHC for carry.
