Massad Ayoob wrote a book about concealed carry, copyright 2008, and in it he devoted a chapter to Defense Loads Of Choice - The Word From The Street. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0896896110
I mention this because, with our R9's short barrel we're seeing lower velocities than a standard-issue SIG or Glock, and since we can't fire +P or +P+ we're really on the short end of the stick velocity-wise. Our R9's are not going to throw a 9mm at 1250+ FPS.
Anyway, Massad talks about how "defensive ammunition choice is about picking what works best to neutralize armed and dangerous human beings before they can main or murder". He further states "scientific testing of ammo in ballistic gelatin can help predict bullet performance in the field, but at the end of the day, it is the performance and not the prediction that will matter".
Massad is involved with the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, the International Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors Association, and the International Homicide Investigators, who have all studied many years of police shootings where police issue ammunition was used. He says "police duty calibers and loads have the strongest data bases to learn from".
In 9mm Luger - he states "in the late 1980's through most of the 1990's, 147-grain hollowpoints of conventional copper jacketed construction were the trendy issue rounds. They worked spotily - sometimes they expanded, and sometimes they just punched narrow little through-and-through holes like ball ammo - and as a result, most departments that used this stuff either switched to more powerful calibers, or went to 9mm ammo that was going faster, with lighter bullets".
He mentions "the Illinois State Police 115-grain standard JHP launched at 1300 fps proved itself to be the most decisive man-stopper available - it still works great".
"Other loadings have emerged that have the same decisive stopping power in 9mm. They include Winchester's 127-grain Ranger series +P+ at 1250 FPS, and Speer's Gold Dot 124-grain +P at the same velocity".
"Chicago PD switched to the 124-grain +P after multiple dismal stopping failures with 147-grain subsonic".
"Orlando cops are issued P226 SIG's and 127-grain +P+ Winchester, and many shootings since, they've found it to be as effective as any handgun caliber could be".
And then this - "Some folks have bought into the theory that the 147-grain subsonic has been so widely recommended by authority figures, it must be good. The fact is, there's a new generation of 147-grain subsonic that is pretty darn good. It utilizes new-generation high-tech expanding bullet technology expressly engineered to make the bullets open up at velocities below the speed of sound. These include CCI Speer Gold Dot, the Federal HST, and Winchester Ranger".
"Amarillo, Texas Police report excellent results with their issue load for those officers who choose 9mm pistols, the 147-grain Gold Dot".
And he sums it up - "still, the faster bullets seem to be the way to go. There is much more corollary tissue damage around the wound channels with the faster 9mm's, with medical examiners documenting "mascerated" flesh, that is, tissue chopped up like burrito filling. You don't see that with subsonic rounds, even though a high-tech modern 147-grain may actually expand very slightly more than a lighter 9mm bullet, simply because it has "more lead to spread".
