The 9x19mm cartridge has been in development since 1901. In that time, it has only gained popularity, with shooters around the world using it for a variety of tasks. This versatility has given life to many different 9mm rounds with uniquely performing projectiles. One thing you may not have noticed, is all the different bullet grains.
But what is bullet grain weight, and why does it matter? Bullet grain weight refers to the overall projectile weight in a cartridge. The specific weight plays a role in recoil, accuracy, and sometimes reliability in your particular firearm. Some guns will shoot one load better than another, and different loads may hit at different points of aim. This is due to the barrel length and twist rate, as well as the general parts fitment of your firearm. The best way to test this is to shoot your gun with a range of ammunition to see the real-world performance with your actual firearm.
Why are there so many different bullet weights and loads? For different applications, of course. Differing bullet weights and projectile designs allow you to create more specialized rounds geared toward specific tasks, such as suppressor use, self-defense, steel-target shooting, and more.
Lighter vs. Heavier Bullets
Higher velocity rounds tend to penetrate further and travel with a flatter trajectory (aiding in accuracy). Velocity is increased two ways, either with a greater powder charge or a lighter weight bullet. Lighter weight projectiles also tend to produce less felt recoil than heavier bullets. They will also lose their energy faster, due to the laws of momentum and the air friction.
Heavier bullets tend to dump more of their energy into the target and will travel in a more predictable path, with less bouncing off bone. They also retain more of their energy for a longer duration.
50-, 65-, 70-grain
The lightest weight bullet I could find in production for the 9mm is a 50-grain projectile from Liberty Ammunition. These Ultra-Light rounds are loaded with a +P charge and hollow point projectiles for self-defense. This high-velocity loading clocks 2,040 fps at the muzzle, producing 462 ft/lbs of energy. There is also a Civil Defense version with a fragmenting, copper hollow point designed to maximize tissue damage and wound channel. Both are great specialty loadings for self-defense.
Similarly, there are 65- and 70-grain rounds designed for high velocity and penetration with minimal felt recoil. Underwood offers a 65-grain solid copper round in the Xtreme Defender line. The flutes on the projectile are radially cut to force hydraulic energy inward to build pressure. This results in a permanent wound cavity, about twice the size of expanding projectiles that is not hindered by solid barriers. For those looking for a more traditional hollow point, Underwood also offers a 70-grain HERO round designed for maximum expansion.
Additionally, there are lightweight training rounds, such as NovX Cross Trainer and Federal AE, with specialized lead-free projectiles designed to break apart and reduce lead exposure. They are intended to provide excellent accuracy with a flat trajectory and reduced recoil.
80-, 90-, 100-grain
Moving out of ultra-light territory into the lightweight realm, these high-velocity loads tend to be geared toward personal protection. Fort Scott Munitions offers two high-quality 80-grain loadings, one with a nickel plated casing and one that has been TPD coated. Both utilized a TUI projectile designed to “Tumble Upon Impact.” This reduces the risk of overpenetration and subsequent collateral harm. The TPD (Terminal Performance Defense) coating offers enhanced feeding and higher reliability in semi-automatic actions.
Cor-Bon and Underwood offer +P and +P+ loadings with a 90-grain projectile. Both geared toward self-defense, the Cor-Bon features a JHP bullet that hits 1,500 fps and 450 ft/lbs. The Underwood utilizes the Xtreme Defender solid-copper penetrating head.
Similarly, there’s a 100-grain copper round from SinterFire that’s non-frangible and designed to be an economical choice for lead-free training. Frangible ammo from Speer engineered to powderize on impact, reducing danger to shooters practicing on steel targets at closer ranges. Sellier & Bellot offers the XRG Defense round with a 100-grain copper hollow point with near 100% weight retention after expansion, regardless of the barriers encountered.
These lighter weight loadings aren’t too far off from a standard 115-grain, but they allow you to squeeze out a bit more velocity without sacrificing too much bullet weight.
115-grain
The 115-grain is one of the most common bullet weights for the 9mm cartridge. It can be found anywhere from cheap range ammo to specialty defense rounds. It tends to provide decent accuracy across the board. Among my favorite 115-grain loads is Federal Train + Protect. This JHP round combines the practical accuracy and performance of range ammo with the instant expansion of superior quality self-defense ammunition. The Versatile Hollow Point design, or VHP, is based on the proven performance of Federal’s hollow point technology at an affordable, range-friendly price.
115-grain Blazer Brass is another popular choice for the range. It tends to come in about a buck or two cheaper than comparable target ammo and provides similar performance.
For high-quality defensive loads, you can’t go wrong with Hornady American Gunner. The American Gunner is a versatile, tried and true load that is great for hunting, target, law enforcement, or personal defense. The legendary XTP (eXtreme Terminal Performance) bullet has excellent terminal performance and exceptional accuracy, making it a top choice for some of the top competitive shooters around the world.
SIG Sauer Rose was designed with female shooters in mind. These reduced-power loads have a slightly lower than average velocity, and the reduced power translates to less felt recoil for the shooter. Additionally, Rose ammunition is made with compact short barreled pistols in mind and the performance has been optimized for micro compact handguns.
124-grain
The 124-grain 9mm was the original loading and is still the standard for NATO. It provides an excellent balance of grain weight and velocity. It tends to provide me with the best all-around accuracy across a wide range of firearms. It costs a touch more per box for target ammo, but I believe it’s worth it. Winchester’s NATO ammunition is one of my go-to options to stockpile, as it’s readily available and affordable. It’s used by the U.S. military and the white box has been a staple of shooters for decades.
Further, Speer and SIG offer military and law-enforcement grade 124-grain 9mm ammunition with dependable performance. SIG M17 ammo is designed to match perfectly with the military-issue SIG P320 pistols. This +P loading is clean burning and reliable. Speer’s Lawman line is built to give you similar performance as the Gold Dot line, offering shooters a less expensive round that will perform like the carry ammo. This gives shooters a clearer understanding of the performance of their carry ammo in terms of recoil, point of aim, and functionality in their firearm.
As far as defensive loads, the Hornady Custom XTP is a high performance handgun load for shooters who are looking for supreme accuracy with improved terminal performance and energy transfer to the intended target. With just under 340 ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle, this is a good balance of power and control. Buffalo Bore offers a 124-grain +P+ loading that produces 465 ft/lbs for those looking for more power.
125-, 130-, 135-grain
Although somewhat uncommon, there are a few 9mm grain weights between the 124- and 147-grain options. Cor-Bon offers a high-velocity loading with a 125-grain JHP projectile. Weight wise, this is not much different than a 124-grain, however, the load offers good performance.
Federal’s Syntech 130-grain is designed for exceptional performance in 9mm pistol caliber carbines. The Syntech PCC load offers velocity and accuracy optimized for long gun barrel lengths with a projectile profile that provides excellent accuracy and reliable feeding in a variety of PCC platforms. The one of a kind TSJ projectile features a lead core with a polymer jacket that eliminates metal fouling and drastically reduces barrel damage from heat and friction. This is a top load for the range.
Hornady offers a 135-grain +P Critical Duty for personal protection. The Flex Tip design eliminates clogging and aids bullet expansion. A large mechanical jacket-to-core InterLock band works to keep the bullet and core from separating for maximum weight retention, excellent expansion, consistent penetration, and terminal performance.
147-grain
147 grains is the heaviest weight that is common for the 9mm. The heavier weight is popular for suppressor use, as well as subguns and PCCs. The heavier projectile naturally travels at slower speeds, and often speeds that are slower than sound (subsonic), making it a great choice for suppressed shooting. Fiocchi offers its Range Dynamics subsonic ammo with a FMJ projectile for suppressed training at the range. There’s also a Defense Dynamics loading with a JHP projectile for defensive use.
If you find your gun exhibits better accuracy with 147-grain ammunition, I recommend trying Armsor’s FMJ. It comes in at a great price for training at the range and has been reliable in every firearm I have used it in. Additionally, Winchester produces a WinClean 9mm as an economical alternative to standard range ammo that eliminates airborne lead exposure at the firing point, which originates from both the primer and the bullet.
150-, 158-, 165-grain
As mentioned previously with 147-grain ammunition, one of the main benefits of a heavier projectile is the subsonic velocities for suppressor use. Fiocchi’s 158-grain subsonic ammo is a good staple to have on hand, if you do a lot of suppressed shooting. The increased bullet weight makes for an incredibly quiet round, and it’s not much more expensive than standard 147-grain. Ammo Inc. produces its “stelTH” 165-grain cartridge with a fusion of proprietary hyperclean technology, precision standards, and leading suppressor manufacturer collaboration. The stelTH line was designed from the ground up with both decibel drop and cleanliness in mind.
Federal offers a Syntech Action Pistol cartridge with a 150-grain TSJ projectile. Syntech Action Pistol is designed for action shooting sports and loaded to power factor requirements with heavy projectiles. This allows for more reliable knockdown on steel targets in competition. Like other Syntech loads, you have the exclusive TSJ, or Total Synthetic Jacket.
The DoubleTap Equalizer 165-grain is some of the most technologically-advanced, civilian handgun ammunition on the market. The duplex-type ammo design puts two hits on target with every shot. The Equalizer +P load delivers two projectiles, a 115-grain JHP bullet that is made to expand at lower velocity and a 50-grain flat hardcast disk for a projectile with deep penetration. Now with reliable accuracy, the first stage hollow point hits point of aim and the two projectiles group tightly out to 25 yards.
185-grain
The heaviest 9mm bullet grain I found available is 185 grains from Seismic Ammunition. Incredible, that’s well into .45 ACP territory. This round follows the philosophy, “Heavier Hits Harder.” The Quakemaker +M projectile is designed with 160% of the grain weight of a standard 9mm. ShellShock casing, designed to be half the weight and twice the strength as traditional brass, and is less abrasive on internal components. Traveling at subsonic velocities, it is great for suppressor use as well.
Final Thoughts
When deciding on which bullet grain weight to use in your 9mm, it is important to first determine your intended use. Do you need a high-velocity round for increased penetration? Do you need something subsonic for suppressor use? Fortunately, there’s no shortage of options in bullet weights and designs for the 9mm, but be sure to go with a quality manufacturer and test your ammo in your firearm.
I started a thread on 1911Addicts.com asking shooters for their input on what ammo I should select for my own personal 9mm bullet weight test. Between their suggestions and my own research I decided on Atlanta Arms, ASYM, Wilson Combat, and Nosler. I then got to thinking about my previous accuracy tests with .45 caliber ammo and how well duty ammo has performed. Given the cost of some of these match rounds if I can get the same performance from a less expensive duty round then I’d be a fool not to. To fill out the duty ammo manufacturers I went with Federal, Speer, Hornady, and Underwood, 115 grain, 124 grain, and 147 grain. All of these manufacturers are known for making some of the best defensive rounds available. My conclusion was that 115 grains rounds perform in a superior fashion. They combined for the best balance of power, penetration, and expansion. I used each round in live-fire drills on my pig farm and the results were outstanding. The 115’s were an ethical way to harvest domestic swine. I found that well placed shots behind the shoulder delivered quick incapacitation 99% of the time, though since I am a relatively poor shot, there is only a 40% chance of that.
124gr is my choice. It’s a balance of velocity and power, in my opinion.
I think the most important decision is FMJ vs. self-defense. I think you get both, but make sure you have plenty of self-defense. 124gr will do the job, close range.
@DONALD – I don’t think that he meant to offend you/her or she/her the English teacher, I think the OP made some valid points, as did you.
Parody is a delicate process that requires a receptive audience. I fear my efforts are wasted like Pearls before…….
Oh Nevermind.
@115 ALL THE WAY: When people want my pronouns, the first thing that comes to my mind is “NOT NO, BUT NO TO THE HELL NO!” This may be JUST me on this thread, but making pronoun usage a thing in order not to offend is one of the most inane and ridiculous concepts to come out of our culture in the last 100 years. Those who are easily offended by wrong pronoun usage, from my standpoint, have issues for which intense therapy is needed. Fifteen years ago, I would have suggested the Marine Corps but today, I’m not so sure that would work some of the flakiness I have seen.
One thing I have noticed is when people have no valid response to comments made in rebuttal of their points, they try to soothe their damaged ego by trying to throw shade on the one who hurt their feelings with facts. It tells me they have nothing of value to add to the discussion and they are trying to save face, but it is only in their mind where that works. I would say I am sorry I hurt your feelings, but that would be a lie. I do not have feelings when it comes your feelings being hurt.
There are some who would say I have no feelings. That it not true. I have pretty good feeling in my hands. Most of the feeling I have in my feet involve various levels of pain, but that has been there for years and it’s not something I like to talk about. Nobody likes people who complain about their aches and pains. Life is tough, Suck it up, buttercup.
@BO:
Please edit your last post to include your pronouns so that my next post does not offend you.
Same goes for you English teacher, though I’m pretty sure you’re a him/her.
@115 ALL THE WAY; First, feeling the need to identify a nurse by gender is kind of clueless and classless. That is so 1970’s. In healthcare today, those professionals are not referred to by gender. Try making a point to a physician that she is a female physician, and it will probably not go well for you. You need to step up into the 21st Century.
I don’t know if you have ever been fired upon or ever have had to draw a weapon on another human being, but I have BT, DT, multiple times, on both of those. (I did not care for the experience any of those times, not my idea of fun or the way I would want to spend any weekend.)
As far as seeing and treating GSW victims, for me it would number well into the triple digits, if not four. As an Army medic, and ER nurse, I have seen and treated more GSWs than I can count. My statement as to the 115 gr slug being inadequate, I would point out that SA Dove fired the round that was attributed with Platt’s demise.
But if you do due diligence, by researching the shooting, you will find that after SA Dove shot Platt, Platt was shot several more times. After sustaining the wound fired by SA Dove, he fired multiple rounds from a mini-14, wounding two more agents, SA Orrantia and SA McNeill. He continued to fire and hit SA Dove’s weapon, disabling it. While SA Dove was working to regain use of his weapon, Platt advanced upon SAs Dove, Grogan, and Hanlon, shooting all three, killing Grogan and Dove, in an effort to commandeer their vehicle. Once in the vehicle he continued to fire 3 rounds from a Dan Wesson revolver.
As he was trying to start the dead agents’ vehicle, SA Mireles advanced and fired on both Platt and Matrix, emptying his .357 revolver. The sixth round penetrated Platt’s chest and bruised his spinal cord, rendering him unable to fight any more.
The fact that after being shot with that 115-grain slug, et al. Platt killed two agents and severely wounded a third which would indicate that the round was inadequate. It did not terminate the engagement. It did not perform adequately. To have performed adequately, it would have rendered Platt unable to fight. It did not do that. That is what I, and the FBI, consider to be a very poor performance. Having drawn on other people who demonstrate ill intent toward me by presenting a weapon, I consider a fine performance to be whatever round they are hit with will end their hostile actions. If someone is shot multiple times and they continue to sling lead in your direction, I can almost guarantee you that you would not say those rounds were performing fine. If I am called upon to shoot at someone, a fine performance is one hit and the fray is over and the other person is falling to the ground, unable to fire at me or the guys on our team. I realize that with my background in the Army, albeit 50 plus years ago, I might be considered to be a bit biased.
The only people I have run into who disagree with that premise are those who have never been on the receiving end of incoming rounds. As I said, I might be considered to be a bit biased. But, I came home and there were too many (some 58, 000 plus) that did not.
115 all the way. I suspect that the male nurse and the English teacher have never talked to a bad guy shot through the chest with a 115 who suggested that it was not an adequate performer.
The FBI report notes that the testing was primarily conducted through auto glass, drywall, and clothing. Such was not the case in the Miami shootout. The shot at issue had to penetrate an arm, shatter and carry on through a bone, and then enter the chest cavity. It performed fine.
Funny how the FBI dropped the .38’s after that shootout and are now back to the 9mm, albeit with new 135 grain ammo that bears a plastic ballistic insert.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrboESrwpdI&t=398s
@DALLASPDRANGEMASTER(RETIRED)
There are also a plethora of Grammatical and Punctuation Errors contained within your response that cast doubt upon the veracity of this entire chain of communication.
As an adjunct professor of English and Literature besides my authority is beyond reproach and as such I must correct the way you failed to Conjugate the Verbs used in the sentences plus your failures in using the proper Adjectives “Before” the Nouns is a Rookie Mistake that makes one question whether this Letter itself was not AI Generated.
@DALLASPDRANGEMASTER(RETIRED): There are factual problems with your statements, which I count as hyperbole. Before I begin, let me give you my credentials. I was an Army Medic some 50 years ago, (long ago and far away) on a team that did fun things like SAR/Recon. Then I worked ER for more than 30 years. When I retired from ER nursing, I taught Critical Care as a Nurse Educator.
Now, to the problems I see with your statements. First: the names of the men in the FBI Miami shootout were Michael Lee Platt and William Russell Matix. You were incorrect on the names. That kind of an error places the sourcing of your information on the “suspicious list.”
Second, the 115 gr Silvertip in 9 mm has a muzzle velocity of 1225 fps per Winchester’s website. This is insufficient velocity to “shred” tissue of any sort let alone lung tissue, after the projectile struck the humerus and shattered it. Any pistol round that shatters a bone, as you say, will expend the bulk of its energy in the “shattering.” The bullet or its fragments may continue on, but they will not do much more than just punch holes. In this case, the 9 mm round fired by SA Dove was attributed with Platt’s demise, but his incapacity did not occur until later. It did penetrate into his right chest but stopped inches from his heart. The aorta is on the other side of the heart. But, even after that wound was sustained, Platt continued to fire at the agents before he was incapacitated when shot several times by SA Mireles with a .357. This is according to reports by the FBI and other agencies at the time. The 9 mm round that took his life did NOT do so in a timely manner. It was not effective when it needed to be. The FBI assessment of that round was correct. Platt sustained a wound that in the end was a mortal wound, but it did not take him out of the fight in a timely manner. He continued to shoot at other agents. That was a failure on the part of that round.
Now, as far as bullets shredding tissue, a rifle round can “shred” a lung, but generally only when the velocity gets up into the 2,700-3,000 fps or more range. I have seen where 7.62×39 rounds were lung shots at distances of less than 100 yards but they did not shred lungs. There have been survivors of chest hits with the AK., so their lungs were not shredded. The average AK round back in the 60’s and 70’s had a weight of about 120-125 gr and had a muzzle velocity about 2,400 fps. As I have said before, I have seen a “few” wounds resulting from that round. There was no shredding of organs. I have seen people struck in a bone of an extremity and the slug stay under the skin, and travel up the extremity and strike major vessels, causing the patient to exsanguinate. I have also shot deer with that round at distances of well less than 100 yds in the last few years. It punched holes in the deer’s chest, broke ribs, dropped their lungs, but there was no shredding of lungs.
Third: your statement that incapacity did not occur until Platt had 50% blood volume loss is less than credible. On autopsy, Platt had a hemothorax with approx. 1.75 liters of free blood in the chest cavity. That is well less than 50% of an average sized adult’s circulating volume and that volume of free blood would cause incapacity in almost all adults.
Fourth: the FBI stated that toxicology reports showed both men were drug free. There was NO meth as you state.
The brain only needs two things to function, oxygen and sugar (glucose). Blood is the medium that transports those to the brain. If there is insufficient sugar or oxygen, the brain ceases to function. As an ER nurse, and Army medic, I have seen a rather high number of patients who succumbed to blood loss. There were very few who were mentally coherent after about what we considered to be just over 30% operating blood volume loss and that was on a Stryker with the head of the bed dependent to the rest of the body, in what is called Trendelenburg position. Anyone with 30% blood loss sitting or standing in an upright position will probably not have enough blood getting to the brain to function at all. I have seen people lose consciousness at less than 30% blood loss and many died before getting down to what was perceived to be 40 % volume depletion. Drugs do not change that dynamic and toxicology stated they were drug free. But, not even people on drugs can function if their brain is not getting blood, they just cannot feel the pain as they die.
It was William not Robert Platt and it was his right not left arm – been retired for a few years, sorry for typos
Bottom line is the ammo was fine. Unfortunately that round was the only good 9mm hit scored during the meat of the fight.
We switched to the 147gr subsonic ammo after this event over my objection. The 115 was and is better.
So are 5.56’s in this type of fight…
“FWIW-the 115gr. Winchester Silvertip load was what failed to stop the bad guys in the tragic Miami FBI shooting with 2 bank robbers that left 5 FBI agents dead or wounded. The Silvertips failed to penetrate deeply enough to destroy vital organs quickly.”
Not true – the round at issue struck Robert Platt in the upper left arm. It shattered Platt’s humerus and continued to exit his arm, enter his chest cavity, shred his left lung and penetrate and end up penetrating and resting in his upper aorta. He was so high on meth that it took losing more than 50% of his blood to succumb.
The FBI reaction and the the 10mm/40mm witch-hunt that followed was a knee-jerk reaction designed in part to cover the involved agents’ lack of tactical training and under-armament. If the fellas with .38’s had 9mm’s and they had more than one M-16 and one shotgun they would have been fine.
FWIW-the 115gr. Winchester Silvertip load was what failed to stop the bad guys in the tragic Miami FBI shooting with 2 bank robbers that left 5 FBI agents dead or wounded. The Silvertips failed to penetrate deeply enough to destroy vital organs quickly. If you will recall this incident started the great magic bullet hunt by the FBI at the tune of 10million $$$ to reinvent the 185gr. 45ACP JHP>the 10mm JHP>the 40 S&W. After all that where are we now? Back to the FBI with the 9mm because the soy boy college grads and lady Feds couldn’t handle the 10mm or the 40 S&W. Granted, the ammunition companies have done excellent research and development on the 9mm bullet and today we have rounds like the Federal HST, Speer Gold Dot and others than far overshadow the old 9mm hollow points of a couple decades ago.
Whoops! Just saw that I left out the “2” in the Sig Mk25 ! So much for editing.
My go to target/practice is the Speer Lawman 115 grain TMJ. (Total Metal Jacket.) The advantage of the TMJ is that the copper jacket totally encases the lead bullet, resulting in no lead fouling of the barrel, and no lead exposure (at least in my stall) at the indoor range. My defensive loads are the Hornady Critical Defense 115 grain. Now that I’ve read your article, might have to try some of the more exotic loads mentioned in my Sig P226 Mk5.
115 grain standard pressure was the original fbi load. They carried Winchester Silvertips. Easy to shoot, easy on the gun, and devastating performance that will not over-penetrate. It dumps every pound of energy into the recipient.
Thank you for the excellent explanation of all the different bullet weights and purposes. My Pistol Caliber Carbine is the first and only 9 x 19mm chambering that I own. It is used primarily as a range gun on paper and steel targets. When asked what Ammo would be best for it, I was told, “It doesn’t much matter, your barrel is too long. 9mm is designed to work in a 4″ to 5” barrel.”Now that I know there is a round designed for PCC, I will look for it.
What bullet do you chose for stopping power and no collateral damage!
Tks for your help
WMQ
Never heard of a couple of these.
Well done.
I usually carry 124 grain +P, but the new HST 147 grain is very interesting.
Bob
Thanks for an excellent article Alex. I seem to recall that at one time (several years ago) that Remington offered a 9mm loading featuring a Semi Jacketed Hollow Point bullet that was similar in design to their Revolver Cartridges with an exposed Lead Point and Scalloped Petals on the leading edge of the Copper Jacket.