I am one of the unfortunate officers who had to use lethal force while on duty so I know this first hand. If you are using a full size and/or quality pistol you should be fine shooting +P. Honestly, if you intend to shoot that much heavy ammo, you might ought to look into getting … Caribou Media Group may earn a commission from qualifying purchases. American made 9mm Luger didn't always function these guns. Pretty much any new.45 will be +p rated. Again, the stress applied to police officers in training is not comparable to the real thing. Velocity increase is modest, however. The stress involves moving, moving targets, exiting patrol cars, siren, low light, sound and other sight distraction and sim rounds being shot their way. any WW 2 surplus handgun should probably not be shot with +p. The problem was that if this round ended up in anything other than the big N-frame Smith & Wesson revolver the vibrations would end up knocking the rounds off kilter (sometimes called knocking them “loose”), resulting in malfunctions. My HK USP-SD has a "tactical" recoil spring designed to handle additional pressure from shooting suppressed. re 380 ammo. It has no problems shooting +P or even +P+ ammo. Of course you can shoot just about any 9mm Load in a RUGER BLACKHAWK.357 Convertible's 9mm cylinder. to beat up a quality gun but springs need to be changed to run right. Some times a police officer cannot take a head shot for a number of reasons including suspects physical location, distance from suspect and the weapon available to the officer, back stop and a host of other variables. I also have a Remington 522 Viper. Even my Kel Tec PF-9 is approved for limited +P usage. Will my gun blow up? If you use +P ammo, you do so at your own risk. Somewhere on the firearm will say what it can safely shoot. We spent six months and turned the corner of the recommend break-in round count on the striking Kimber Rapide Black Ice in 10mm Auto and have some things to report. Generally, the +P restriction is seen in compact guns or low quality firearms. Yes, you can often load a .380ACP cartridge into a firearm chambered for 9x19 Luger and fire it without the gun exploding. Although +P and +P+ ammunition will not damage your ‘XD’ , a steady diet of this higher power ammo may decrease the service life of the barrel and/or firearm. Be sure to check the stamp on the bottom of the casing to identify ammo marked as +P. The offering is another quality product from CCI, who already create some of the best .22 LR ammo around. They are as follows; Ruger Red Hawk, Ruger Super Red Hawk (the Ruger Alaskan is a short barrel Super Redhawk), Ruger Super Blackhawk or Vaquero, Freedom Arms Model 83, Taurus Raging Bull All Steel Versions (no lightweight alloys), Colt Anaconda, Magnum Research BFR and Dan Wesson Revolvers. That said, if you are not sure of what your handgun can take, then I advise you to call the people that made the gun in the first place.  Contacting gun makers is much easier than you think; usually contact forms listed on a company’s website are answered expediently and thoroughly (and not just for outfits like Guns.com but any and all customers). Decent comment but I strongly disagree with you that most officers are out there comfortably trying to go for the 1 tap.. Go watch 10 thousand police shooting videos.. You wiil find a few where high level swat officers going for headshot first but aside from the million reasons that headshots are not as viable someone like you who sounds like they know a decent amount should understand why headshots are not the first choice in more then 90 percent of police situations.. Now that’s just the normal reason they don’t but even police officers who train everyday do not encounter nearly enough situations where they discharge there weapon when they are faced with death to be comfortable going for the headshot first.. Its like mike tyson always said… Everyone always has a plan until they get punched in the face… Now there are plenty out there who have the ability to make the shot but to say that most cops could pull off a headshot while being shot at from even 15 yards is bullshit… Now im not gonna go into all the other reasons even though there are many.. No problems with the Canadian made Hi-Powers. I know many people who do shoot even hotter rounds through their smaller guns, but the key to some level seems to be never a steady diet of them. Essentially, if you have a gun that takes 9mm ammo, you can increase your velocity and power with 9mm +P cartridges without purchasing a new firearm. The gun was designed to shoot a certain way. This is because the original .45 Colt was a black powder round, and there are a lot of very old guns still capable of shooting that round. as usual, direct, to-the-point and clear. Arguably, the first +P round was .38 Super. Get the latest news and reviews from Gundigest.com. Guns designed as such will have the +P designation indicated with the caliber. JSP will work in anything as long as it's the correct loading for the gun. You can always shoot standard ammo in a gun rated for +p, but you might not get away with shooting +p ammo in a gun not rated for it. The .38 Special is now a bona fide centurion (and then some) but back in 1974, it got a well needed kick in the pants when SAAMI gave a +P rating to any load over 17,000 PSI but under 20,000 PSI. I've followed, essentially, the same course ever since. It will take a lot of rds. Expansion of the bullet helps, but there must be reliable penetration to get to those vital areas. Is it really as hot as advertised and how does it compare to the .38 Special of old? For decades the most common bullet that you could find in the .38 Special was the old 158-grain lead round nose, which proved lackluster in the ways of personal defense. There has been an error with your Email Subscription. The real problem though that I see is that with so many revolvers and pocket pistols out there chambered in .38 special, the market has become far too large for shooters to keep track of.  Many are just plain confused as to the construction of the gun versus the power of the round and accordingly, stick with the standard velocity stuff because they are worried their gun will suddenly turn into a hand grenade if they load the more powerful +P rounds. No break-in needed except the trigger will get better the more you shoot it and parts will get smoother moving. You must know if it can handle +P ammo before you use +P ammo in it. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. As you can see, .38 +P ammo is loaded to about 17% higher pressure than standard loads. Any .357 magnum and .38 special ammo will work in both revolvers and rifles. The amount of pressure change isn’t a standard percentage, but rather it’s based on the individual caliber and the design of the firearms available. Well, I can’t say what the cartridge will do to your gun, but as with anything in life there are always risks and a wise man would heed the advice of those closest to it (i.e. All About Plus P Ammo and Using It. I carry the 9PBLE and practice with White Box. In the past few years, many gun owners took the availability of cheap, effective, and reliable 9mm Luger ammo for granted. The spec for +p is 23,000 psi - not even 10% higher. If for some reason you cannot do that, contact a reputable gunsmith. I'd say any gun made after 1970 is a pretty safe bet. rds95991, Nov 25, 2017 In all of those years lies a lot of range time, both on and off-duty. As far as ammo, in my 1:9 twist, I prefer 62 gr ammo. +P is most often used for self-defense purposes. Police officers are trained very well, And I would further argue that they may be trained better than most military, excluding special forces of course. Identifying +P Ammo Modern ammo cartridges can look very similar. This new load is designed ONLY for certain firearms. FWIW, there is a SAAMI standard for what IS +p ammo (only in .38 Special and 9mm Parabellum. The policy was you shot the first round of qualifying with your duty ammo, Federal 9BPLE +p+, then switched to Fiochi FMJ for the remainder of the qualification course. Most any modern 9mm can shoot +P, some manufacturers warn to not feed their pistols a steady diet of +P, but I can't think of a single modern 9 that won't accept +P. He’s also a shooting instructor and runs Lewis Creek Shooting School in High Point, N.C. In some cases it is worth it, such as when a little more velocity is needed to ensure reliable bullet expansion. Disclosure: Some of these links are affiliate links. He’s a Distinguished Rifleman, and former High Master, who captained and coached a High Power rifle team on a national level, winning six Dogs of War medals. Remember, however, that if you face a life-threatening situation, you’re not likely to feel the recoil, just like hunters don’t notice the recoil when taking game. If you plan on shooting a steady diet of it, plan on servicing your pistol sooner. These rounds have been around for a century or more, and many of the guns chambered for them simply couldn’t handle a sizable increase in pressure. Our ammo of choice is labeled as "+P", whatever that is. As a result, ammunition for defense should be capable of penetrating sufficiently to access vital organs and generate massive blood loss. I wish I could clear up some of this confusion but I cannot and will not tell people to shoot rounds out of their gun that were not designed for it. Glock pistols are conditionally approved to fire +P ammunition that is within SAAMI guidelines for the caliber. The energy produced by ammunition is what provides penetration and expansion. Before I had either, I assumed every type of gun … My argument is that most police officers are on the job for 20-30 years. Just because a firearm is of newer manufacture doesn’t mean it’s capable of handling +P ammunition. (Assuming your gun can handle +P ammo; more on gun specs below.) Usually, the cheapest rounds…but some guns don’t like them. Normal training can be done with standard ammunition, but +P defensive ammunition will give you a better chance if you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of having to use your gun to defend your life. Please try again. Guns designed as such will have the +P designation indicated with the caliber. I see this question come up a lot with Smith & Wesson revolvers, especially the smaller guns like the little J-frames like the Chief’s Special and in Colt’s Detective Special. I recently had the good fortune to receive a new ammunition line from CCI called Clean-22. It would be an easier list to list the modern guns not rated for +p like diamondback and kimber solo. No handgun ammunition for practical defense applications is capable of producing hydrostatic shock, which disrupts tissue far beyond the wound channel. +P itself is a fairly new innovation, so while many older handguns could handle it, they won’t be rated to it because the standard didn’t exist when they were made. excellent !! I suggest you avoid the forums and Internet articles (accept this one of course!) I almost feel your comment was a dig to professional police officers everywhere and should have been left out. The object of defensive ammunition is to stop the threat, and in most cases that means wielding a lethal blow to the assailant. Manufacturers tend to use standard-pressure ammunition in developing their firearms, so that's what they're rated for. Until the 1970s, most ammunition for defensive use was the same ammunition used for target practice, training and military use. Remington Thunderbolt. For instance, the pressure increase for .38 Special and 9mm Luger is only about 10 percent, but the pressure increase for .45 Colt is almost double the pressure of standard ammunition. the designers).  At the end of the day it’s your gun and your choice but I think it would be prudent to do what the manufacturer says (I won’t say different). Lawmen found in the early days that the old 158 grain lead bullet failed to penetrate just about anything with authority so out came the .38-44 which took the .38 Special to new heights (and speeds clocking in around 1,100 fps—quite the feat for the 1930s). The more energy, the better the chance the projectile will penetrate and/or expand. Forever since, the question “Can my revolver handle +P ammunition?” has been posted on gun forums and eliciting responses of derision, speculation, precise wisdom and even downright hilarity. A majority of law enforcement officers these days are trained under stress, as much stress that could be produced at a sterile range environment. It can also be shot in Winchester and Marlin 1894 rifles. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com) Thank you! Any quality hp will do what you want it to. It’s an identical case to the old .38 Auto, but .38 Super is loaded to about 36,000 psi compared to .38 Auto at about 26,000 psi. Stay in the know. None of this ammunition provided bullet expansion. The modern guns chambered for the .45 Colt round are almost identical to guns chambered for .44 Magnum and are capable of much higher pressures without distress. Get 12 Issues a year of the country's best firearms writing. Plus-P ammunition can raise the performance bar for your handgun, but a tradeoff is more recoil and muzzle blast. • +P is ok +P is good to go in a Glock. For defensive situations, more power is better, provided you can handle it. 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