What do you guys load in your sub 2k for self defense again 2 legged and 4 legged attackers?

I have two flavors of FMJ 9mm I keep on hand for my 9mm carbines, 147 grain +P bulk reloads (North Georgia Reloading) I run in my 9mm AR and Am. Eagle 147 grain flat nose (not +P) for my CX4 Storm and handguns. The Am. Eagle flat nose slug is shaped like a semi-wadcutter and cycles reliably in everything I own. Both are cheap enough to use as range/training ammo.

Read it again wanderson.

Just meant that it's ammo I consider effective against 'soft targets' but still cheap enough to practice with. I see way too many unskilled shooters practice with light range loads then buy a box of hot SD ammo that they aren't familiar with. The best SD ammo is useless if you can't put rounds on target, and if you're keeping a certain type of ammo for SHTF situations you'd better be prepared to buy enough of it to practice with and make sure it's 100% in your rifle.
I'd also try the Kel Tec Owner's Forum (KTOG) for more feedback from sub2k owner's.

I shoot all 124 grain bullets in mine and my preferred hollowpoint is Remington's BJHP Golden Saber 124 gr. Used to be able to find these bullets to reload but haven't seen any for a while. I also like Speer's 124 Gold Dot hollowpoint. Both are reliable and accurate in my Kel-Tec. Haven't used either against 2 or 4 legged targets.

FMJ is horrible for defensive ammo. Especially in a place where there's more then you and the opposing team.

I use Ranger 124 +P, when ready for business. For range, I use a good 124 FMJ. NOT +P.

I can't speak to terminal performance on a lot of them, but do have some chronograph info on various loads from my Camp-9. This is a copy & paste (from an excel file) of the results I've chrono'ed from mine with various factory loads. Averages of five-shot strings; the numeric columns are bullet weight, muzzle velocity, and muzzle energy.

These aren't in order of preference by any means; since there are different bullet weights, sorting them by velocity didn't seem particularly meaningful, so they're simply listed in order of muzzle energy, from highest to lowest:


Federal's old Hi-Shok 147's run 1148fps vs. 973 from the glock 19.
WW-USA white box 147 jhp run 1053 vs. 987. (Not nearly as much boost in the carbine as the federal gets.)
Blazer brass 115 fmj runs 1448 vs. 1076
UMC 115 fmj - 1311 vs. 1109
USA 115 JHP - 1505 vs 1159
Corbon 100 grain pow'rball - 1826 in Camp-9 vs. 1463 in G19.

Major thing to consider imo, is "how will these pistol bullets perform at these increased velocity levels?" Higher muzzle energy can potentially work against you if a bullet is over-driven. Being intended for pistol velocities, would they disrupt too quickly and fail to penetrate adequately on large targets? I can attest that the pow'rball and USA 115jhp are good critter loads on light things like foxes, possums, etc. But I'd be suspicious of how well those light bullets at those velocities would perform on bigger targets. If I were going to use the Camp-9 for defensive use, of the loads I've chrono'ed thru it, I'd probably go first with the old Federal Hi-Shok 147jhp, simply because it has a long history in the gun so I know it functions and can be trusted.

If I had (or could find) any gel-test results with other loads, I'd be real interested in their performance from the carbine; especially the 9BPLE and WW-USA 115 JHP loads. They may do fine, or they may disrupt/fragment way too shallow at those much-increased velocities. But lacking that test info, I'd stick with the 147's that I know & trust.