been seeing this stuff online and at my local shops, is this stuff decent for HD or for hunting purposes as well? anyone done any ballistic tests on it?

Hard primers that were touch and go in my AR even with a full power hammer spring.  All others worked fine.

As unscientific as it is I bought some to test and so far haven't had any issues.  I'll probably get some more if I see it on sale.

It has fed and went bang every time I've shot it.
It has anchored a few coyotes, no projectiles recovered.  All pass through.
I have saved a fee rounds of it to shoot through a carhartt vest and into gel.  Whenever I get around to it.

It is quite expensive for what it is. And even Hornady said it is only for short range use. It has a G1 BC of .175 for the 55 grain which is garbage in my opinion, 55 grain Vmax has a BC of .255 for comparison. So for me that would be a useful range of less than 100 yards for around 1.00 per round or more in most cases. Most will say well why does it matter when you will not take a SD shot over 100 yards. Because I buy ammo that works in a multitude of situations, not just one. You're better off with Federal Fusion 62 grain or Gold Dot as a multi purpose round. If you have no use for barrier defeating rounds, you will not beat the 77 grain TMK period. I will not speak to M855A1 as its unobtanium aside from gun broker prices at like 2.50-3.00 a round. If you can afford that and are willing to pay the price get some M855A1, it is one hell of a round. If you really want the FTX round I would seek out the 73 grain and forget about the 55 grain.

Has anyone shot hogs with it or done a Paul Harrell meat target? I know gel is the standard but I like seeing what happens when these rounds hit bone and what their wounds would look like as opposed to just gel.

Not a fan of the critical defense line. The penetration isn’t there as shown in the  videos posted above. Another point mentioned is Hornady sells better defense ammo if you have an sbr the 75gr interlock would be a much better option if you want to stick with hornady. Take a look at Molons work regarding the 62gr gold dot/fusion. Everybody is going to recommend this round because of its terminal properties and it’s quite accurate even more so if you roll your own. There are other options too but can go wrong with 62gr/75gr gold dot.

Thank you I picked up 3 boxes, was gonna try one out but figured Itd b ok to have a few different flavors here an there, got em at $23/ box or so locally, also got 6 boxes of the Hornady black 75 gr btjhp, have you any experience with the Hornady black as well?

appreciate that, I will check those out for sure. got 3 boxes just because why not, and I went with the 73gr, figured att the price there is no reason to go 55gr.

Issue is I have yet to find any speer gold dot or similar anywhere. at least that isnt insanely priced.

How high on your list of priorities for defense ammunition is the ability to penetrate auto glass? If this isn’t a concern 55gr Gold is on target sports for 5 cents more per round and I would take that over Critical Defense. Federal also offers a 64gr non bonded JSP it’s fantastic for its price and preforms well if barriers are not a concern.