So I’ve read just about everything that has been written about 9mm vs 45 and I understand the advancements of bullet designs
for the 9mm and it is cheaper yadyadyad sis boom bah, unfortunately I do not have the resources to stockpile a ridiculous amount of 9mm “ premium “ type  ammo so ball ammo is about the only thing that I can afford.
That being the case would I be better off going to something in the45acp realm?

ball ammo is for practice. premium ammo is for  you want for self defense.  You won't need that much premium ammo.  Anyway if your life is on the line you want a rifle not a pistol.

^^This
The variance in ballistic path between bullets will be insignificant in most to all self-defense encounters.

^^Right there...

The performance between 9mm Ball and .45 Ball will be identical. Looking at post mortem bullet wounds made by 9 vs. 45, you cannot tell any difference.

Shot placement will be key and 9mm will give you much more capacity in your mag and will have better penetration through car bodies. It's also 1/2 price of 45.

The 40SW is better than both 9 and 45, probably due to being truncated cone profile somewhat similar to SWC which seems to "cut" a bigger hole.

The OP can buy a case of HST or Gold Dot and be set for life. Then set aside a few cases of ball for practice...

I have zero hesitation carrying 9mm nato. I've seen what it can do.

Check into ranier ballistics 124gr plated HP.  Best of both worlds.  May want to get into reloading.

Exactly.  Cheap enough that you can put two in them if need be! :D

Keep enough HP to load your carry loadout (GTW as TNP would say). 100 rounds jhp. Stock up on 500/1k cases of ball while it's salad days.

I carry standard pressure 147gr HST.
Practice with 147gr American Eagle flat nose.

The flat nose has identical weight and velocity, and should feed the same as the open nose HST.
To make sure, I shot an IDPA match with HST while everybody looked at me like I was an idiot for wasting money.

The biggest problem with that theory is the 9mm was loaded with truncated cone bullets over a century ago.

.45 ACP has been loaded with truncated cone and semi-wadcutter bullets almost that long.

You can stockpile whatever, SHTF ball is fine IMO. There are also some hollowpoints that are pretty cheap that test pretty well like Federal 115gr JHP.

I'd test reliability with the cheapest premium JHP you can find like 9mm HST, Gold Dots or even Hornady XTP and you should be good. If you get a good deal they should be around 60 cents per round or better.

Once you know it cycles, you can carry the ammo in your mags with however much extra you can afford or you find on sale. The most likely scenario (besides not needing to shoot someone) is you'll use 1-3 rounds to stop a threat, and then possibly use your backup mags in a shootout. If you run out of your ammo in a shootout as a conceal carrier your stockpile won't be available anyways so I'd not worry too much about it.

Personally I like to not chamber the same round more than twice ... so at least I shoot one or two rounds of my carry ammo when I go to the range.

ALso for SHTF I'd prioritize your rifle and body armor as well as supplies. You don';t want to be without water or food for a few weeks and be sitting on 3k of 9mm ball lol.

Also if you do end up with 9mm ball I recommend shooting them in the face. All the material I've read suggests it will stop the quickest.

They exist sure. How many people load SWC reloads in 9 and 45 and carry that....and got involved in some SD incident to report how it worked. Yet, almost EVERY FMJ in 40SW has that profile.

I'm not saying anyone should carry 40 or any other FMJ. I'm saying that there is NO DIFFERANCE between 9 and 45 FMJ statistically.

This.  It's a bullet. Nobody wants to get  shot with one.

Flat noze 147s would get it done too.

The above is the simple answer.

You can buy Federal HST reasonably if you find it in the 50 round LE packaging and buy enough online to distribute the shipping costs across a few boxes.  Then you buy cheap fmj for range fodder practice ammo and combine them together for one shipment and freight charge.  Then you buy range fodder as needed and look for free shipping deals and keep your SD ammo in reserve.

Find a quality self defense/duty ammo you like (i.e. HST, Gold Dot, Critical Duty, etc) and buy a few hundred rounds of it. Keep enough on hand you can rotate your carry ammo once or twice a year. When you empty a box of 50 (I prefer HST) once every few years, buy another. Easy to keep up with and track.

Buy whatever bulk/cheap ammo you can find that goes bang every time. Buy it by the case and look for free shipping or great pricing. I've had good luck with LAX Ammo and SGAmmo. There are a number of high quality professional reloading companies you can look for. I look for 17 or 18 center per round delivered to my door. The point of that stuff is to practice, so as long as it functions and is reasonably accurate, I don't really care about the ballistics of it.

Yep and that is mostly what I have now, WWB and federal 147 FN. That and IMI 158s.

When my 115 WWB and NATO is gone I won't be replacing it.  147/158 only for me going forward.

Came here to post this. PSA has Winchester 9mm NATO on sale right now.

You will need to run some amount of the premium through the gun to check for feeding issues.

How much is at your discretion.

Other issues or live some where like NJ where peasants cant have hollow points.