I just picked up some UMC 180gr JHP's @ walmart for $14/100.  I was surprised because its even cheaper than the blazer brass I normally buy for about 7.80/50 rounds.  I plan on using it for practice, but wonder if it would be decent home defense ammo?

Do some shooting with it and see how well your pistol likes it.  I think it'd be ok.  Shot placement is 100% most important aspect of any ammo you'll use.

Well, better then nothing.....

But I haven't seen any actual tests so I also would be interested if anyone had any info about penetration/expension.

Thanks for the answers.  

Has anyone seen cheaper .40 S&W than $7 per 50?

I was looking to see if anyone had any expansion results.  I'll probably just get some gold dots for protection.

My local Wally World doesn't carry the UMC yet, they still had WWB JHP.

the local wally world round here carries a mix bag of UMC and WWB. I recently started buying independace though from my local gun mart because it was like 15 cents cheaper per box.

That is cheaper than the WWB which I think is about $16 or $17 here.

I usually get Wolf .40 for about $65 ($6.50 a box) at the local gunshow.

IIRC, the UMC 180 HP's are up around $17 or $18 here, not $14.

WIZZO

Got a crap load of wolf sitting around my place now. Bought a thousand rounds of it only to find out my USP doesnt like it vary much...oh well, lessoned learned

Quoted: Got a crap load of wolf sitting around my place now. Bought a thousand rounds of it only to find out my USP doesnt like it vary much...oh well, lessoned learned

Ouch!

My XD-40 eats it like candy with purdy decent accuracy, too.

WIZZO

for those looking for expansion results, I've shot some.  I have a pic from the last shooting trip my friends and I made, and will post pics tomorrow.  Actually, it's 12 am here, so I guess I'll post pics later today.  BTW, there's a guy, don't remember his name, build what's called the box o truth and one variation is the water box o truth.  My friends and I built one and shot these into gallon jugs filled with water.  What we shot was in 9mm caliber for the Rem hollow points, so it was only 115 gr. JHP.  This weekend we will go back and get some more pics and test more.  On our trip we also shot some Golden Sabers which did awesome, and I will post pics of those as well.  The golden sabers were shot in both 9mm and .40 calibers.

I just checked my local Wallyworld.  Remington UMC was 25$/100.  WWB was 21$/100.  

I just got 5000rds of brass off the EE, plus the ~1000 I have collected from the range.  I think I am going to start reloading.  ;)

Ok, I promised expansion results and here they are.  Before I begin, I feel it is important to note that the jacket in the regular 9mm 115 Remington and the .40cal Golden saber seperated from the jacket each time we tested it.  The 9mm golden saber however stayed in tact with one another each time we tested it.  Pretty consistent results except for one bad shot. Personally I wouldn't want to get hit by any bullet much less hollow points that expand like these did.  I personally carry 9mm golden saber as defense rounds, but keep 2 extra mags loaded with the 115 gr. rem hp.  Also, notice how smooth the Rem HP is compared to the Golden Sabers, which suggest a different alloy of the lead.  Very intersting results.


This set of pictures is the standard 115gr. Remington HP
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e238/kavuking/Bullet%20Expansion/9mmrhp1.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e238/kavuking/Bullet%20Expansion/9mmrhp.jpg

This is the 9mm Golden Saber 147gr. HP
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e238/kavuking/Bullet%20Expansion/9mmgsj1.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e238/kavuking/Bullet%20Expansion/9mmgs.jpg

This is the .40cal Golden Saber HP (not sure the grain)
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e238/kavuking/Bullet%20Expansion/40calgsj.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e238/kavuking/Bullet%20Expansion/40calgs.jpg

This is the comparison of all 3.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e238/kavuking/Bullet%20Expansion/comp.jpg

I bought a 100 pk @ wally world tonight.

WWB was 16.xx  the UMC was 17.xx  (I can't recall the change, but it was at least $1.00 more for the UMC)

At my local wally world, 9mm WWB is 100rd for 11.97, and the Rem is 100rd for 14.97

Quoted: That is cheaper than the WWB which I think is about $16 or $17 here.

I work there, the winchester 100rds boxes in the pac northwest are now $17/100 the remington Hps are 20/100

Just ran to Walmart here in Texas 21.98 and box for 100 UMC.