Hey everyone, just turned 21 in august and purchased my first handgun, a xd-9 od green.  The sales clerk talked me into 2 box's of reminginton Goldren sabers 147 grain jackted hollow point.  Is this a good choice for home defense ammo?  and if not, whitch would be?
Thank you in advance.
-sam

That should work just fine.

Just because they've been used by the NYPD, and the Orlando PD respectively doesn't make them the best home defense round.  Speer Gold Dots just aren't good enough for me.  BUT, I would go with Winchester Ranger SXT's(127gr +P+, just like the Orlando PD used) or the Golden Saber's if I had a 9mm with the expressed purpose of putting down dangerous criminals.  I just trust them the most(don't ignore Cor-Bon ammo either, it was made for the short barrels found in handguns and as such uses very fast burning powder= higher velocity/better expansion).

Quoted: Speer Gold Dot 124gr +p or Winchester Ranger 127gr +p+ are the two top 9mm self defense loads currently going.

+1, can't go wrong with either

My ammo recomendation is that you get lots of it.

Pick up some FMJ rounds to help you get use to the gun and try one box of the Golden sabers in your gun!  If it works for the first box then the second can be your carry rounds.  I would buy 500 rounds of FMJ and put at least 250 through it to see if you can trust the gun.

Congrats on your first Handgun and learn to use it safely!

My choice would be Speer Gold Dots.  Heres a link that floats around in the ammo subforum:

www.tacticalforums.com/cgi-bin/tacticalubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=78;t=000964

With good shot placement all modern hollow points should be adequate.

I'm a personal fan of winchester rangers.  I was using 127 +P+ until recently when i switched to 147's.

The 147 rangers are the way to go.  Less recoil, less blast, better penetration, similar expansion to the 127's.  There was no down side.  Gel tests are good and several CA law enforcement agencies that use them have had excelent results in shootings.