Factory JHP, Mexican match or full reloads

[30cal_Fun]

Personal defence 9mm ammunition is completely unavailable here.
However, reloading components and standard 9mm ammo are plentiful.

As I see it I have tree options:
1: Buy factory JHP target ammunition.
2: Make Mexican match with standard factory FMJ ammo.
3: Reload from scratch with suitable bullets.

1 Factory target JHP
Simpelest option. It was tested to function reliably in a variaty of handguns, if my handgun fires say 100-200 rounds without problems than I can depend on it to function well. I won't have to worry about variables like seating depth, neck tension or the amount of crimp like in option 2 and 3. But with no data on expension in soft targets like balistics gel there is no telling how suited this ammo is for personal defense. It was never nesigned for this purpose so there is no telling how it will perform in this scenario.
I can get Magtech 115 JHP, Selliet & Bellot 115 JHP and Geco 115 JHP.

2 Mexican match
Pull the bullets off of factory FMJ ammo, possibly increase the load 5-10% to get some extra velocity and replace with suitable bullet of same weight (Speer gold dot for instance).
This option takes little effort but what I am worried about is reliability.
Neck tension could be anywhere, so velocity could vary a lot. Resizing could solve this but will probably also lengthen the case which means trimming is needed which can't be done with the primer in place which would make it more work than full reloads.
I have made plenty of 7.62x54R Mexican match for my Mosin with no problem, but personal defense ammo for a semi-auto handgun is a completely different story, one that I have no experience with.
I can get a variety of factory 115 and 124 grain FMJ ammo.

3 Full reloads
Most time and cost intensive but I know exactly what and how much the ammo is made of. However, I would have to test a lot of it to make sure it functions reliably. Also, I don't have a chronograph, so I would have no idea about velocity.
As for suitable bullets I have been able to find Speer Gold Dot, Remington Golden Saber and Hornady XTP, all in 115, 124 and 147 gr.

Which option would you pick and why?

[Snyper]

Forget the FMJ, and either get the factory loads, or just "roll your own".

I like my own reloads because I know they are all consistant

[Jimro]

I would try the commercial Magtech, S&B, and Geco 115gr JHP loads first.

After all, a box of commercial ammo every six months is a very modest expense when rotating through your carry mags.

Jimro

[30cal_Fun]

Thanks for your replies!

I've done some more searching and it seems like making Mexican match would cost me more time effort and money than what it's worth.
So I'm bringing down the options to either factory JHP or reloads.

[mikld]

Hmmm, Mexican Match? Mebbe I'm touchy 'cause I grew up in So. CA and my step Mom was Mexican, I grew up on pinto beans and tortillas, and Mexican Match doesn't sound real complimentary, but I know you were just using the term innocently ).

As for your dilemma, I would think you have two options; reload with the components you prefer (as SD bullets) or practice shooting, under stress, to put a magazine full into a 4" circle at 7 yards with your FMJ ammo. 2 or three good hits with standard ammo will work much better than 5 or 6 close misses with Hi Tech self defense ammo Also, testing reloads for reliability is good practice too...

[Forrest68]

Never heard the term , " Mexican Match " being half mexican it bothers me not one bit. Think people get too caught up in political correctness. On th eammo subject, I mostly stick with factory JHP for my self defence, but when the need arises, I've loaded my own as well , honestly I think it just boils down to personal preference. Good Luck

[30cal_Fun]

I'm sorry if the term sounded offensive, no offence was meant.
The term Mexican Match refers to pulling the pullets off of factory or mil-surp ammo and replacing them with high-quality bullets, re-using the original primed case and powder.
About the origin of the name:
I think somewhere in the 70' the US Army shooting team had a competition in Mexico and, being unsatisfied with the performance of the 168 grain match ammo they where given they pulled the bullets and replaced them with 175 grain match bullets.
So the "Mexican" only refers to the original place this reloading technique was first used and the "Match" refers to the better quality rounds that come out of the process.
I hope this clarifies it.


Now to get back on topic:
I think I'll see if I can test some factory JHP first.
Here are the listed velocities of the factory JHP ammunition that is available to me.All velocities are for a 4" barrel.

Geco 115 JHP: 1137 fps
Sellier & Bellot 115 JHP: 1158 fps
Magtech 115 JHP: 1155 fps

All three are very close in listed velocity.
Speer Gold dot 115 grain standard pressure is listed as 1210 fps (4" barrel), is 1150 fps still a reasonable velocity for a 115 JHP personal defence round out of a 4" barrel?

[skizzums]

You need not trim cases after pulling the bullet. I have 9mm that I have fired and resized more than 5 times that haven't needed a trim yet. If want to do Mexican match, I assume you already reload, so just dump the powder, full re-size and reload as you normally would. That wouldn't be any different than just starting from a once fired case except you won't be deprime or priming.

But since your already doing all that, you might as well shoot the brass first and then work up a load of your choice. Unless you don't have access to good powders or primers. I personally load most all my SD ammo with hs-6 because it tends to run a little faster than my other options. Good luck, do whatever is available to you, if you do the mexi-cali match, make sure it runs reliablely, although I see no reason why it wouldn't.

Btw, I bought a box of ppu target hollow points, just looked like the cut the top off an fmj and drilled a hole in the top, but they expanded wonderfully on water jugs, just as good as the hornadays and federal defense ammos I tested.ill post some pics later

[hartcreek]

Roll your own BUT some 9mms will not cycle reliably with 115 grain bullets so you have to know that yours will before loading up thousands.

[longspurr]

30cal
I remember miltary shooting refering to "mexican match" ammo when I was in during the 70's. We got lots of ball ammo, but not much match ammo. We did our own reloading as you say. Pulling bullets and replacing them with similar weight Sierra equivlent.

I still like this approach as the hard part of reloading is already done, we are just seating new bullets. Minimal reloading equipment is needed.

If used as personal defense ammo, and the gun & ammo is seized after a shooting, the PD likely would think this was factory ammo. For what ever that is worth.

[Hummer70]

If the 9MM you have access to over there is designed for SMGs it is quite hot and not all 9MM handguns will not take a steady diet of it without shortening the life of you pistol.