Critical Defense ammo ???

[Johnny P]

A long time friend who has been cursed with bad eyesight since he was a kid called me about his GI issue M1 Carbine and feeding problems. He had a red dot sight installed on the Carbine and the feeding problems started. He took it to a gun shop that couldn't find the cause of the problem. I brought it home along with a couple of boxes of Hornady Critical Defense ammo. Sure enough about every 3rd or 4th shot it would fail to feed. I had brought along some GI .30 Carbine, which it fed flawlessly. The recoil was noticeably less with the GI ammo, which got me to wondering about the ejection pattern. I looked at the mount for the red dot scope which used the sight dovetail, and noticed marks on the front of the mount. The ejection pattern had been changed enough that the Hornady cases were bouncing off the mount and back forward, interrupting the feeding cycle. Took the sight off, and it worked flawlessly with the Hornady CD.

[Sunray]

There is/was a guy on another forum who was complaining about this brand just the other day. Forget if it was .30 Carbine or not, but it wasn't working properly. Critical Defense is a marketing term only.

[PhillipM]

A long time friend who has been cursed with bad eyesight since he was a kid called me about his GI issue M1 Carbine and feeding problems. He had a red dot sight installed on the Carbine and the feeding problems started. He took it to a gun shop that couldn't find the cause of the problem. I brought it home along with a couple of boxes of Hornady Critical Defense ammo. Sure enough about every 3rd or 4th shot it would fail to feed. I had brought along some GI .30 Carbine, which it fed flawlessly. The recoil was noticeably less with the GI ammo, which got me to wondering about the ejection pattern. I looked at the mount for the red dot scope which used the sight dovetail, and noticed marks on the front of the mount. The ejection pattern had been changed enough that the Hornady cases were bouncing off the mount and back forward, interrupting the feeding cycle. Took the sight off, and it worked flawlessly with the Hornady CD.

That's good to know, I was contemplating a red dot mounted like that.

[Johnny P]

As noted, it worked fine with the GI ammo.

[da gimp]

I don't know about their use in .30 carbines............ but Art our old retired Border Patrolman pistolero reports that the Speer Gold Dot bullets & loads in different calibres are great & proven stoppers................when he suggests duty loads/ammo to me, I pay attention.

[skinsfan]

thanks folks..i tampered with hand rolling sometime back but got myself making too many small mistakes...i certainly wouldn't trust my knowledge for a SHTF round...for anyone not familiar with these they are not so much a common soft point but they have a very small hole in the tip of the pullet plugged by a rubber-like material that is supposed to prevent soft materials from clogging up the works and preventing full expansion.....also "low flash powder" and nickel cases for easy viewing in the dark....scott

[da gimp]

the hornady CDX is great.............. but I'd still rather roll my own............ & the powder used is supposed to be Unique............... the newer Unique has less flash than our okd stuff. Luckily I'd gotten a big xxxx right before Clinton ran for pres & already had much on hand..... it's my go to powder for nearly all handgun loads.....................so I haven't had to get the new stuff yet. I just wish they took care of the people who put them in business & kept them in business for decades.......................

[Faulkner]

I bought a box of the Critical Defense ammo and ran it through a couple of carbines with no problems. I used water filled milk jugs as targets and the results were unscientific but impressive.

I also prefer to roll my own .30 carbine hunting ammo and I use Winchester 110 grain jacketed soft/hollow points. I've taken a number of ferel hogs, several whitetail deer, and quite a few coyotes with this round and it does the number. They feed flawlessly through my several M1 carbines. I would not hesitate at all to use this bullet for defensive purposes.

[da gimp]

Faulk. are you getting any expansion at all with those Win. bullets? Have you recovered any from the bodies of those hogs? if so, could you post pix of them? thanks sir.

[FPrice]

Hi all.

Glad I checked in today since I had asked a similar question on my local forum and had gotten no response. I found two boxes locally and want to try them out soon.