It is a good practice to change out your defensive ammunition every four to six months. Most gun owners will hem and haw over that advice, citing that the “expense” is too great to do that twice a year. If you ask us, it sounds far more expensive to get a click instead of a bang in a life or death situation. Hell, even if you do survive getting your ass kicked the emergency room, copayment will likely cost more than one lonely box of carry ammo. Of course, good quality ammunition will last far longer than that–as long as it isn’t subjected to too much moisture, but why chance it? Federal is aware of the frugality of the average defender and now offers the perfect solution to the concealed carry licensee, Punch Ammunition.
The Punch line of ammunition was built with economy in mind. In essence, it is affordable man-stopping fodder for your favorite carry pistol. Now we know exactly how that reads (cheap), but it’s not as bad as it sounds, not bad at all really. You see, the buck-a-bullet price tag that comes with typical defensive ammunition is a byproduct of the research, development, manufacturing, and materials that goes into getting those rounds from the drawing board to the gun store shelf. These rounds are designed to meet stringent law enforcement tests that include defeating barriers like plywood, glass, metal, and anything else that a bad guy might be hiding behind.
A civilian’s typical firefight is far less dramatic. In reality, a confrontation usually happens directly and if the threat is seeking cover the civilian usually has the option of stopping the altercation by fleeing the situation. I mean, if I’m in my car I’m going to pound the gas pedal before I contemplate shooting through the windshield. (Besides, the Safelite guy is a total asshole about covering bullet holes under my insurance.) So overall these rounds are built to do solely the job that the intended customer desires and are inexpensive enough to swap out…even practice with should your budget allow.
So how did they do it? Federal Product Manager Chris Laack says: “We looked at specifications from our Hydra-Shok Deep, HST, and other bullet designs, and took what made sense for Punch. We selected whatever elements worked best for each individual caliber. We then played with the thickness of the jacket, skive depth, hollow point geometry, and even differences in lead cores to build the recipe.”
The expanded projectiles that they provided looked exceptional and it was more than enough for us to want to get some to the range. While it is currently available in .38 Spl, .380 ACP, 9mm Luger, 40 S&W, & .45ACP we weren’t able to get our hands on the wheel gun food or “the little nine that could” and had to settle for “The Big 3”. We gathered up the smallest guns we had on hand, which included a Rock Island BBR 3.10, a Smith & Wesson Shield, and the new Taurus G3c and hit the road.
The goal here was to check function, velocity, and accuracy through each of the compact/sub-compact pistols to see if the new ammo had any overall worthiness. We did all accuracy testing at 10 yards from a standing two-handed shooting position without a rest. This was done to get a real-world feel for recoil and recovery. We opened up all three boxes to fill our magazines and looked down at rounds that were just plain gorgeous. The projectiles had six relatively deep skives and a ginormous hollow-point, similar to the Speer “flying ashtray” design used in the Gold Dot line. This design is guaranteed to collect enough DNA and then easily mushroom. The cases were nickel-plated to help with moisture-related corrosion and surprisingly enough the primers were sealed. (Usually, only high-end hunting ammunition gets this treatment, so it was a nice touch.)
In our test pistols, we saw 10-yard accuracy that was well within acceptable defensive measurements. Our best five-shot group of the day belonged to the 9mm fired from the Taurus G3c, measuring just 1.09″. Recoil was manageable, but about what you would expect from defensive ammunition. Velocity on each round was within 5% of what was advertised except for the .45 ACP, which only got up to 713 FPS. However, this is to be expected out of the dwarfed 3.1-inch barrel of the Rock Island BBR 3.10.
At the end of the day, we had perfect function across all three guns and accuracy that was more than adequate for even a headshot at typical defensive distances. At the prices listed below, there really shouldn’t be any bellyaching about getting to the range to dump half a box of Punch onto a target in the name of preparedness and practice. For more information visit federalpremium.com
PD380P1 / 380 Auto 85-grain Punch JHP, 1,000 fps, 20-count / $15.99
PD38P1 / 38 Special +P, 120 grain Punch JHP, 1,070 fps, 20-count / $19.99
PD9P1 / 9mm Luger, 124 grain Punch JHP, 1,150 fps, 20-count / $15.99
PD40P1 / 40 S&W, 165 grain Punch JHP, 1,130 fps, 20-count / $21.99
PD45P1 / 45 Auto, 230 grain Punch JHP, 890 fps, 20-count / $20.99
Jon Jones says
So? These don’t meet the standards of “a buck a bullet “ defense ammo but…….they still cost a dollar a round?
What?
Brian David Foye says
For good defense ammo, what are you and yours worth. Did ya see tart round pictured? BAD A@$! I like it!
FedUp says
I am totally unimpressed. At prices from 80 cents per round to well over a dollar, I am not willing to accept anything less than the best. If you are betting your life on the performance of one crucial round, go with the best you can get – period.
George Wheeler says
Thanks for the testing, never heard of the stuff. I am an ex-cop of 16 years and a retired truck driver and CCW for over 20 years. I know, all too well, that there is no magic bullet and when I teach, I teach shot placement or, at least, center mass. I usually carry Hornady Critical Defense in .38, ,357, 9mm and .45 but will look your test fodder up. Perhaps my bullet launchers will like it better. Thanks again
Daryl says
Why keep coming out with new unproven rounds, just make more of what’s proven and stop trying to reinvent the wheel. I do need to rotate the hollow points I have though so thanks for reminding me. Wasted effort in my opinion.
Ron Gruber says
How does it perform when shooting through layers of clothing into ballistic gelatin? Do you get reliable expansion even when fired from smaller concealed carry guns?
Andrew A. says
Who determined that carry ammo should be changed so often? Good ammunition really doesn’t have an expiration date. I have fired .56-50 Spencer (rimfire, black-powder) ammo that was well over 100 years old. All went bang properly. I have also fired WW1 dated US .30-06 that all went bang properly. the only times I have had ammunition not work was with low-quality, discolored, or improperly-stored ammunition.
That said, I DO fire my carry ammo regularly. Not from fear of misfires, but to ensure that the magazines work properly and clean them of any dust or lint that may accumulate..
Granted, I do not normally carry in conditions that would affect ammunition adversely; i.e. swimming, 100+ temperatures, jungles, and arctic conditions.
FYI, I carry original SuperVel ammo of which I still have a a good quantity. And yes, I DO trust my life to 40 year-old ammo!
Mack The Knife says
I have never had a single round of defensive “carried” ammo fail. 22WMR, 380, 9mm, 357, 40 or 45 ACP, in the pocket on the hip, under my shoulder, the night stand, the truck or on the back of the gun safe fail at 1 + years. Dusty, oily, dirty, sweaty, wet (dropped in the toilet). Do I trust it, hell yes until someone “shows” me different. As we know, people will tell you all sorts of uncorroborated junk.. Matter of fact I have a round of Hornady CD in a bowl of lucus gun oil right now. I haven’t decided yet when I’ll test it. I believe the percision bullet fit to the precision manufactured case to be too tight to allow significant leakage. Ditto for the primer. If you test you ammo in your gun to use it. then why not test it before you discard it. If it passes and it will add 3 months to your test frequency. Like a soft bullet resistant vest. The manufacturers assign a working life for them of approximately 5 years, but, in increments. They must undergo a ballistics test yearly at 3 years including shelf life.