Hornady Manufacturing recently announced a new line of personal protection ammunition: Critical Defense. The Critical Defense line of ammo is specially designed for small, compact firearms frequently carried concealed for self-defense.
The Critical Defense ammunition features a hollow point bullet the same style of “Flex Tip” polymer tip that Hornady uses in the LEVERevolution line of ammunition. The tip prevents the hollowpoint from being plugged with clothing and helps ensure expansion. Because of the Flex Tip technology, Hornady claims to achieve “100% reliable expansion every single time.”  Subsequent gel testing by independent parties seems to support this claim.
The new Hornady ammo is not designed to meet the FBI test protocols used by some law enforcement agencies when choosing ammunition. Rather, Critical Defense ammunition is designed to operate in small, concealed carry guns against clothed attackers–not through steel and glass as required by the FBI testing.  For ammo that meets FBI protocols, scroll down this page for information on the company’s new Critical Duty line of ammo.
Critical Defense ammunition is being introduced in 9mm, .380 ACP, standard pressure .38 Special, and .38 Special +P. Ammunition is starting to ship and should be on the shelves by the end of the month.
The Hornady ads and literature feature the Ruger LCP, so I don’t know if this was the purpose-built ammunition for the LCP that Michael Bane refered to in his podcast.
November 2009 Update
Hornady added a 00-buck 12 gauge round to its line of popular Critical Defense ammunition.
This 12 gauge round is a 2 3/4″ shell with eight .33 caliber pellets. Hornaday is using the Versatite wad for “ultra-tight” patterns from standard production shotguns.
Hornady promises proper functioning in both pump and semi-auto shotguns.
November 2011 Update
Hornady is rolling out a new line of ammunition designed for police work.  The Critical Duty line of ammunition is a new series using the company’s Flex Tip technology found in the Critical Defense line of ammo.  The Flex Tip combined with a integral bullet band called the InterLock make a new bullet design called the FlexLock bullet.
The Critical Duty line will initially ship two 9mm loads and a .40 S&W load.  I put together a more in-depth look at the Hornady Critical Duty line of ammo at BlueSheepdog.com.
Expect to see more on this line of ammo at the 2012 SHOT Show.
November 2012 Update
Shooters of a great old cartridge, the .30 carbine, are getting another choice in ammo with the introduction on the Hornady Critical Defense load.
The .30 carbine has been considered by many to be a step up from the power of a pistol, but that it is nowhere near the effectiveness of a true rifle cartridge for self defense. Â A good ammo load can help overcome any perceived deficiencies in this cartridge.
Like the others in the Critical Defense line, the .30 carbine uses a polymer-tipped FTX bullet to help assure expansion without jamming the hollowpoint with foreign debris. Â This load uses a 110 grain bullet that leaves an 18″ barrel at 2000 fps. Â Generated energy is slightly under 1000 ft-lbs, measuring 977 ft-lbs.
The bullet penetrates about 15″ of gelatin and makes “extremely large wound cavities,” said Dave Emary a senior ballistician for Hornady.
I’ve always liked the idea of a M1 Carbine as a self-defense and home defense gun. Â With the new Critical Defense ammo in .30 carbine, I like the idea even more.
Critical Defense Lite 9mm
Hornady announced at the 2014 NASGW show they would be shipping a new lighter-recoiling 9mm load in the Critical Defense line. Although perfectly useable by men with difficulties in handling recoil due to arthritis and other infirmities, the company decided to go pink with the packaging as if to indicate only women need light-recoiling loads.
I wish the company would merely introduce the load as a normal round and not try to cater it to a specific gender. Last I saw, there weren’t a lot of women running Hornady, which may have something to do with the marketing decisions.
The load uses a 100 gr FTX round with a pink tip running at 1125 fps from a 4″ test barrel. I’d expect that to be around 1,000 fps out of a 2″-3″ pistol.
The first listing for distribution in the retail channel that I’ve found is MidwayUSA. You can’t order it, but you can sign up for email
notification.
Price: $18.49 for 25
Date Expected In-Stock: 11/27/2008
They could have invented this 100 years ago. What took so long?
when will 9mm ftx be available ??
thanks, Jim
Jim,
The 9mm should be arriving at dealers this week.
Richard
Are there any plans to include .40 S&W?
Hornady has not announced any plans to include a .40 S&W load. If the initial offerings catch on, I would think they would develop and introduce a .40 load.
–Richard
put this in my kel tek p3at this ammo fed great.
What about .357 magnum loads?
Nothing yet for .357 mag.
This looks good, but what are the negatives??
Dave,
As with all bullet designs, this is a compromise. I like the concept of the flex tip to help prevent the hollowpoint from being clogged, as the .380 ACP and .38 Special are pretty slow and have a greater tendency to not expand.
To my knowledge, no one has been shot with this stuff, so it is all theoretical at this point. If this line of ammunition sticks around for a while, we may see some results from actual self defense situations. At that point we can make some better judgments as to its actual performance.
I hope this stuff catches on and they make so I can handload it for my 10mm
i would love this round for a 40 s&w to carry on duty!!!!! how do these stack up against the TAP for law enforcement?
DUH!!! Corbon powerball all ready did this , proven itself and available in ALL CALIBERS.Wicked reliable expansion through ALL MEDIUMS, clothing , metal, etc, the polymer ball produces same results every time. Super hot too (like all corbon ammo)
When can we expect .40 S&W and .45 ACP? My concealed carry is a great CZ RAMI in 40 S&W and I’d sure like this round for it.
I just cant wait for the 44 maq. to come out!
I was able to get this in .357 mag at the Cabelas store in Hoffman Estates, ILL
I went to Cabelas website and this is what they had:
.380 Auto 90 Gr. CD 25 $19.99
.38 Special 110 Gr. CD 25 $20.99
.38 Special+P 110 Gr. CD 25 $20.99
9mm Luger 115 Gr. CD 25 $19.99
.357 Mag. 125 Gr. CD 25 $23.99
.40 S&W 165 Gr. CD 20 $21.99
Enjoy Ray J
.45 ACP 185 Gr. CD 20 $22.99
I bought some in 380 at the Indy 1500 gunshow today. At $19.95 it was the ONLY 380 defense ammo available for under $29 a box. Ouch.
I have the 165’s that i use in my S&W M&P40. with the 4 1/2 barrel, the consistency is crazy. ALL rounds are within about 30 FPS. I shoot ALOT…and my M&P is my “all the time” sidearm. recoil is pretty light….shot it the other night in the dark (yes it was into the woods, into a 2000 pound bale of hay) and the muzzle flash is next to ZERO. i handload, so the 180 gr. Speer GD HP have been in there since i got the M&P. however, with how reliable the FTX is, thats what fills my 3 15 round mags. love it. forget about the XTP Hornady, the FTX is by far the best bullet i have ever shot. thanks.
Brandon
Love, love, love this ammo ! It’s hot, hard hitting, consistent, penetrative, expands well, and it looks cool. I use it in 40 S&W, 357 Mag, and 45 ACP {when I could get it in 45} Hornady makes quality stuff. The copper used in their bullets is a purer copper than most other brands, that’s why they have a darker color.
The cases are hard and smooth feeding. i never get dents in Hornady cases at all. They hardly even scratch, other brands especially Federal’s nickel dent pretty easy. Especially their HST line for some reason. Hornady is the best quality out there.
I have used the 125 gr XTP standard pressure .38’s with from Hornady with good results. I will try the FTX. Sounds like a round worth testing in my 2″ j-frame.