Twenty years ago, when I first started writing about guns, I also edited and published a rag called “Police Hot Sheet.” It was a pull-no-punches magazine reviewing firearms, ammo and gear. The very first companies to supply me with their products were Black Hills Ammunition and Taurus Firearms and to this day, both companies keep samples of their products coming my way.
Over the past 20 years, I have easily fired hundreds of thousands of rounds of Black Hills Ammunition, and not once did I have a problem with any of their ammo – reloads, factory seconds or their brand-new ammo. I wish I could say the same for some of the big-boy ammo companies out there, like Remington and some of the others. A little over a year ago, I had my youngest daughter out for a shooting session with a Beretta M9 – for some reason, the US Army didn’t seem fit to give my daughter any handgun training – even though she’s a Combat Medic. I had one of the bulk boxes of 9mm FMJ from Remington on-hand for her shooting session. We were a bit disappointed in the quality of the Remington UMC ammo – we had about 5 or 6 problems with that 250 rounds of ammunition. Most of the problems we had were either dead primers, or primers that were put into the shell sideways – yes, you read that right – the primers were placed sideways! Obviously, there wasn’t any close final inspection of the ammo before shipment.
As I said, I never encountered a single problem with Jeff Hoffman’s Black Hills Ammunition in more than 20 years of shooting it. I’ve watched Black Hills Ammunition grow from a very small operation, to where they are now – located in a huge plant with dozens and dozens and dozens of employees. For those of you who aren’t aware, Black Hills provides a special 5.56mm round to our Special Forces guys – no other ammo company is producing this ammo that I’m aware of – only Black Hills is producing it. Our Special Forces guys demand the very best for their missions, and Black Hills is helping out with special ammo for them. I’m also told, and I believe it’s true, that Black Hills is now producing some of the “standard” 5.56mm ammo that our other troops are using ’cause the other ammo makers can’t keep up. To be sure, ammo for our military is produced differently than commercial ammo is. For one thing, the bullet is sealed around the neck to waterproof it, as is the primer.
I shoot more Black Hills than any other ammo! Yes, Jeff Hoffman, keeps me well-supplied for my test and evaluation in the many firearms I’ve tested over the past 20 years, and he always tells me to never let my ammo locker get too low. And, as soon as I place an order for some more ammo, it usually goes out in the next day or two – that’s service! I’ve probably fired more of the Black Hills factory-new ammo, than their reloads or factory seconds, too. As good as their reloaded ammo is, I’d have no problems carrying it for self-defense, using their JHP ammo, of course. That says a lot in my book. Factory seconds – I’ve had some of this – and it has been dirty or dented .223 Remington ammo – I’m not sure if this stuff is available to the general public. Jeff would rather see us worthless gun writers burn this ammo up, instead of destroying it – thanks Jeff!
To be sure, Black Hills is what I call “Premium” ammo – I think their brand-new ammo is a step above what you get from many of the big-boy ammo companies. Each round of ammo is personally hand-inspected before it leaves the factory. And, Hoffman only uses the finest components to produce his factory-new ammo. I have tried, many times over the years, to roll my own ammo, to see if I could equal or exceed the accuracy of Black Hills ammo. I only came away equaling the Black Hills .300 Winchester Magnum load – remember, I said I equalled the accuracy of the Black Hills .300 Winchester Magnum load – I didn’t exceed it. That says a lot! I don’t do as much handloading these days as I used to, just not enough hours in the day. I’ve always found reloading to be very relaxing – but maybe that’s just me! In any event, with all my years of experimenting with different loads, I’ve never once exceeded the accuracy I get from Black Hills.
The Barnes, all-copper JHP bullets – they have the deepest JHP cavity I’ve even seen on any JHP bullet. To be sure, make sure you keep small children and pets away – they might fall into that deep bullet cavity, never to be heard from again. Ok, I’m joking about that – but these bullets do have the deepest JHP cavity I’ve ever seen.
Black Hills has you covered with most calibers, especially self-defense loads. They also have you covered with FMJ handgun rounds for target practice, using either their reloads or factory-new ammo. When I carry a 9mm handgun for self-defense, I like to load my magazines with +P or +P+ JHP ammo, and I believe the 9mm can use all the help it can get to penetrate deep enough, and the bullet needs to expand enough to get the job done. Black Hills has you covered with several different loading in 9mm. They have a new 9mm load. that has the all-copper JHP from Barnes Bullets called the TAC-XP and it’s a +P load. I only just received this one, and I haven’t had a chance to do much testing, but the results look very promising.
I have shot the Black Hills .40 S&W 140 grain Barnes TAC-XP load, this is another JHP load, produced using all-copper – no lead at all. These bullets won’t come apart when they expand – that’s a good thing – as a lot of JHP bullets come completely apart when they start to expand and/or hit bone. The Barnes TAC-XP bullet won’t come apart. This round is coming out of my Glock 23 at around 1,100 FPS – that’s moving along and the recoil isn’t too bad, either. In my limited and unscientific testing – shooting into water-filled milk jugs and various other liquid and semi-liquid targets [such as pumpkins], I’d estimate that these bullets are penetrating at least 25% deeper than conventional JHP do – and once again, the bullet stays together.
I’ve also used the .45ACP 185 grain TAC-XP +P from Black Hills, and this baby is coming out of a full-sized 1911 at right around 1,000 FPS – you know you’ve touched-off some power in this round. Again, this bullet appears to penetrate about 25% deeper than conventional JHP bullets do, and I haven’t had one bullet come apart – they all expand nicely and stay together – what’s not to like here?
The Barnes-loaded rounds are only available right now from Black Hills in 9mm, .40 and .45 ACP. However, I expect they’ll expand this to include other self-defense calibers as demand increases. I’d like to see this bullet offered in .380 ACP – that would really give that little round some extra “oomph” that it needs. I believe a .380 ACP is best reserved as a back-up to whatever my main gun is. Now, you don’t have to fire-off a lot of e-mails to me about this – it’s my personal opinion on the .380 ACP round. I know, I know, lots of bad guys have fallen to this round, but I just prefer something a little bit bigger these days. Yes, in the past, I’ve carried a Walther PPK/S in .380 ACP as my one and only carry gun – but that was many decades ago.
The Black Hills Barnes TAC-XP ammo is spendy, to be sure. I’m not gonna quote prices here, as each dealer sets their own selling price. If you order directly from Black Hills, they can give you a price. Again, this is “Premium” handgun ammo, and expect to pay more for it. Then again, I don’t expect you to go out “target shooting” with this round. You’ll want to make sure it functions in whatever guns you want to stoke with this great ammo, before you trust your life to it. And it’s always a good idea to fire at least 100-200 rounds of a particular brand and type of ammo through your self-defense carry gun, to make sure your gun will function with it. I used to tell my firearms students to fire at least 200 rounds through their guns before trusting them to function with whatever ammo they wanted to carry in their guns. However, with the price of (good) ammo today, I think 100 rounds is a fair test. And, I have tried this new ammo with the Barnes bullets in several different handguns, and had zero problems with feeding and extraction.
Now, many shooters get carried away with numbers, and folks like big numbers when it comes to velocity and Foot Pounds of Energy (FPE). Don’t be fooled by a lot of the gun writer hype when it comes to numbers. Faster doesn’t always mean better. There are a lot of factors at work when a bullet hits a body. In the case of the Black Hills 9mm round, they are showing 368 FPE from the Barnes bullets, in the .40 S&W 416 FPE and the .45 ACP is at 411 FPE. There are many factors going to work when a bullet hits a body – it depends on the clothing and/or winter coat someone might be wearing, as to how deep a bullet will penetrate and expand. It depends if a bullet hits bone, or if the attacker is high on drugs. There’s no magic bullet that will guarantee that with one shot, it will stop an attacker in his tracks. I always tell my firearms students to keep shooting until the threat has stopped being a threat. It is simple as that!
If you’re in the market for more conventional JHP rounds for your carry gun, Black Hills has you covered with any number of rounds to pick from. And, keep in mind what I just said in the above paragraph, there are no magic bullets – you still have to place your rounds on-target and hit vital organs and/or blood vessels to stop an attack. And, for a lot of years, conventional JHP have been doing the job nicely. I’ve taken a lot of small to medium game with Black Hills handgun ammo using JHP rounds. But I think Black Hills is really onto something with their new line-up using the Barnes all-copper JHP bullets. Time will tell if I’m right, and I think I am – this time around.
Jeff Hoffman, over at Black Hills Ammunition deserves your business, he honestly is one of the “Good Guys” in this business. He and his wife Kristi, have worked hard over the years, to give the shooter the best ammo they can produce, at a good price. And, if it matters to you, Jeff Hoffman is also a part-time law enforcement officer in South Dakota – he gives to the community – so that’s another reason he deserves your business. Give Black Hills a call, or check out their web site. I’m betting good money, you’ll find a lot of different types of ammo you’ll be able to use. And, as an aside, they are producing one of the widest assortments of .223 Remington ammo that you’ll find. They have FMJ, JHP, Hollow Points and Soft Point rounds that will take care of you and your AR-15. They have light bullets and heavy bullets – if you can’t find what you’re looking for at Black Hills, then you won’t find anyone else who is making a .223 Remington round that you’re looking for.
I can’t speak highly enough about Black Hills Ammunition. In 20 years of using it, I’ve never once been disappointed in the performance and the high-quality of their ammo. They are good people to do business with – and anyone who says other wise is looking for trouble from me! – Pat Cascio, SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor