HORNADY Critical Defense 5.7x28mm 40Gr FTX Brass ammo

Description

HORNADY Critical Defense 5.7x28mm 40Gr FTX Brass Ammunition | 25 Rounds

Released in 2008, the Hornady Critical Defense line of ammunition is designed to meet the needs of law-abiding citizens for concealed carry and home defense. At release, Critical Defense was only available in 380 ACP, 38 Special, 38 Special +P, and 9mm Luger. Since then, the Critical Defense line has expanded to numerous handgun calibers as well as centerfire rifle, rimfire, and shotgun ammo.

At the core of the Hornady Critical Defense is the FTX (Flex-Tip) jacketed hollow point bullet. These hollow points utilize a polymer tip to ensure the hollow point cavity is not clogged with debris when it encounters barriers like clothing and drywall.

If the hollow point were to become clogged, your self-defense ammo would behave like an FMJ and likely over-penetrate. This is an extremely dangerous situation, and the polymer tip helps prevent this when it encounters common barriers found in self-defense shootings, primarily heavy clothing.

Although this might sound like a simple concept, it took a lot more work than just slapping some polymer in a hollow point and calling it a day!

Development of the Critical Defense bullet began in 1996 when Dave Emary, father of the 6.5 Creedmoor, began experimenting with polymer-tipped handgun bullets. At the time, Emary tried drilling out a 45 ACP XTP hollow point and filled the cavity with bathtub caulk.

Expansion and penetration results were positive, but the technology to mass produce this type of round did not exist at the time. However, not dismayed, Emary continued to work on polymer-tipped bullets in rifle rounds which eventually led him to the development of the LeveRevolution in 2005.

The LeveRevolution line of ammunition featured Emary’s groundbreaking Flex-Tip (FTX) bullet. The FTX (and MonoFlex) bullets use an elastomer tip that allows Spitzer bullets to be safely loaded into tubular magazines.

Traditionally, lever-action rifles had to be loaded with flat-point bullets to prevent the nose of a bullet loaded into the magazine from igniting the primer in the round ahead of it. However, Emary’s FTX bullets used a rubber tip to prevent this whilst increasing the ballistic coefficient and muzzle velocity of the round in general.

The use of the flexible FTX polymer tip that prevented clogging of the hollow point and aided in expansion was very successful, and Critical Defense ammo was born. Although Critical Defense was very popular with civilian EDC shooters, one major failing was that did not pass the FBI protocol for penetration through auto glass.

Per FBI testing requirements, a hollow point should penetrate between 12-18 inches (ideally 15 inches) into ballistic gelatin while being shot through heavy clothing, drywall, sheet metal, plywood, and auto glass.

However, most civilian shooters don’t need that type of penetration from their carry ammo. The likelihood of needing to shoot through auto glass or a car door is high for law enforcement but minimal for civilians (but not zero).

If you want to load your carry gun with Hornady ammo that passes the FBI protocol, make sure you read our Hornady Critical Duty review.

That being said, the majority of the shooting community seems to feel that Hornady Critical Defense ammo is perfect for their carry gun or home defense carbine. And there’s no doubt that it will be more than sufficient to protect yourself or your family from any threat that might go bump in the night!