25rds – 9mm Hornady Critical Defense Lite 100gr. FTX Ammo

Hornady Ammunition 100 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Ammo Details

This 9mm cartridge by Hornady is just the ticket if you prefer a lightweight firearm for self-defense or you’ve got a smaller frame that can’t soak up too much recoil. Its lightweight 100 grain projectile and 1,125 fps muzzle velocity mean that your handgun won’t push back very hard against your hands upon ignition. The FTX projectile maintains its ability to expand dramatically owing to the soft polymer plug that shields its nose cavity against clogging up with debris.

Hornady did even more to make this round great for personal protection beyond its bullet. Its propellant not only burns clean to preserve accuracy, but it also does so while generating reduced muzzle flash to preserve its shooter’s night vision.

Note that the polymer is pink – that’s not just a cosmetic touch, it indicates that a portion of the proceeds from your purchase will go toward breast cancer research! Good for you, good for women across the world, very bad for whoever decides to attack you.

Gel test Results

As you hunt for the best self-defense 9mm Luger (9x19) ammo, we thought you might enjoy seeing the results of some testing we recently conducted with calibrated Clear Ballistics gelatin.

We shot five of these Hornady Ammunition rounds through a four-layer cloth barrier using a S&W M&P Shield. The results are detailed in the video you see above as well as the photographs. Through the charts, you should get a great idea how this Hornady Ammunition ammo stacked up relative to other 9mm Luger (9x19) ammo products available to American shooters.

To get a better sense of our tests, be sure to check out all the protocols we followed when conducting our tests to determine the best self-defense ammo.

Unfired versus Fired Round Comparison

Image detailing before and after firing 25rds – 9mm Hornady Critical Defense Lite 100gr. FTX Ammo Image detailing before and after firing 25rds – 9mm Hornady Critical Defense Lite 100gr. FTX Ammo

How do the results for this Hornady Ammunition 9mm Luger (9x19) compare to other 9mm Hollow Point Ammo?

25rds – 9mm Hornady Critical Defense Lite 100gr. FTX Ammo Gel Test Results

  Median
Bullet Depth (in.) 12.6 12.6 13.2 14.7 14.7
Expanded Diameter (in.) 0.48 0.49 0.5 0.51 0.55
Bullet Weight after shot (gr.) 99.8 99.9 99.9 99.9 100
Bullet Velocity (fps) 1039 1044 1057 1059 1062

Hornady Ammunition 9mm Luger (9x19) Ballistic Data

Hornady Ammunition 9mm Luger (9x19) Ammo Details

Barrel Length inches
4
Ballistics Coefficient (G1)
0.110
Ballistics Coefficient (G7)
0.000
Sectional Density
0.113
Muzzle 25 yds. 50 yds. 75 yds. 100 yds.
Velocity fps 1125 1057 1003 960 922
Energy ft lbs 281 248 224 205 189
Bullet drop inch n/a 1 -1.9 -6 -12.5

Trajectory Line Graph Hornady Ammunition 9mm Luger (9x19)

Velocity / Energy Comparisons

Ammo Muzzle Velocity Muzzle Energy
115 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Blazer Brass
#26
1047 fps
#39
280 ft lbs
115 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Sellier & Bellot Ammunition
#13
1130.5 fps
#13
329 ft lbs
124 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Blazer Brass
#37
1014 fps
#38
283 ft lbs
115 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Fiocchi Ammunition
#17
1089 fps
#21
303 ft lbs
115 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Tula Ammo
#8
1150 fps
#10
338 ft lbs
124 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Federal Ammunition
#22
1049 fps
#22
303 ft lbs
115 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Federal Ammunition
#23
1048 fps
#40
280 ft lbs
124 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Winchester Ammunition
#16
1095 fps
#12
330 ft lbs
124 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Magtech
#34
1024 fps
#32
289 ft lbs
147 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Federal Ammunition
#43
953 fps
#25
297 ft lbs
124 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Federal Ammunition
#31
1028 fps
#30
291 ft lbs
147 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Federal Ammunition
#44
953 fps
#26
297 ft lbs
115 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) PMC Ammunition
#20
1057 fps
#35
285 ft lbs
124 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Sellier & Bellot Ammunition
#27
1039 fps
#29
296.5 ft lbs
124 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Fiocchi Ammunition
#24
1048 fps
#23
302 ft lbs
115 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Magtech
#11
1135 fps
#14
329 ft lbs
115 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Winchester Ammunition
#7
1157.5 fps
#9
342.5 ft lbs
115 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Federal Ammunition
#25
1048 fps
#41
280 ft lbs
147 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Blazer Brass
#49
903 fps
#47
266 ft lbs
115 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Wolf Ammunition
#9
1150 fps
#11
338 ft lbs
147 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Federal Ammunition
#45
953 fps
#27
297 ft lbs
115 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Federal Ammunition
#4
1225 fps
#2
383 ft lbs
115 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Hornady Ammunition
#32
1028 fps
#46
270 ft lbs
115 Grain Total Metal Jacket (TMJ) Speer
#15
1098 fps
#19
308 ft lbs
147 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Speer
#48
915 fps
#45
273 ft lbs
150 Grain TSJ Federal Ammunition
#50
857 fps
#49
245 ft lbs
115 Grain Solid Copper Hollow Point (SCHP) Black Hills Ammunition
#5
1175 fps
#7
352 ft lbs
135 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Hornady Ammunition
#42
960 fps
#42
276 ft lbs
147 Grain Total Metal Jacket (TMJ) Speer
#47
932 fps
#37
284 ft lbs
124 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) PMC Ammunition
#36
1017 fps
#36
285 ft lbs
124 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Fiocchi Ammunition
#35
1020 fps
#33
287 ft lbs
100 Grain Frangible Federal Ammunition
#19
1075 fps
#48
257 ft lbs
124 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Remington Ammunition
#12
1131 fps
#8
352 ft lbs
124 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Speer
#18
1085 fps
#16
324 ft lbs
147 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Speer
#46
936 fps
#34
286 ft lbs
124 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Speer
#28
1039 fps
#28
297 ft lbs
124 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Winchester Ammunition
#6
1171.5 fps
#3
378 ft lbs
147 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Sig Sauer
#39
985 fps
#17
317 ft lbs
115 Grain Solid Copper Hollow Point (SCHP) Barnes Bullets
#29
1039 fps
#43
276 ft lbs
124 Grain XTP Hornady Ammunition
#33
1027 fps
#31
290 ft lbs
158 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Fiocchi Ammunition
#51
814 fps
#50
232 ft lbs
150 Grain Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Sellier & Bellot Ammunition
#41
966 fps
#18
310 ft lbs
124 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Black Hills Ammunition
#10
1150 fps
#5
364 ft lbs
100 Grain HoneyBadger Black Hills Ammunition
#1
1300 fps
#4
375 ft lbs
115 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Corbon
#3
1250 fps
#1
399 ft lbs
115 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Hornady Ammunition
#30
1038 fps
#44
275 ft lbs
92 Grain Pre-Fragmented G2 Research
#2
1265 fps
#15
327 ft lbs
138 Grain Segmented Hollow Point (SHP) Federal Ammunition
#40
985 fps
#24
298 ft lbs
125 Grain HoneyBadger Black Hills Ammunition
#21
1050 fps
#20
306 ft lbs
127 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Winchester Ammunition
#14
1120 fps
#6
354 ft lbs
100 Grain Jacketed Hollow-Point (JHP) Hornady Ammunition
#38
1003 fps
#51
224 ft lbs
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The Reviews

Why Shooters and Hunters love or hate 25rds – 9mm Hornady Critical Defense Lite 100gr. FTX Ammo

Leave a Review Reviews icon
  • ☆☆☆☆☆

    posted on by Maricica

    A powder puff loading here if that’s what you’re looking for. It features a downloaded light for caliber bullet that’s as reliable and accurate as other selfd offerings.

  • ☆☆☆☆☆

    posted on by Notbob

    Tried running a couple box of these in a M&P Shield and a M&P Compact without issues. The reduction of felt recoil is modest but noticeable to me. Haven't seen many gel tests of this lighter version of Hornady's 9mm Critical Defense. The results here give me a little peace of mind if I were to recommend these to family who are more recoil sensitive.

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