{"id":397722,"date":"2023-06-05T11:00:07","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T16:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/?p=397722"},"modified":"2026-01-21T14:58:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:58:43","slug":"hornady-critical-duty-ammo-is-it-worth-its-salt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/hornady-critical-duty-ammo-is-it-worth-its-salt\/","title":{"rendered":"Hornady Critical Duty Ammo: Is It Worth Its Salt?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blasting away at the range during practice or training is one thing. Stuffing our magazines full of quality carry ammunition is quite another. When it comes to carry ammo for defense or duty, we want the very best that we can get ahold of. Today we’ll take a look at Hornady Critical Duty 9mm 135 Grain FlexLock ammunition<\/a> to see how it performs. <\/p>\n

Hornady Critical Duty FlexLock Features<\/h2>\n

First, let’s take a look at some of the features that distinguish Hornady Critical Duty FlexLock from other 9mm rounds.<\/p>\n

Polymer Ball<\/h3>\n

Hornady’s FlexLock ammunition has a polymer ball in the nose of the bullet, which gets around issues that hollow points were sometimes experiencing when they would pass through barriers. Sometimes the barrier material would plug up the hollow cavity, causing it to fail to expand, in which case it would often act as a full metal jacket bullet.<\/p>\n

\"Hornady's
Hornady’s Critical Duty ammunition goes through enough stringent testing that the FBI uses it. The polymer ball in the nose prevents the round from clogging up with debris and aids in expansion. (Photo: Jim Davis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because the polymer ball is not compressible, it will force the bullet to expand, rather than act like a Full Metal Jacket round.<\/p>\n

There is a jacket-to-core Interlock band that keeps the bullet’s jacket and core from separating, which helps to retain weight. Retained weight enables the bullet to penetrate deeply enough into targets to be effective at stopping bad guys.<\/p>\n

Barrier Blind<\/h3>\n

Hornady states that this line of ammunition is “barrier blind,” in that it will still expand even when shot through common “urban barriers.”<\/p>\n

The FBI’s protocol lists several barriers, and they include:<\/p>\n