I will have to check those out. I’ve been searching for the best 5.56 mm projectile available from a self defense perspective for several days now. Lots of options. lots of opinions. lots of barrel twist rates. etc. One person will swear by a projectile and the next person will curse it. I’m liking varmint grenades too but, like everything else, opinions vary. I have personally seen them shoot what was basically hole for hole at 100 yards however.
The 154 grain SP 7.62x39 is considered suitable for white tail deer, so I would assume it has some value as an anti personnel round.
One thing I see left out of discussions of “self defense” rounds is just how are we defining “self defense”?
Handguns are usually discussed as personal carry & without the notion that one would have 10 or 20 boxes of the expensive defense ammo.
But is your AR or AK for a couple of homicidal “teens” breaking into your home, or is it for serious, widespread breakdowns in law and order? If it is the latter, I think we are getting a little too anal as to minute ballistic differences when the real criteria should be that it is decent anti personnel while cheap enough for you to have a *good* supply of the stuff on hand and be reasonably competent and accurate with the carbine. SHTF, I don’t want a few boxes of expensive US made AK ammo. I want a much more of the reliable 154 SP that I can hit hard and heavy with...a lot, without running out. Quantity has a place in the larger scale disaster scenario.
This looks like it would be a superb self defense round - if you can find it.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/615622/black-hills-ammunition
The zombie ammo (z-max) is the basically the same thing as the V-Max.
Careful with varmint grenades and other such fragmenting loads for self defense. They are designed to basically explode, ie, violently fragment on contact so you won’t get much penetration.