Exotic 9mm Ammo: Take a Walk on the Wild Side

Are you bored of regular 9mm ammo? Do you want to spice things up by firing exotic 9mm ammo? Then you’ve come to the right place. We’re about to expand your horizons by recommending some of the strangest – yet still practical – 9mm ammo your money can buy.

Come along, friendo. Let’s get weird with it.

Top Exotic 9mm Ammo Selections

How We Chose Our Favorite Exotic 9mm

We fire A LOT of 9mm (and other kinds) of ammunition here at Ammo.com. Some of that happens under closely controlled conditions at modern gun ranges. Some of it is more casual – just recyclables set up on a sawhorse in someone’s backyard.

Our top selections have all been subjected to our intense scrutiny. We have assessed our favorite defense and hunting loads’ performance according to ballistic gel testing, and confirmed that they deliver optimal terminal ballistics for their stated applications. Our top picks for target and steel shooting weren’t tested as rigorously. We shot targets with them, and only had positive experiences to report afterward. We can prove that the CCI Pest Control ammo works great, but we don’t think you’d be too impressed by photos of dead vermin. Kind of gross, actually.

But these rounds don’t just work great. Each is also exotic – i.e. loaded with an unusual projectile for the 9mm, be it a monolithic solid, sintered frangible, plastic capsule of lead shot, or something else. In short, the ammo featured in this article (A) works great and (B) is weird.

Best Exotic 9mm Ammo for Self-Defense

Underwood +P+ 90 Grain Xtreme Defender

Underwood 9mm +P+ Ammo - 20 Rounds of 90 Grain Xtreme Defender Ammunition

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$27.99

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Specs

Wow! That’s a spicy meatball! This is 9mm +P+ ammunition: loaded to generate a higher chamber pressure than SAAMI specifications allow, and therefore too powerful for firearms that aren’t specifically designed to handle its intense power. Do not chamber a +P+ cartridge until you’ve determined whether your firearm can handle it.

So long as it can safely fire 9mm +P+, this ammo by Underwood will turn your pistol into a force to be reckoned with. At close range, the lightweight 90 grain projectile will slam into its target with about one-third as much kinetic energy as an AR-15’s 5.56x45 – almost double the minimum force recommended for personal protection.

This round is “exotic” because of its bullet: the aptly named Xtreme Defender. It is made of solid copper, and therefore exceedingly tough. It also lacks a nose cavity, and therefore cannot become ineffective as a result of clogging up with debris. Instead of undergoing terminal expansion, the Xtreme Defender inflicts a gaping wound cavity by pressurizing soft tissue and blasting it outward in lateral directions and at a higher velocity than the bullet itself traveling.

The Xtreme Defender’s profile is smooth-feeding. So too is this round’s nickel-plated brass case, which prevents corrosion and reduces metal-on-metal friction that could have impaired functionality.

Best Exotic 9mm Ammo for Pests

CCI Pest Control 53 Grain #12 Shot

CCI 9mm Ammo - 10 Rounds of 53 Grain #12 Shot Ammunition

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$21.99

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Specs

Have you ever wished that you could turn your 9mm pistol into an extremely weak shotgun? Then your star must be shining brightly today, because you have just learned about 9mm shotshells by CCI.

This round does not have a bullet. It instead has a plastic capsule filled with 53 grains of #12 shot: approximately 289 pellets, each 0.05” in diameter. The capsule disintegrates on ignition, at which instant a dense spray of lead erupts from the barrel.

It’s not especially powerful. At 900 fps (4” test barrel), the shot column’s collective muzzle energy is roughly equivalent to that of a 22 LR bullet. It will spell lights out for any rat, snake or scorpion it collides with, however, and the shot’s spread makes it easy to kill vermin at ranges up to 5 to 10 yards.

This ammo is not reloadable (its rigid aluminum cases won’t return to their original dimensions after ignition). It’s also unsuitable for pistols with ported barrels or compensators, as those features could deflect shot pellets back at the shooter. And because this ammo’s so weak, it just can’t cycle a semi-auto. So long as you bear those shortcomings in mind, you’ll love these puny Idaho-made 9mm shotshells!

Best Exotic 9mm Ammo for Target Shooting

Ammo Inc. Streak 124 Grain TMJ

Ammo Inc. Streak 9mm Ammo - 50 Rounds of 124 Grain TMJ Non-Incendiary Visual Tracer Ammunition

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Specs

Have you ever wanted to watch your bullet as it races downrange? Then dream no longer. Ammo Inc. offers their Streak series ammunition for exactly that purpose.

This round does not have a bullet. It instead has a plastic capsule filled with 53 grains of #12 shot: approximately 289 pellets, each 0.05” in diameter. The capsule disintegrates on ignition, at which instant a dense spray of lead erupts from the barrel.

It’s not especially powerful. At 900 fps (4” test barrel), the shot column’s collective muzzle energy is roughly equivalent to that of a 22 LR bullet. It will spell lights out for any rat, snake or scorpion it collides with, however, and the shot’s spread makes it easy to kill vermin at ranges up to 5 to 10 yards.

This ammo is not reloadable (its rigid aluminum cases won’t return to their original dimensions after ignition). It’s also unsuitable for pistols with ported barrels or compensators, as those features could deflect shot pellets back at the shooter. And because this ammo’s so weak, it just can’t cycle a semi-auto. So long as you bear those shortcomings in mind, you’ll love these puny Idaho-made 9mm shotshells!

Best Exotic 9mm Ammo for Steel Shooting

Speer Lawman RHT 100 Grain Frangible

Speer Lawman 9mm Ammo - 50 Rounds of 100 Grain RHT Frangible Ammunition

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Specs

Do you intend to shoot steel targets up close? Or are you firing against a stony or otherwise hard backdrop, and want to do everything in your power to avoid getting peppered by jagged bits of shrapnel? Then rejoice, because frangible 9mm bullets exist.

A normal bullet is made of solid lead and copper. When it strikes a hard surface at high velocity, it poses a significant risk of deflecting little pieces of itself back toward the shooter (which can prove extremely unpleasant for the shooter for reasons that don’t beg explanation). A frangible bullet, on the other hand, is made of sintered copper and tin powders. When it hits a hard surface – pouf – it disintegrates into dust and crumbs almost instantly.

Some people reason that frangible bullets are ideal for defense in densely populated areas, because they (theoretically) fail to pass through walls and human bodies. Take care that a frangible bullet can in fact pass through these barriers, and also lacks ideal terminal ballistics to neutralize a tenacious threat.

One more word of warning: If a frangible bullet breaks during feeding, it will jam the firearm. That’s fine during training, but it’s not something you want to happen while someone is trying to kill you.

Speer isn’t the only company that loads frangible projectiles. SinterFire, Sellier & Bellot and Fiocchi are just a few other manufacturers that do. We chose Speer because they also produce Gold Dot, which is the gold standard as far as defensive ammo is concerned.

Best Exotic 9mm Ammo for Hunting

Federal Solid Core +P 147 Grain Hard Cast

Specs

Do you want to take your 9mm pistol or carbine on a hunting trip? Or are you traversing the hinterlands, and hope to use your pistol effectively in the event that a boar, bear, or some other brute gets sassy with you? Then this Solid Core label 9mm +P by Federal Premium ought to serve you well.

This round’s bullet is made of heavily alloyed lead. It is too hard to deform, let alone expand. That plus the bullet’s flat nose profile enables it to penetrate far deeper than normal. Whereas a conventional JHP is likely to anchor itself in soft tissue before it can reach a vital organ, this round’s hard cast bullet can easily access a mountain lion’s heart, or even shatter its shoulder blade. So long as your aim is true (and you don’t stray too far from the 9mm’s effective range), you can use this round to bag any medium game as well.

This round’s bullet is coated in Federal’s own state-of-the-art Syntech polymer. It eliminates lead fouling. It eliminates copper fouling, too. Better yet, Syntech generates impressively little friction as it rubs against the bore, so it extends the barrel’s lifespan and promotes more efficient ignition and a higher muzzle velocity – no gas check or wax ring needed.

Parting Shots

FMJ bullets for target shooting. JHP bullets for hunting and defense. Conventional wisdom holds that you don’t really “need” exotic 9mm ammo.

But forget about “need.” You are an American, who is at liberty to buy and fire any 9mm ammo their little freedom-loving heart desires. If you want to shoot whitetail deer with hard cast bullets, or hone your marksmanship with the aid of glowing bullets, or shoot boulders with disintegrating bullets, then we don’t just condone it. We encourage it!

And we want to be a part of it. Make sure to buy all your 9mm ammo from Ammo.com, and we’ll donate 1% of your purchase price to a pro-freedom organization of your choosing!

Written by

Wes Littlefield