Buffalo Bore 9mm Luger +P 124gr JHP – Admirable Duty Weight Load

Description

The Buffalo Bore 9mm Luger +P 124gr JHP is the middle of the road choice, and that is meant as a compliment. A 124 grain jacketed hollow point at 1225 fps produces roughly 413 ft-lbs, loaded to the published SAAMI +P ceiling rather than beyond it. Twenty rounds per box, item 24E/20.

• Buffalo Bore 9mm Luger +P 124gr JHP Overview
• 9mm +P 124 Grain Ammo Ballistics
• Why The Jacketed Hollow Point Carry Bullet At 124 Grains
• Specifications
• Range Notes For This Balanced 9mm Defense Load

Buffalo Bore 9mm Luger +P 124gr JHP Overview

124 grains is the original 9mm bullet weight and still the one most militaries and many police forces use. It sits between the fast 115 grain loads and the deep driving 147 grain ones, and it does a respectable job of both things rather than excelling at either.

This is a conventional jacketed hollow point with a lead core. At 1225 fps it has ample speed to expand, which is the main requirement, and it is loaded at a pressure your pistol’s manual almost certainly already covers.

The pressure choice is worth dwelling on. Buffalo Bore also builds 9mm loads at +P+, a designation with no SAAMI specification behind it at all. This one stays at +P, which is a defined published ceiling that manufacturers design to, so there is no judgement call to make.

9mm +P 124 Grain Ammo Ballistics

1225 fps with a 124 grain bullet works out to roughly 413 ft-lbs. Standard pressure 124 grain factory ammunition runs about 1150 fps for 364, so this is around thirteen percent more energy while staying inside a rated pressure.

Against the other loads in this line: the 115 grain +P makes 431 ft-lbs at 1300 fps, and the 147 grain +P+ makes 451 at 1175. This 9mm +P 124 grain ammo sits between them in energy and, more usefully, between them in behaviour.

Short barrels will cost you speed here as everywhere. Buffalo Bore’s published figures for their other 9mm loads show four inch pistols landing close to the nominal number, so a compact should do well, while a three inch sub compact will trail it by a hundred feet per second or so.

Why The Jacketed Hollow Point Carry Bullet At 124 Grains

The argument over 9mm bullet weight has run for forty years and never really resolved, which is a clue that the differences are smaller than the arguing suggests. Light bullets expand fast and shallow, heavy bullets drive deep and open less dramatically, and 124 grains lands between the two.

That middle position is genuinely useful. A jacketed hollow point carry bullet at this weight opens reliably at the velocity a +P load produces, and it still has enough mass to hold its course through a heavy coat or a raised arm. You are not optimising for one scenario at the cost of another.

It also happens to be what most pistols were designed around. Recoil springs, feed geometry and sight regulation in service pistols are generally set up for 124 grain ammunition, so a balanced 9mm defense load at this weight tends to feed and shoot exactly where the gun expects.

And because it is loaded to a SAAMI rated pressure rather than beyond it, you are not trading that convenience for uncertainty about what your pistol can safely take.

Specifications

Range Notes For This Balanced 9mm Defense Load

Your pistol needs to be +P rated, which most modern 9mm handguns are. There is a published standard behind this one, so if your manual permits +P then this load is squarely inside it.

Point of impact should be close to right. Most 9mm service pistols have their sights regulated around 124 grain ammunition, so SAAMI +P rated 9mm ammunition at this weight usually lands where the gun is looking. Confirm it rather than assume, but you are unlikely to be surprised.

Confirm function with a box. That advice applies to any carry ammunition regardless of how conventional it looks, and a single box through your own gun is cheap insurance.

Practise with standard pressure 124 grain ball and confirm with this. The recoil difference is modest and your training carries over almost perfectly, which is one of the quiet advantages of staying at this bullet weight.

SAAMI +P Rated 9mm Ammunition Availability

This SAAMI +P rated 9mm ammunition is in stock and ready to ship from MAG5 Firearms, a family owned FFL dealer in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Ammunition orders ship to most states, and local customers are welcome to pick up in the shop. If you need case quantities or another Buffalo Bore 9mm load, call us and we will check what our distributors have on hand.

Manufacturer details are on the Buffalo Bore site. For a lighter, faster bullet at the same pressure see the 9mm +P 115gr JHP. For deeper penetration, compare the 9mm +P+ 147gr JHP, or browse our full ammunition selection.