The Hornady BLACK line of ammunition was established on rifle calibers, of which are typically associated with “black rifles”.  Hornady’s website now has popular pistol calibers listed under the BLACK label and utilizes the XTP hollow point projectiles.  The new BLACK branded pistol caliber ammo is billed for use as defensive ammo across the caliber offerings, with some also being suggested for target/match and varmint hunting. The pistol versions introduced thus far are .380 ACP, 9mm Luger (in 115 and 124 grain), .40 S&W, and .45 ACP.

A brief glance at Hornady’s synopsis of the BLACK line is quoted below:

Direct impingement, gas piston, suppressed, unsuppressed, inertia, bolt, pump, supersonic, subsonic, rifle, mid-length, carbine or pistol – Hornady BLACK ammunition delivers superior performance for a variety of applications.

Featuring
High-Quality Cases, Primers Propellant
Versatile Hornady bullet options
Optimized performance from various platforms

Hornady describes their Extreme Terminal Performance (XTP) projectiles below:

Designed for hunting, self-defense and law enforcement applications, the XTP^® bullet demonstrates the kind of accuracy that led many competitive shooters to adopt it. Reliable performance makes the XTP^® the most popular handgun bullet for both target shooters and hunters. But it’s the stopping power of the XTP^® bullet that has truly built its world-class reputation. From the onset, XTP^® bullets were specifically designed to expand reliably at a wide range of handgun velocities to deliver deep penetration with every shot.

Hornady lists each caliber separately on its own page, so I’ve consolidated the muzzle velocities and energies with links to each below:

• .380 ACP (90 grain) 1000 fps / 200 ft/lb
•  9mm (115 grain) 1155 fps / 341ft/lb
•  9mm (124 grain) 1110 fps / 339 ft/lb
• .40 S&W (180 grain) 950 fps / 361 ft/lb
• .45 ACP (185 grain) 970 fps / 386 ft/lb

For now, it appears that the pistol line of Hornady BLACK is an Academy Exclusive, and given the volatile ammunition market at the time of this writing, finding the new Hornady BLACK pistol ammo might be a bit difficult, but if you find a box or two, let us know what you think of it?  Academy lists them for $15.99 for 20 round boxes.  I’ve used a BLACK label 168-grain loading of .308 Winchester with good results at 200 and 500 yards.  If you’ve tried any other calibers within the product line, how has your experience been?

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