For 2021, Browning Ammunition has a new personal defense handgun ammunition line dubbed X-Point Defense. This ammo is offered in the most popular pistol calibers – .380 Auto, 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 Auto and 10mm Auto. Let’s take a closer look.

The X in the bullets of these cartridges is metallic, an extension of the core, and it works identical to the polymer insert of the Winchester USA Ready Defense bullets preventing the nose cavity from being clogged up by barrier debris or clothing while allowing the fluid media to pass and start the expansion. The following loads will be initially available in the new Browning X-Point Defense ammunition line.

• .380 ACP (Bullet weight – 95 grains; MV – 1000 fps; ME – 211 ft-lbs)
•  9mm Luger (Bullet weight – 147 grains; MV – 1000 fps; ME – 326 ft-lbs)
• .40 S&W (Bullet weight – 180 grains; MV – 1025 fps; ME – 416 ft*lbs)
• .45 ACP (Bullet weight – 230 grains; MV – 920 fps; ME – 432 ft*lbs)
•  10mm Auto (Bullet weight – 180 grains; MV – 1225 fps; ME – 599 ft*lbs)

The X-Point bullets probably look familiar to you. That’s because these bullets were also used in Browning’s BXP personal defense handgun ammunition. If you compare the BXP and X-Point Defense data (bullet weights, muzzle velocities, muzzle energies), you’ll see that they are pretty much identical with the only difference being that the BXP line didn’t have a 10mm Auto option. Whether X-Point Defense is the rebranding of BXP ammo and will replace the latter in Browning’s catalog is unknown at the moment of writing this article.

Below you can find an X-point Defense promo video published by Browning Ammunition. There are a couple of other new videos on the company’s YouTube channel showing other new Browning Ammunition products such as the 6.8 Western cartridge.

If you use Browning BXP ammunition, tell us in the comments section what do you think about the X-Point bullet design. Does it perform as advertised?

Pictures by Browning Ammunition, www.browningammo.com