Thanks to James Rummel, who was kind enough to link to my thoughts about hollow points and to rephrase the question about what to use on his own site, I got all kinds of great hollow point recommendations for 9mm carry ammunition. They are:

• Black Hills, 124 grain +p
• Cor-Bon, 115 grain +p
• Cor-Bon DPX
• Cor-Bon Powrball
• Federal 9BPLE
• Federal Hydra-Shok, 135 grain
• Remington Golden Sabre
• Speer Gold Dots, 124 grain or heavier
• Ranger Lawman
• Winchester Silvertips

I also got this advice, from Firehand:

I seem to remember that Ayoob did a bunch of research, and in 9mm the most consistent one-shot stops came with 115-grain +p hollowpoints, brand didn’t seem to matter much as long as it was a premium-grade bullet like Gold Dot, Golden Sabre, Winchester Ranger, etc.

And this, from James himself, who points out that you have to shoot what you carry to be effective. And he recommends shooting at least fifty rounds a month of the ammunition you’re carrying, every month for a year.

What are the most significant factors of using a firearm for self defense? Reliability and shot placement.

The gun has to go bang. Do you have enough money to shoot off at least 50 of your chosen self defense load at the range to make sure that the gun likes it? One jam during the test and it probably isn’t the best load for your gun.

Shot placement. How do you place your bullets where they will do the most good? Practice! Regular practice!

I usually told my students that they should shoot at least fifty of their defensive rounds at the range, and then do it again every month for a year until they know where the point of aim will be with the chosen loads.

How much does premium hollowpoints cost, anyway? Average is a little bit more than $1.00 per bang, but some of them are more than $3.00 a round!

What do I recommend?

Winchester Silvertips. They work, but are distinctly unremarkable. Lots and lots of more effective choices available. But the cost is reasonable.

Being new to this, I hadn’t even considered the difference in point of aim. My thinking was that I’d just rotate my carry ammunition every three months and do all my practice with cheap hardball. Obviously, I can’t do that. So, I’ll be following James’ advice to the letter, and shooting at least fifty rounds a month of what I’m carrying.

Which means I have to find affordable ammunition.

So, I did a quick cruise of the local big-box stores that sell ammunition and are close enough to my house to be convenient — since whatever I choose has to be available and in stock for awhile. I stopped by Outdoor World, Gander Mountain, Gart Sports, and Sportsman’s Warehouse.

The selection for all of them was still spotty, at best. And what was available ran at least two dollars a round, which is well out of my price range.

Luckily, another commenter, Ludwig, left a link to the invaluable AmmoEngine, where you can price ammunition from multiple sources. So, I cruised through that, and then headed over to Cheaper Than Dirt. I found Federal 9BPLE, one of the choices recommended, for an incredible fifty cents a round (actually, a little less). That’s almost half the price of Winchester Silvertips.

I’m gonna poke around some to see if there’s something I’m missing about this particular brand of ammunition. If not, I think I’ve found what I’ll be shooting. At twenty dollars for a box of fifty, I can shoot a hundred rounds of this a month, on top of Winchester hardball.