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

Best Exotic 9mm Ammo for Self-Defense

Best Exotic 9mm Ammo for Pests

Best Exotic 9mm Ammo for Target Shooting

Best Exotic 9mm Ammo for Steel Shooting

Best Exotic 9mm Ammo for Hunting

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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Specs

• Case – Nickel-Plated Brass

• Bullet Type – Xtreme Defender (XD)

• Bullet Weight – 90 grains

• Muzzle Velocity – 1,550 fps

• Muzzle Energy – 480 ft lbs

Pros

• Powerful

• Lead-free

• Reliable

Cons

• Too powerful for many 9mm firearms

• Accelerates wear and tear on firearm

• Not inexpensive

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 5.56×45 – 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

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Specs

• Case – Aluminum

• Projectile Type – #12 Shot

• Projectile Weight – 53 Grains

• Muzzle Velocity – 900 fps

• Muzzle Energy – N/A

Pros

• Low recoil

• Allows some margin for error

• Kills rats deader than disco

Cons

• Not suitable for all firearms

• Will not cycle semi-autos

• Not reloadable

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

• Case – Brass

• Projectile Type – Total Metal Jacket (TMJ) Non-Incendiary Visual Tracer

• Projectile Weight – 124 Grains

• Muzzle Velocity – 1,065 fps

• Muzzle Energy – 312 ft lbs

Pros

• Available in red and green

• Clean performance

• Low recoil

Cons

• Effect isn’t visible in broad daylight

• No terminal expansion

• Not cheap

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

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Specs

• Case – Brass

• Projectile Type – Frangible

• Projectile Weight – 100 grains

• Muzzle Velocity – 1,270 fps

• Muzzle Energy – 358 ft lbs

Pros

• Greatly reduces risk of splash-back

• Reduces risk of over-penetration

• Lead-free

Cons

• Doesn’t eliminate safety risks altogether

• No terminal expansion

•Broken bullets can cause feeding jams

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.

Continue reading more here: Exotic 9mm Ammo: Take a Walk on the Wild Side

Source: https://freedombunker.com/2025/02/17/exotic-9mm-ammo-types/