I practice with the inexpensive stuff: Wolf, S&B and the like and keep a pre-ban mag loaded with 15 Hydra-Shoks in my M-9
I will on occasion fire 30 Hydra-Shoks at the pistol range just to get a feel for them, but don’t really notice much difference between them, Cor-Bons, and the inexpensive ammo mentioned above, other than price.
A good practice is to shoot what your local PD shoots, so some liberal DA can’t accuse you of using “cop killer” bullets or similar in a self-defense situation.
If I’m out getting lunch and run into a local LEO, I’ll strike up a conversation about how he likes his sidearm and what type of ammo and guns our taxes are buying for our LEO’s in a friendly way and they are usually happy to converse as long as you don’t come off as being a psycho creepy type of person.
It helps if you are former or currently in the military, but not a requirement.
Just “take their temperature” and feel them out in a friendly way and most will be happy to talk guns and ammo and the pros and cons of stopping power of different calibers. You can even ask them what type of ammo they prefer and if it’s what their dept. issues them.
I mentioned before, I prefer the 9mm in case I wake up to some bad guys in the house and find that my dominant arm is “asleep” due to myself sleeping on my side, or a lady friend sleeping on my arm and I may need to fire my pistol with my non-dominant left hand, which I do practice when I go to the range and it’s something I can’t do with a .45
I tried shooting a .45 with my left hand and almost needed extensive dental work due to the recoil, even though I knew it would be strong.
Accuracy > Stopping Power.
Not to mention, faster target re-acquisition after firing.
Plus that loud bang from that first shot will leave your hearing temporarily compromised and in a dark house, you will need all of your senses to be working, and a .45 makes a bigger “boom” than a 9mm
The muzzle flash might even give you a little case of night-blindness as well.
Having the Mossy 500 nearby is also helpful.
Bigger is not always better - I fired my friends DE .50 and found it to be nearly useless for any purpose as it is a very difficult firearm to master and very expensive for ammunition and for the firearm itself.
Most people I know that have bought the DE in .50 caliber have sold them within the first year of ownership or traded them in.
In a self-defense scenario, your shooting hand may become incapacitated due to a knife or bullet or baseball bat strike, so it’s good to have a firearm you can fire with some accuracy with your “other” hand.
When I go to the pistol range, I do about 10% of my practice with my left hand, “just in case” the need may arise in a real life or death situation.
The National Guard will need a lot of ammunition after Obama loses in November as their will be rioting in “Urban Inner Cities”
Competition shooting or hunting are about the only times I use what I shoot for practice. Even my self-defense hand guns go through the cheap stuff on the range - after all they are mainly pocket pieces and not ecpected to hit a bulseye at any range, much less the 25' bubble they are likely to be used in. I had my wife shoot a magazine of her hollow points to see if she noticed a difference between them and the practice rounds and she didn't - same "accuracy" and recoil as far as she was concerned. We usually kill paper plates at 25' and I'm happy if my wife gets 90% on the paper. I've shot for over 50 years and even a small pocket piece (Ruger .380 LCP) hits the paper almost 100% of time using point and shoot vs. aiming with the "sights".