New for 2025: Hornady Backcountry Defense

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posted on January 28, 2025
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Backcountry Defense Lede

It seems human/bear conflicts are becoming more prevalent each hunting season, and with the recent governmental decision not to delist the grizzly, this shows no signs of slowing down. Hornady’s new Backcountry Defense line of handgun ammunition helps to make sure you come home in your current anatomical status, should you have the misfortune to need to rely on your sidearm to save your life.

Bullet Cutaway

Using the new DGH bullet (Dangerous Game Handgun) bullet to deliver straight-line penetration, the Backcountry Defense line opts for heavy-for-caliber bullet weights to help deliver maximum stopping power from your chosen cartridge. Hunters of dangerous-game species around the globe have long relied on round- and flat-nosed bullet profiles to give that straight-line wound channel which greatly aids in the stopping of a charging animal, and the DGH bullet has the qualities needed. With a very slight hollow cavity at the nose, Hornady rolls the DGH’s thick jacket at the nose to lock jacket and core together, and the recovered projectiles show a bit of expansion, with the ogive blown out to a ‘swollen’ look.

Cartridges

The copper jacket helps avoid the smoke associated with hard-cast lead bullets, allowing the shooter to make faster follow-up shots when it is most important. We all hope that we will never need to reach for that sidearm, but if you should be in that unfortunate situation, Hornady’s Backcountry Defense is a logical choice to get the job done. Backcountry Defense is offered in 9mm Luger (in a +P configuration) with a 138-grain DGH; .357 Remington Magnum with a 165-grain DGH; 10mm Auto with a 200-grain DGH; .44 Remington Magnum with a 240-grain DGH; .454 Casull and .460 S&W Magnum with the 300-grain DGH; and 500 S&W Magnum with a 500 DGH. The 9mm Luger and 357 Magnum are sold in 25-count boxes, while the rest of the bunch are sold in 20-count boxes. For more information, visit hornady.com.

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