For the range I shoot Federal, that you buy at Wal-Mart. It's cheap, I've never had any issues out of it and they are loaded fairly well for range use. As for self-defense I use either MagTech and Remington Golden Sabers. They have given me the most consistent expanding results, at least from my personal field tests and they work well with my carry guns. But, really man you need to practice with whichever self defense round that you get, even though it is expensive and also make sure that your gun operates smoothly with that particular ammo. Guns react differently with different types of ammo.