Over the last year and a half working in the showroom, I noticed a large amount of people carried range ammo for their carry ammo. Now, we did have a little bit of an ammo availability situation so that could be the reason why but still.
When grabbing some defense ammo, I like to look at FPS and I like 1300 range just cause of the ballistic videos I have watched personally but you may carry something different. In my M&P I run Federal HST, in my Stribog I run Hornady Critical Defense, in my .300 blackout I run Grind Hard Ammo .300 blackout subsonic max expansion. That being said, what I run may not work for you. Youtube is a great source for reviews on ammo types.
There are a lot of reasons you do not want to run range ammo. FMJ/Range ammo does not expand upon impacting the target, because the bullet is typically a round nose or ball. This means you are going to get less damage than an expanding bullet and a round will easily pass through a body and possibly cause damage to an innocent person.
With Jacketed Hollow Point or Hollow Point, you are going to get expansion and transfer more energy into the threat to create a larger wound channel, increasing your potential to stop the threat sooner. The chance of over penetration is lowered so innocent bystanders are in less danger.
Target and Range ammo is best for…you guessed it the Target and Range. When your life or your families life is on the line, use defense ammo.