Hornady will be releasing its new "Critical Defense" 110 grain JSP ammo. It features a polymer ball in a hollowpoint nose to insure slick feeding. I use Hornady Critical Defense ammo in my .380 CZ83 carry weapon. Very slick feeding.
It is loaded to its full potential at 2,000 fps from an 18" barrel. At 200 yards, it still has 400 pounds of muzzle energy, more than most 9mms at the muzzle.
I have been happy with the R-P 110 JSPs, but am intrigued by this because of how exceptional Critical Defense ammo has been performing in other calibers.
Speer produces their Gold Dot in 30 carbine that is supposed to be exceptional, opening up to .602" diameter in ballistic gelatin. It is impossible to find, however, even though it was introduced in 2010.
IIRC the new SAGE website lists a stock for the M1 carbine. If it improves the accuracy of the carbine as reliably as it has the M14, and doesn't weigh a ton, there may be a wave of modernization yet to come for this platform. Wouldn't hurt my feelings a bit.
I might try some of that premium ammo, esp. the one with the poly ball, just to see the best groups I can get. I don't plan to use my carbine for anything like defense, but I imagine that stuff would tear up some zombies!
In my Standard Products that I use as a patrol Carbine, I have two X 15 rounders with R-P 110 grain SPs in the stock pouch, and a 30 rounder in the weapon. I have four X 30 rounders with R-P 110 grain FMJ, the rational being that if I am reloading from the pouch, it is "combat," shooting from cover at barricaded zombies. The 30 in the weapon, I have loaded with 15 JSPs on top, and 15 FMJs in the bottom, for basically the same reason. The top of the magazine, I want SP for face to face, where bear, mountain lion, or homicidal drug cartel planters in the USFS lands by our assets. By the time I get to the bottom of the magazine, the situation has evolved to a barricade situation. I had considered alternating JSP/FMJ every other round. Some tactical gurus suggest that with SMG magazines.
Ouch! I am not surprised, though, as R-P soft points are are about $0.90 to $0.95 a round. I did find a place in Sacramento that has Prvi Partizan (PPU) JSPs for $22/50. I bought a couple boxes to see how it feeds. Before Walmart quit carrying it, I was paying $26/50 of the R-P FMJs.