MikeNice
Member
Let me say sorry right away. Sorry. There are no pictures available because I forgot to charge my cell phone last night.
Me and a friend decided to test out the penetration and expansion of a few rounds. With winter coming clothing is changing. So, why not see which rounds do through local winter wear? For our winter wear we put a t-shirt under a "sweat shirt" and medium density polyster "fleece" pullover. It was all draped over 1 gallon plastic ice cream buckets that had been filled with water and wet newspaper. The buckets were set up top to bottom on their sides. This was done to provide consistent depth regardless of where the bullet hit. Similar rigs with milk jugs have provided numbers similar to gel test of the same bullet "model" bfore. So, the test was taken as being fairly accurate.
We used a Smith & Wesson 908 as our test gun. We fired from 18 feet to simulate the width of a master bedroom.
Hornady 124gr Custom
This ammo was about as accurate as it gets. Point of aim and point of impact matched nearly perfectly shooting free hand. That gave the ammo a big plus in my book. I was a little upset over the performance though.
The two rounds we fired failed to penetrate even 11". One came to rest at 10 & 3/16". The second achieved 10 & 1/16". They opened up completely achieving .53" of expanded diameter. I say completely because the petals were folded back completely. It was obvious that the bullet couldnt expand much if any more.
So, they will work and they are accurate. Both are very important in any round. I would be hesitant to carry them because they fell way short of the FBI standard.
Remington Golden Saber 124gr+p
The bullet was accurate enough. At 6 yards it will get pretty much as close as human error allows. It was slightly further off than the Hornady. Then again, we're talking differences of about 1/8" or less.
The two rounds we fired expanded to about .55". One round penetrated to 13 & 7/8". The other round achieved a full 14" of penetration. To nobody's suprise the core and jacket of both rounds seperated. The jacket was about 1" behind the core with both rounds.
Despite the age of the design the bullet performed reasonably well. I wouldn't feel uncomfortable with it. With the core and jacket seperation it probably isn't a bullet for barrier busting. Some shooters don't believe that is a concern for civilians, they should be fine with this round.
Remington Golden Saber 147gr
I was anticipating this test. I like 147gr 9mm ammo. It usually does well with barriers and provides great penetration. Expansion is usually slightly sacrificed, but I can live with that.
The bullet was just as acurate as the +p version. The expansion suprised me though. One round expanded to .60" and the other expanded to .66". However the penetration came in at only 13 & 1/4" for both rounds. At first we thought we had gotten confused about which rounds we were shooting.
To make sure we had the information correct we fired two more 147gr rounds. We got nearly identical results. Both bullets expanded between .60" and .66" while travelling less than 13.5" in to the test medium. Some how Remington got the formula backwards.
This round should work just fine for most shooters. There is still the issue of core and jacket seperation. However, it is accurate and works as designed. If barrier busting is a very low priority on your list this bullet could serve you well.
Federal Premium 135gr Personal Defense Hydra-Shok
The ammo was just as accurate as the Remington. It was a severe disapointment other wise.
One round only expanded to .42" and penetrated 19 & 1/4". You might as well fire .40S&W fmj. The other round failed to expand and exceeded 24" of penetration. The bullet was not recovered. Not a great performance by any stretch when you're paying $21 for 20 rounds.
I can not recomend these to anyone.
Me and a friend decided to test out the penetration and expansion of a few rounds. With winter coming clothing is changing. So, why not see which rounds do through local winter wear? For our winter wear we put a t-shirt under a "sweat shirt" and medium density polyster "fleece" pullover. It was all draped over 1 gallon plastic ice cream buckets that had been filled with water and wet newspaper. The buckets were set up top to bottom on their sides. This was done to provide consistent depth regardless of where the bullet hit. Similar rigs with milk jugs have provided numbers similar to gel test of the same bullet "model" bfore. So, the test was taken as being fairly accurate.
We used a Smith & Wesson 908 as our test gun. We fired from 18 feet to simulate the width of a master bedroom.
Hornady 124gr Custom
This ammo was about as accurate as it gets. Point of aim and point of impact matched nearly perfectly shooting free hand. That gave the ammo a big plus in my book. I was a little upset over the performance though.
The two rounds we fired failed to penetrate even 11". One came to rest at 10 & 3/16". The second achieved 10 & 1/16". They opened up completely achieving .53" of expanded diameter. I say completely because the petals were folded back completely. It was obvious that the bullet couldnt expand much if any more.
So, they will work and they are accurate. Both are very important in any round. I would be hesitant to carry them because they fell way short of the FBI standard.
Remington Golden Saber 124gr+p
The bullet was accurate enough. At 6 yards it will get pretty much as close as human error allows. It was slightly further off than the Hornady. Then again, we're talking differences of about 1/8" or less.
The two rounds we fired expanded to about .55". One round penetrated to 13 & 7/8". The other round achieved a full 14" of penetration. To nobody's suprise the core and jacket of both rounds seperated. The jacket was about 1" behind the core with both rounds.
Despite the age of the design the bullet performed reasonably well. I wouldn't feel uncomfortable with it. With the core and jacket seperation it probably isn't a bullet for barrier busting. Some shooters don't believe that is a concern for civilians, they should be fine with this round.
Remington Golden Saber 147gr
I was anticipating this test. I like 147gr 9mm ammo. It usually does well with barriers and provides great penetration. Expansion is usually slightly sacrificed, but I can live with that.
The bullet was just as acurate as the +p version. The expansion suprised me though. One round expanded to .60" and the other expanded to .66". However the penetration came in at only 13 & 1/4" for both rounds. At first we thought we had gotten confused about which rounds we were shooting.
To make sure we had the information correct we fired two more 147gr rounds. We got nearly identical results. Both bullets expanded between .60" and .66" while travelling less than 13.5" in to the test medium. Some how Remington got the formula backwards.
This round should work just fine for most shooters. There is still the issue of core and jacket seperation. However, it is accurate and works as designed. If barrier busting is a very low priority on your list this bullet could serve you well.
Federal Premium 135gr Personal Defense Hydra-Shok
The ammo was just as accurate as the Remington. It was a severe disapointment other wise.
One round only expanded to .42" and penetrated 19 & 1/4". You might as well fire .40S&W fmj. The other round failed to expand and exceeded 24" of penetration. The bullet was not recovered. Not a great performance by any stretch when you're paying $21 for 20 rounds.
I can not recomend these to anyone.
