Petals thru bone

481 said:

Rattled yer teeth too much?

Click to expand...

That's not all it rattled, did a lot of movement while shooting and the groups opened up a bit when I began pushing the split times. Didn't help that two of the powders had sticky chambers.

Did a 357mag test last week, thought I'd try the factory Remington 125gr SJHP, it chronographs;

Dan Wesson 4" 1456fps/588fpe,
S&W M327 TRR8 5" 1392fps/538fpe
Colt Trooper MkIII 6" 1520fps/641fpe,
S&W M686P 6" 1627fps/735fpe,
Ruger Blackhawk 7.5" 1648fps/754fpe,

The 686P is carried in a Bianchi clam shell shoulder rig at my place and was used for this test. Simple bone set up;



I know a lot of departments carried this ammunition, ours didn't, preferring the 158gr SJHP instead. While this is only one test, I was disappointed with the 125;



Looking at the lead fragmentation, it appears the lead core would have tumbled.

The specifics;

1627fps
Asymmetrical expansion average 0.582" - 1.63x caliber,
Recovered weight 83.7grs

12 gauge Barnes expander link

Thanks to forum member 481 for testing the Barnes expander slug and posting some great pics of this innovative shotgun ammunition design and construction.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=688558

There are also OO and #4 buck penetration/crush cavity numbers for comparison between the the three types of ammunition using the Schwartz and MacPherson models.

Also, I now have Hornady's Critical Duty 135gr +P ammunition to test and I'm looking forward to see how this new bullet design performs against different intermediate barriers. Winter weather here, low 50s and rain off/on.

It must be a challenge to design a 380 caliber bullet that will penetrate through intermediate barriers and reach vital organs.

Here's a Critical Defense ammunition test that took the 357mag, 125gr FTX bullet well beyond its intended design parameters. This 125gr FTX bullet expanded w/i a 4x4, this is a tough bullet design/construction;

9mm Hornady Critical Duty 135gr +P

After the disappointment of the 357mag/125gr SJHP factory load tested above, I thought it might be time to test a modern 9mm bullet designed for duty carry and personal defense.



Gel data (FBI protocol) and photos can be viewed at Hornady's website, so, let's see how this ammunition performs against dried out range cow bones. Not satisfied with a rib or typical leg bone test, how about a leg bone test at the knuckle joint?



In a similar 10mm test, a leg joint was pulverised as was the 200gr XTP/~1200s.

In bottle #1 several large bone fragments came to rest, as well as the bullet's lead core and jacket;



This is a tough bullet design, core weight was 71.4grs and 104.2grs with the jacket.

With its polymer hollow cavity plug, this ammunition from Hornady is worth further testing IMO.

Thanks for sharing your moose tests.

I have X bullets for the 38 Super and 45 auto, 180gr Partitions for the 357mag, but haven't tested them against large bones. I've thought about loading up the 140gr X bullet for the G20, but it's one of those projects that hasn't happened yet.

Do you have any feedback on other copper only bullet companies?

A few days ago, in between rain storms, I came across large, as in really large, boar tracks while walking on the property. I've encountered domestic sows w/o incident, but I don't know what behavior to expect from a large boar. In any event, 10mm/200gr WFNs are current carry just in case. I can go for walks thousands of times without incident, but sooner or later an incident will occur and thus far I've correctly anticipated the correct caliber and bullet weight for the situation. Fortunately, there are a number of calibers and bullet designs to choose from for town and home carry.

Those 158 JHPs are nice, and wicked out of a 6".

Every monsoon season, summer rain July-early Sept, has a way of skewing everyday life here. Critters can, and often do incritterable things that can be life threatening. Shovels are placed near porch doors for those times when it's not advisable to shoot rattlers coiled on concrete slabs, but using shovels is a messy way to dispatch this type of vermin.

During July there were a pair of violent T-storms hours apart, when the rain and wind subsided, a neighbor (over a mile away) found his two Rotts dead outside. It appears that they were killed by a single mountain lion, we don't know for sure because all tracks were washed away. That same morning about 0430, a neighbor witnessed a very large black bear running about three miles from my home.

It doesn't stop there, a rancher I know some distance away, came home to find that a black had been inside while they were away. A few nights later while preparing for bed, a black bear ripped a screen off the bedroom window and began climbing inside, the rancher got his .357mag off the night stand and shot it in the top of its head. It was about a two foot shot, the JHP did not penetrate the bear's skull, but the bear did fall back and walked away from the home. Because of the high numbers of bears in the area, tracking hounds failed to find this particular bear.

I haven't seen much in the way of feral dog pack activity, but one neighbor encountered an aggressive pit bull breed while walking not far from my home. He shot at it but missed. A few days later this pit bull pack killed a goat, the pack has not been seen since and it's believed they are no longer alive.

Talking with the rancher who had the bear confrontation reminded me that it's always best to train for the 1% scenarios, for me this now includes bears, in addition to hogs, dogs, coyotes, lions and rattlers to name a few. Plus, there's always the threat of two legged social miscreants at any time of day or night.

As a result of the rancher's encounter, I've gone to 10mm for carry. What separates the 10mm from the .357mag and .38Super is the 200gr WFN @~1200fps. I ordered a custom 1911 in January (it should be here soon) because of potential hog encounters, now, everything is on the table.

It's been an interesting and busy year thus far, ammunition testing has really helped in bullet selection for carry, regardless of predator size.

When the 1911 arrives, I have some Double Tap 10mm ammunition to test, Barnes 125/155gr JHPs.

I apologize for the delay in responding, the rancher had his .357mag loaded with 110gr JHPs, not my choice, but adequate in the smuggling/trafficking area we live in. We spoke about using hard cast bullets, he casts his own, but he simply didn't have the time to make the ammunition change.

When the temps cool down to outer clothing temps I like the mag loaded with 180gr WFNGCs or 173gr Keith bullet, plus 158gr JHPs on speedloaders. The mag is very adaptable to living in rural environments.

Anyone practice with the 155gr Missouri Bullet hardcast in 10mm, what powder?