stuffisgood
Member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2011
- Messages
- 55
I did a VERY basic test with some of the self defense ammo that I had around the house. My primary carry gun is a Colt Night Defender in 45. I've read over and over again about the 3" barrel guns not producing enough velocity to properly expand a HP, or functioning poorly. Maybe I got lucky but this gun eats EVERYTHING I feed it. From 230 gr fmj's, 165 gr frying pan hollow points and even the swc handloads for my goldcup.
My "test" consisted of 185 grain Hornady critical defense, 185 gr Remington Golden Saber, and 165 gr CorBon HP's. I didn't test any 230's as I didn't expect them to expand. I shot 3 shots of each bullet into wet phone books at 15 feet. Not near enough shots or distance variation to get the full picture, but it definitely tought me more than shooting no shots would have.
The results...
The Hornady's expanded very little and penetrated almost twice as far as the others. These will NOT be used in this gun. I will test them in my commander and full size Colts and expect to see the expansion that is advertised.
The Golden Sabers had good penetration and expansion. One did however separate. Weight retention was 100% in the two that stayed together, and would have been 100% in the third had it not separated.
The CorBons were explosive and left an impressive wound channel in the wet paper. They did not mushroom, but did pancake to an overall larger diameter than the others. The penetration was about 1/2 of the Remington's (3.5" into wet phone book vs 6.5"). To me these will make a good warm weather round or where penetration wants to be kept to a minimum.
My "test" consisted of 185 grain Hornady critical defense, 185 gr Remington Golden Saber, and 165 gr CorBon HP's. I didn't test any 230's as I didn't expect them to expand. I shot 3 shots of each bullet into wet phone books at 15 feet. Not near enough shots or distance variation to get the full picture, but it definitely tought me more than shooting no shots would have.
The results...
The Hornady's expanded very little and penetrated almost twice as far as the others. These will NOT be used in this gun. I will test them in my commander and full size Colts and expect to see the expansion that is advertised.
The Golden Sabers had good penetration and expansion. One did however separate. Weight retention was 100% in the two that stayed together, and would have been 100% in the third had it not separated.
The CorBons were explosive and left an impressive wound channel in the wet paper. They did not mushroom, but did pancake to an overall larger diameter than the others. The penetration was about 1/2 of the Remington's (3.5" into wet phone book vs 6.5"). To me these will make a good warm weather round or where penetration wants to be kept to a minimum.
