Ballistic gelatin test results : .40S&W Various JHPs (Heavy denim from a Glock 27)

[Brass Fetcher]

Cartridge : Various .40S&W 180gr JHPs

Firearm : Glock 27 with 3.5" barrel length

Block calibration : All depths corrected (From 7.6cm @ 574 ft/sec)

Weather conditions at test : 45degF with 5mph wind gusts

All shots were fired from 10' distance, through 4 layers of heavy denim fabric.

Shot 1 - Speer 180gr Gold Dot Short Barrel JHP. Impacted at unknown velocity (chronograph malfunction), penetrated to 13.2" and was recovered at 0.592" average diameter.

Shot 2 - Remington 180gr Golden Saber JHP. Impacted at 915 ft/sec, penetrated to 15.6" and was recovered at 0.639" average diameter.

Shot 3 - Hornady 180gr XTP JHP. Impacted at 920 ft/sec, penetrated to 16.1" and was recovered at 0.487" average diameter.

Please disregard shots 4 and 5 - they are .380ACP bullets, the results of which will be published to THR in the near future.

 

[CPshooter]

I like the Golden Saber's performance. Those are very good numbers.

 

[CrawdaddyJim]

Looks like the gold dot's were right on the mark.
Overpenetration occurs at how many inches ?

 

[DMK]

The .40 would certainly get the job one. It doesn't matter which of those you chose.

 

[Soybomb]

Overpenetration occurs at how many inches ?

When it leaves the body? There is no set number, the ideal depth is often cited by people as being somewhere between 12-16" in gelatin. There was a study in the 1991 Wound Ballistics Review Jounal by Eugene Wolberg where he checked out the real world performance of the 147 gr winchester load in those shot by the san diego pd. For this study they recorded the penetration depth of the rounds in the bodies. They checked 28 bullets. The average length of the wound was 13.2" Two rounds had penetrated to 13.5-14.5" and were stopped just under the skin. Wolberg speculated that they could have penetrated more deeply but that the skin has a "holding in" effect. For as many times as I've read people say "12 inches is excessive penetration" i think its quite telling that out of 28 wounds the average is so high. The most shallow wound was 10", and the deepest was 17" Neither of those two were about to exit the body.

You've been busy JE223! Eager to see some more .380 data. Can I ask what your fabric layers are? iwba or fbi?

 

[Brass Fetcher]

Yes - the denim used was four layers of 14.1 ounce/yard denim, loosely layered one on top of the other. So, it is closest to the IWBA heavy clothing test.

 

[SDDL-UP]

Come on! Everybody knows the 40 S&W won't penetrate a rib cage and bounces off people's skulls!

 

[DMK]

Come on! Everybody knows the 40 S&W won't penetrate a rib cage and bounces off people's skulls!

No, that's .30 Carbine.

 

[RyanM]

Shot 2 - Remington 180gr Golden Saber JHP. Impacted at 915 ft/sec, penetrated to 15.6" and was recovered at 0.639" average diameter.

Now that's the Golden Saber I know! Those things do seem to somehow do better through denim than bare gel. Still kind of disappointed in their performance in bare gel, though. But looks like they'd be a great winter load.

RE: overpenetration, my calculator says that for a 9" thick person, front to back shot, 13.5" - 14.5" will exit. However, to actually be dangerous (i.e., able to penetrate bare skin on another person), a bullet must penetrate greater than about 15.5" - 17".

 

[shadowalker]

None of these bullets would qualify as over penetrating, the FBI stated that a minimum of 12 inches of penetration is required with 18 inches preferred, they also noted it is far better to have too much penetration than to have too little.

One reason for preferring more penetration is to insure the bullet has enough momentum left to pierce and destroy vitals rather than just pushing them aside. As bullets slow they can displace organs rather than going through them.

America is also getting bigger, so we'll need more penetration than in the past, just as the medical industry is seeing a need for longer needles for some patients because IM injections are going into fat instead of muscle.

 

[gbelleh]

The 180 gr Golden Saber has been my .40 of choice lately. It's good to see they performed well in this test.

Thanks for posting these tests, they are very informative.

 

[KBintheSLC]

Looks like the GD and GS both did a fine job. I keep the GD in my wifes carry gun and GS in mine. I'm glad to see that the GS did not have a core/jacket separation. This doesn't really happen with the GD due to their bonding process, but it can happen with the GS (you can see how the jacket started peeling away from the core above). I have never tried the Hornady's, but it looks like they didn't expand as well thus the deeper penetration.

This is just more proof that the Gold Dot is worth the money... hence putting it in my wifes gun. It penetrates a bit less, but this is due to better/consistent expansion, more rapid energy transfer, and less loss of bullet mass. It still easily exceeds the minimum 12" penetration requirement.

The more I see these tests the more I like the Gold Dot's.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Hornady bullets just won't expand in every test I've seen. Even at over 900 fps they will not perform. With all this bad press you would think they would do something about the poor performance of the XTP/HP line of bullets.

On the other end of very bad is the Golden Saber which performed very well from what I see. Too bad you didn't have a Winchester Silvertip round to test. I wonder if it would perform as well as Remington's Golden Saber. I might have to buy some Golden Saber bullets for .38 Special +P reloading!! LOL

John, thanks again for all the testing you do and for posting the information.