Two words always come to mind when my wife asks me to throw out some large piece of meat thats been around the fridge too long - Ballistic Meat. It just so happened today that I got my hands on an uncooked pork loin a little over 6 inches thick with a bone running right through the middle. Straight to the trash wasn't good enough for this beauty so off to the range it went.
I decided to test three common calibers in three common concealed carry/self defense handguns. Below are my test parameters, firearms, and ammo used.
All shots fired from 10 feet through 4 layers of t-shirt material. Lean pork loin was ~6 inches thick including a large central bone. Pork was uncooked at about 35 degrees. A backstop of rubber mulch was placed behind the "test medium".
Shot #1 - Ruger LCR 22lr (1-7/8 inch barrel) Ammo - Aguila 40 grain Interceptor solid point.
Complete pass through 6 inches of meat breaking the center bone. Bullet recovered ~2 inches into rubber mulch.
Whether or not you believe that a handgun in 22lr is adequate for self defense the truth is that a lot of people carry them for one reason or another. This hyper velocity round, even from a snub nose, showed great penetration including breaking a fairly large bone. The bullet did exit the meat about 1 inch lower than its entry so I'm assuming it deflected some off of the bone. As you can see in the photo below, the round did not expand but certainly did deform leaving a significant wound track.
Shot #2 - Ruger LCP 380 ACP (2-3/4 barrel) Ammo - Fiocchi Extrema loaded with 90 grain Hornady XTP bullet.
Complete pass through 6 inches of meat breaking the center bone. Bullet recovered ~2.5 inches into rubber mulch.
I was impressed with this often maligned ammo/pistol combination. Though the expansion of the bullet wasn't very pretty, it did have some nasty sharp protrusions that produced some pretty impressive trauma in the meat. Penetration was great especially since it passed through and crumbled up a pretty good size bone in the process.
Shot #3 - Ruger LC9 9mm (3.12 inch barrel) Ammo - Speer Gold Dot 115 grain.
Complete pass through 6 inches of meat pulverizing the center bone. Bullet recovered ~2 inches into rubber mulch.
This round performed beautifully. Great expansion, penetration, and that poor bone was nothing but mush. Shot left a large ragged wound track. Don't know that I can say much more about this one.
Final thoughts - All three impressed me in their own way.
-I found it interesting that all three rounds penetrated almost exactly the same depth.
-The 22 went deeper (especially considering the bone) than I thought it would have. A few of these delivered quickly to the wheelhouse of a bad guy would likely make him reconsider his actions.
-The XTP/LCP combo penetrated farther and did far more damage than I would have expected. I personally wouldn't feel undergunned at all with this combination in my front pocket.
- The Gold Dot was a thing of beauty (ballistically speaking). If you can conceal and shoot a small 9mm well, this round deserves some serious consideration. Don't know what more I could have asked from it.
So my tests are hardly scientific but it was an interesting "apples to apples" comparison of some popular self defense choices. It was also a fun way to dispose of some questionable pork.
I decided to test three common calibers in three common concealed carry/self defense handguns. Below are my test parameters, firearms, and ammo used.
All shots fired from 10 feet through 4 layers of t-shirt material. Lean pork loin was ~6 inches thick including a large central bone. Pork was uncooked at about 35 degrees. A backstop of rubber mulch was placed behind the "test medium".
Shot #1 - Ruger LCR 22lr (1-7/8 inch barrel) Ammo - Aguila 40 grain Interceptor solid point.
Complete pass through 6 inches of meat breaking the center bone. Bullet recovered ~2 inches into rubber mulch.
Whether or not you believe that a handgun in 22lr is adequate for self defense the truth is that a lot of people carry them for one reason or another. This hyper velocity round, even from a snub nose, showed great penetration including breaking a fairly large bone. The bullet did exit the meat about 1 inch lower than its entry so I'm assuming it deflected some off of the bone. As you can see in the photo below, the round did not expand but certainly did deform leaving a significant wound track.
Shot #2 - Ruger LCP 380 ACP (2-3/4 barrel) Ammo - Fiocchi Extrema loaded with 90 grain Hornady XTP bullet.
Complete pass through 6 inches of meat breaking the center bone. Bullet recovered ~2.5 inches into rubber mulch.
I was impressed with this often maligned ammo/pistol combination. Though the expansion of the bullet wasn't very pretty, it did have some nasty sharp protrusions that produced some pretty impressive trauma in the meat. Penetration was great especially since it passed through and crumbled up a pretty good size bone in the process.
Shot #3 - Ruger LC9 9mm (3.12 inch barrel) Ammo - Speer Gold Dot 115 grain.
Complete pass through 6 inches of meat pulverizing the center bone. Bullet recovered ~2 inches into rubber mulch.
This round performed beautifully. Great expansion, penetration, and that poor bone was nothing but mush. Shot left a large ragged wound track. Don't know that I can say much more about this one.
Final thoughts - All three impressed me in their own way.
-I found it interesting that all three rounds penetrated almost exactly the same depth.
-The 22 went deeper (especially considering the bone) than I thought it would have. A few of these delivered quickly to the wheelhouse of a bad guy would likely make him reconsider his actions.
-The XTP/LCP combo penetrated farther and did far more damage than I would have expected. I personally wouldn't feel undergunned at all with this combination in my front pocket.
- The Gold Dot was a thing of beauty (ballistically speaking). If you can conceal and shoot a small 9mm well, this round deserves some serious consideration. Don't know what more I could have asked from it.
So my tests are hardly scientific but it was an interesting "apples to apples" comparison of some popular self defense choices. It was also a fun way to dispose of some questionable pork.
