Eldorado "Starfire" ammo

[Diamondback]

Is their anyone who uses this brand of ammo for defensive applicaions. I am particularly interested in the .357 150 gr load out of a 3" Ruger SP101 AND a 16" lever carbine. I have done a search on "Starfire" and see that some depend on the 9mm 115gr "Starfire". There is some talk that the 38 Special 125+p load does not open up out of a snub.....and then I hear rumors that the entire "Starfire" line suffers from expansion issues. I do remember reading somewhere that the .380 load was considered unreliable. Mostly I would like to know what facts, rumors, and experience you have on the "Starfire" .357 150gr load......and how it would perform in a revolver and a lever carbine.
Thanks,
Chris

 

[Bulldozer]

Back when I had a Glock 30and a LW Series 70 Commander, I had the occassion to test and recover some of the 230-grain 45ACP flavors of this load into wet phone books. Of the 50 shots fired, none failed to expand. None fragmented into multiple pieces. Penetration was about the same as 200 Speer JHP that had been sittingina locker for umpteen years.

Ted Bryzincki(sp.?) of Hydra-Shok fame allegedly designed this bullet after he developed HS and before EFMJ. I doubt that he'd deliberately deisgn a dud.

I have roughly 300 roundsof the 38 +P and 357 rounds. I had planned on burning through some of it this summer to get a better comfort level with it.

I too,would be most interested in any info on these loads.

 

[bpisler]

The 357mag starfire is my carry load for my 3" 65-3.It's very accurate and recoil is not harsh.Years ago i fired some into wetpack with great results.
All opened up very well with no fragmentation.