Gimmick ammo gel test: 9mm Underwood 105 gr Lehigh CFHP

[chopinbloc]

https://youtu.be/lZxypxnsrUQ


9mm Underwood loaded Lehigh 105 gr CFHP fired from 4.5" Glock 22 with LWD 9mm conversion barrel through four layers of denim into calibrated 10% gelatin.

BB: 590.1 fps, 3.6"

Impact velocity: 1,257 fps
Retained weight: 62.9 gr
Penetration: greater than 14" (recovered from first water jug after passing through 14" of gelatin)

 

[sequins]

Seems like nice penetration.

 

[chopinbloc]

Sure, but that was only the base section. The petals penetrated much less.

 

[Neo-Luddite]

It has a niche to fill for someone, somewhere....maybe.

 

[chopinbloc]

Possibly. I've been struggling to think of what that niche might be. The 10mm version had similar performance but sort of scaled up. I could maybe see it being a decent compromise, maybe. It's certainly not traditional and therefore fails objective, quantitative standards such as expansion and weight retention, but it would cause a lot of disruption and wounding in a hit to a human thoracic cavity with no intervening objects while the base section definitely drives deeply enough to reach vital organs even if the petals were to get torn off and left behind in an intervening limb or oblique hit to the torso. In my completely inexpert opinion, the base section even goes deeply enough to be useful for animal defense. Still, I won't be switching to it any time soon. In 10mm, the Federal 180 gr Trophy Bonded soft point goes 18" but also expands and 220 gr hard cast goes even deeper.

 

[481]

Interesting test in both calibers (9mm and 10mm) as it reminds me a bit of the G2 RIP design as they both shed about one-half of their weight (petals) shortly after entry leaving the remaining half of the slug to penetrate like a shortened nominal bore-diameter wadcutter.

It'd probably be a more effective design if the manufacturers could manage to delay the detachment of the petals from the bullet core until much later in the penetration event.

Kudos to Underwood and LeHigh Defense for not calling the fragments that were shed by the bullets by some weird name like 'trocars'.

 

[F-111 John]

I've been struggling to think of what that niche might be.

The niche is to separate tacticool pseudo-operators from their money. There are several specialty rounds for both handguns and shotguns that are adept at this task.

 

[chopinbloc]

It'd probably be a more effective design if the manufacturers could manage to delay the detachment of the petals from the bullet core until much later in the penetration event.

That's an interesting idea. The challenge would be to still have the petals begin expansion early. It would be of little benefit if the petals broke off later and penetrated adequately if that was only accomplished by creating a 7" neck.

 

[Old Guy]

There are a few good cartridge designs in 9mm, been around for a while.

IMHO my personal pick. 147g JHP By Winchester, non +P Ranger T.

The most recent design, is made to follow the FBI protocol.
With expansion/accuracy/depth of penetration.

Subjective, re me! Very controllable recoil.

Not a gimmick cartridge, but it expands into vicious petals, that stay in one piece, connected.

 

[Vonderek]

Thanks for another interesting video.

 

[chopinbloc]

Thank you.

 

[481]

That's an interesting idea. The challenge would be to still have the petals begin expansion early. It would be of little benefit if the petals broke off later and penetrated adequately if that was only accomplished by creating a 7" neck.

Yeah, it'd be best for the petals to remain place as long as possible, but that just brings us back full circle to how typical JHPs behave.

I suspect that the technology (expanding handgun ammo) is fully mature and all that remains is chasing possible diminishing returns of extreme designs.

 

[230RN]

^ "I suspect that the technology (expanding handgun ammo) is fully mature and all that remains is chasing possible diminishing returns of extreme designs."

Well, at least with lead and copper-ish jackets.

What I found amusing was that those copper-powder/epoxy resin bullets with the spiral flutes on them (which most people poo-poohed as "gimmickey") were reported on fairly favorably by the NRA. (The question I had was what if the spirals were designed for a right-hand twist and they were fired from a left-hand rifled gun.)

After all, I've thought for years that the energy involved in spinning a handgun bullet could be more effectively utilized for terminal ballistics, as it is in some rifle bullets.

Terry

REF:
http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2015/10/23/tested-the-polycase-arx-bullet/

...spent months experimenting with aero and fluid dynamics using Finite Element Modeling (FEM), which led to the design of uniquely shaped flutes, or channels, the company calls Power Blades. The flutes act to displace the target material using the bullet’s forward and rotational momentum, or “lateral force dispersion.”
<snip>
The ballistic gel results were impressive, demonstrating terminal effects comparable, or superior, to typical hollow-point pistol ammunition.

 

[chopinbloc]

Correction: American Rifleman ran an article favorable to a major advertiser. It's still hogwash.

 

[481]

Correction: American Rifleman ran an article favorable to a major advertiser. It's still hogwash.

Yeah, after looking at tests (yours and those done by others) of the ARX, I was not impressed by its performance.

Liked your article regarding the design. Nicely done.

http://www.homedefensegun.net/polycase-arx-inceptor/

 

[chopinbloc]

Thank you. Of course, I'm no expert myself, but I do have the sense to listen to people who are.

 

[230RN]

Post deleted by poster.

 

[lonniemike]

Hey chopin, I'd be curious of your thoughts/tests on Lehigh's solid copper in the extreme defense and penetator bullets. Best

 

[chopinbloc]

This sums it up:

http://www.homedefensegun.net/extreme-penetrator/

Everything I said about Extreme Penetrator applies equally to Extreme Defemder. I am no expert, of course.