Golden Saber spin direction?

[BigDeesul]

Well, I'm the proud new owner of an XDM .45, and the only hollow points at the gun shop were some cor bon's, dpx, and Remington Golden saber. I ended up getting the Remington Golden Saber 230gr. Looking at it, it seems like the bullet is made for a LH twist barrel. It looks like the bullet has been cut and the "talons" (or whatever the proper terminology for them)are bent so they would expand and cut if it were spinning counter-clockwise, and they would go against expansion going clockwise. My XDM uses a RH twist barrel, just like the majority of manufacturers, should I be using a different kind of ammo? Maybe I'm over-thinking it, but I'm curious. Any experts out there have any input?

 

[Rail Driver]

I've used the golden sabers in .40 with my sigma and they expanded just fine. (rh twist)

 

[papa_bear]

The twist is not what causes the bullet to expand. The liquid that fills the cavity causes expansion. Golden Sabre is a great choice. It's on the weaker side as to minimize muzzle flash and increase accuracy. The DPX is the more advanced round out of that bunch. Highly recommended by Evan Marshall, an expert in handgun ballistics.

 

[BigDeesul]

Maybe I'll pick up some DPX's. I just hadn't heard much about them, and I recognized the Golden Sabers. My first choice would have been some Hornady Critical Defense, some Winchester SXT's, or Federal HST's. Maybe I'll order some online. I understand what causes expansion, but just curious of the reasoning for the direction of the twist on the head of the sabers. It's a .45, anyway, and I'm sure if god forbid the situation arose that it had to be used in defense, even with no expansion, it would do it's job.

 

[papa_bear]

DPX and the HST are the best out right now IMHO (in my humble opinion). HST is federals hydra shok 2. supposed to be great in everything but the 357sig. The 357sig is moving too fast and bullets are not expanding. I'm sure they will correct this in the near future. I have heard mixed things about the hornady critical d.

check out the stoppingpowerforum. All kinds of ballistic and projectile info

 

[zoom6zoom]

You can see some expanded Golden Saber jackets in this pic (fired from my 220 against steel targets)

 

[Sam1911]

As said, expansion doesn't have anything to do with rotational direction and (contrary to some of the packaging and hype from the old "Black Talon" days) cutting/sawing/slicing isn't a significant factor in wound creation.

The bullet will expand due to pressure on the tip (even old lead round-nose solid bullets "mushroom" when they hit a target) and pressure inside the hollow-point cavity. As the bullet expands it creates a larger crush and tear wound than a non-expanding solid bullet -- and its greater frontal area when expanded will slow the bullet once it is inside the target which helps keep it from exiting the target (body) with enough energy to go on to do more damage to things beyond.

Of course, all of these are compromises or trade-offs (penetration -vs.- expansion, etc.) and the effects are highly variable depending on many factors (velocity, distance to the target, layers of clothing or other obstacles in front of the target, variable target density (flesh/bone), exact style of hollow point, etc).

Long story short: they work regardless of what direction they're spinning.

 

[gofastman]

I think the slanted lines on the Golden Sabres may just be like that to make the bullet look mean, rather than serve any functional purpose

 

[Shawn Dodson]

The Golden Saber jacket serrations overlap each other because the tips of the expanded jacket, as they peel back into ribbons around the shank, function as sharp tips that cut soft tissues as the bullet penetrates. When looking at an expanded Golden Saber bullet notice how the jacket ribbons are the same width from the tips to the skirt of the ribbon. If the ribbons were tapered instead of straight, the expanded jacket would like somewhat like a Black Talon type bullet. The straight ribbon design requires overlapping of the jacket at the ogive.

 

[BigDeesul]

Thank you, Shawn. That is the exact answer I was looking for!! The actual reason!! I did not realize by looking at them that the ribbons were the same width. Makes perfect sense. If I had done some searching and saw pictures of expanded Sabers, I probably would have been able to put 2 and 2 together. Thanks for the great info and pic. You learn something new every day!!

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Bullet wounding is not due to any turning or twisting upon impact; it is not a flying hole saw. Assuming the rifling twist is, say, one turn in twelve inches and that the bullet passes completely through the body (which you actually want to avoid), it will make less than one revolution passing through the average body.