Lucky Gunner Tests Handgun Ammo @ 100yds

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WrongHanded

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https://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/how-effective-is-pistol-ammo-at-100-yards/amp/

I thought this was a really interesting experiment. The heavier slower bullets seemed to do better than the smaller fast ones.

The .357 Sig loss of velocity is particularly surprising to me, but then again that Speer Gold Dot has a pretty wide hollow point for the caliber of the bullet.

It would be interesting to see them do more testing with different brands of premium defense ammo, and maybe some 10mm too. Not that it's terribly useful information for self defense, but it's cool that they did it.
 
This is not so much a function of heavier bullet weight, but simply a function of velocity and drag. As you increase velocity, drag goes up exponentially.

Another way to look at it is if we were to take the 147 grain HST and drive it to 1360 fps, it would also lose 15% of its velocity -- not quite as much as the shorter 125 grain because it does have a slightly better BC.

On the other hand, let's take the 125 grain Gold Dot and drive it to only 1053 fps. It will lose 12% instead of 20% of its velocity at 100 yards.

Most of the difference is simply the velocity. As the velocity goes up, the drag goes way up. But the ballistic coefficient (the aerodynamics of the bullet) makes the difference we see when we make velocity equal. The 147 grain HST has a G1 BC of 0.2 and the 125 grain Gold Dot is 0.141

The other point of the article had to do with the terminal ballistics and the window of velocities the hollowpoint was designed to expand in. This is probably a lot more critical for handgun hunters who are seriously interested in terminal ballistics of handgun bullets at 100 yards. Hornady designed their XTP (Xtreme Terminal Performance) bullet for this purpose -- to have a wider range of velocities where the hollowpoint expansion functions and the bullet achieves good penetration. Generally, bullets like the XTP have more limited expansion. They don't expand to 2X caliber like some defensive ammo, but more like 1.25 or 1.5x. That allows them to still penetrate well at a wide interval of ranges. They won't blow-up at short range or fail to expand at long range even though the difference in velocity might be great.

Selecting defensive handgun ammunition for performance at 100 yards at the cost of performance at 7 yards is a mistake -- but I do believe that the high-velocity, light-for-caliber cartridges have proven inferior at short ranges also.
 
This is not so much a function of heavier bullet weight, but simply a function of velocity and drag. As you increase velocity, drag goes up exponentially.

Another way to look at it is if we were to take the 147 grain HST and drive it to 1360 fps, it would also lose 15% of its velocity -- not quite as much as the shorter 125 grain because it does have a slightly better BC.

On the other hand, let's take the 125 grain Gold Dot and drive it to only 1053 fps. It will lose 12% instead of 20% of its velocity at 100 yards.

Most of the difference is simply the velocity. As the velocity goes up, the drag goes way up. But the ballistic coefficient (the aerodynamics of the bullet) makes the difference we see when we make velocity equal. The 147 grain HST has a G1 BC of 0.2 and the 125 grain Gold Dot is 0.141

The other point of the article had to do with the terminal ballistics and the window of velocities the hollowpoint was designed to expand in. This is probably a lot more critical for handgun hunters who are seriously interested in terminal ballistics of handgun bullets at 100 yards. Hornady designed their XTP (Xtreme Terminal Performance) bullet for this purpose -- to have a wider range of velocities where the hollowpoint expansion functions and the bullet achieves good penetration. Generally, bullets like the XTP have more limited expansion. They don't expand to 2X caliber like some defensive ammo, but more like 1.25 or 1.5x. That allows them to still penetrate well at a wide interval of ranges. They won't blow-up at short range or fail to expand at long range even though the difference in velocity might be great.

Selecting defensive handgun ammunition for performance at 100 yards at the cost of performance at 7 yards is a mistake -- but I do believe that the high-velocity, light-for-caliber cartridges have proven inferior at short ranges also.
Informative, thank you.
 
The other point of the article had to do with the terminal ballistics and the window of velocities the hollowpoint was designed to expand in. This is probably a lot more critical for handgun hunters who are seriously interested in terminal ballistics of handgun bullets at 100 yards. Hornady designed their XTP (Xtreme Terminal Performance) bullet for this purpose -- to have a wider range of velocities where the hollowpoint expansion functions and the bullet achieves good penetration. Generally, bullets like the XTP have more limited expansion. They don't expand to 2X caliber like some defensive ammo, but more like 1.25 or 1.5x. That allows them to still penetrate well at a wide interval of ranges. They won't blow-up at short range or fail to expand at long range even though the difference in velocity might.

Except this hasn’t been my experience at all with XTPs on game. They routinely come apart and lose lots of mass. It is my least favorite expanding hunting bullet.
 
I wonder how the 180 grain 40 S&W would have been, Some reason they did light and heavy bullets for the 9mm. but only one bullet weight for the others.
 
Except this hasn’t been my experience at all with XTPs on game. They routinely come apart and lose lots of mass. It is my least favorite expanding hunting bullet.

Fair enough. I have no experience with them on game. I can see from gel tests that they have limited expansion and that they exhibit that expansion at a variety of velocities for a given bullet. I've also found them to be very consistent through the chronograph -- and they can be had dirt cheap compared to much better bullets like Barnes XPB or Swift A-frame.

If I'm not mistaken, you shoot at short range. Are those XTP's falling apart at 100 yards?
 
The short range failures have been at fairly low velocities. I just don’t think they are very good bullets compared to the XPB and the A-frame.
 
The short range failures have been at fairly low velocities. I just don’t think they are very good bullets compared to the XPB and the A-frame.

They sure are cheaper though. :D

The A-Frames I bought in .44 mag cost about $1 a bullet! I'm sure they'll do well if I ever get to use that load for hunting. But the load workup was kinda pricey.
 
It makes sense that the ammos with the smaller velocity loss remained in the bullet's expansion window and expanded while the ammos that had more significant velocity loss expanded less or failed to expand.
Here are a few things I noticed:
1) If the custom G19 is the one in the picture, it's a threaded (extended) barrel. They probably wanted something comparable to the Sig 226's 4.4" barrel.
2) Speer makes specific Gold Dot bullets for the 357Sig that are tougher (controlled expansion! - haha) than the ones they use in 9mm. More velocity with the 357 Sig vs 9mm resulted in less expansion at 100yds. It's not surprising that the 357 Sig's greater velocity loss resulted in less expansion. If a bullet at a level of "9mm of controlled expansion" were used in the 357 Sig, it would look great at 100yds and probably shear petals off at 50yds or less. Velocity window is important. Speaking of that...
3) Those 147's aren't going to expand like that out of your G43 at 100 yds for sure.
 
Interesting look at the various calibers. My only criticism is their use of ".357 Sig" as though it were exclusive to the 125gr bullet. They didn't do that with 9mm, but tested two bullet weights of 9mm and reported the expected, that heavier performed better. I would like to have seen them test 147gr .357 Sig as well.

Skimming the article (there's a LOT of extraneous fluff to sort through) and looking at the pictures, it seems like good-ole 45acp is still a great round.
 
In general the lighter and faster the bullet the more velocity and energy it loses as it moves down range.
The heavier the bullet the more energy and velocity is retained as it moves downrange. This is due to momentum.
This is in general true but can be effected by bullet design.

It's useful to pick up a copy of Bob Forker's book on ballistics.
 
Except this hasn’t been my experience at all with XTPs on game. They routinely come apart and lose lots of mass. It is my least favorite expanding hunting bullet.

Have you used the XTP FP's and had the same experience? My understanding is that they are designed for holding together at higher velocities. Haven's seen any testing of them, and if you've tested them, I'd be interested in your opinion.
 
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