fastbolt
Member
Thanks.
I don't really bother to keep up on their ammo choices.
Last time I remembered, when they were first testing some custom 1911's for procurement, they were using the Rem 230gr HPJ load for the testing.
I haven't had the chance to chew the fat with any of their SSA's or SA's for several years. When I did, the ones with whom I spoke weren't nearly as "enthusiastic" about the weapons & ammo they were issued & used as the private owner gun enthusiasts who eagerly followed such things seemed to be.
One of the guys issued one of the early custom 1911's said it was heavy to carry. One of the other SA's mentioned they sort of missed their previously issued SIG 9mm, but had told by an armorer that their SIG 9 had finally reached the point where it couldn't be kept within spec anymore, so it was replaced with a G23. (One of those shoulder shrug, "it's okay" responses.)
Just service weapons, folks. Still just handguns.
Flavor-of-the-moment ammo choices for small or large fed agencies isn't any more interesting (to me) than the choices of the 18K +/- state & local LE agencies around the country.
Not like it was when I was a younger and an oh-so-enthusiastic firearms instructor with my then hot-off-the-press copy of the early FBI ammo testing.
Once you've had ample opportunity to observe different factory gel-testing events, and learn of others from instructors who attend them, all the better quality "premium" bullet designs and loads sort of blend together.
I remember when I was watching a Rem event, and a LOT of the HPJ was used (both standard and bonded), and the only recovered bullet that lost its jacket was a 165gr load. All the 180gr standard & bonded rounds did just as advertised, in both 4-layer denim & windshield glass scenarios. At the end of the day the rep took one of the borrowed issued P229's and rapidly fired several shots using the standard non-bonded 180gr .40 HPJ into the last gel block that had been used to wrap up the tests.
All the fired bullets penetrated to within approx an inch of each other, even after crossing various gel fractures from previous shots ... all of them expanding, none of them clogging with the heavy denim ... and none of them lost their jackets.
No guarantees what happens from one bullet fired to the next, though.
I've just stopped worrying about which of the various top quality, "premium" defensive hollowpoints ... developed by the major American ammo makers who have developed a lot of experience providing service ammo to LE/Gov users ... I may be using at one time or another. They all seem to work pretty well under a range of conditions for which they've been developed.
I don't overly concern myself with the "bonded" v. "non-bonded", either.
