But, because they get less than 12" of penetration in ballistic gel, they are not tested. There is some overlap, but in general the 9mm Luger has heavier projectiles than the .380 ACP. You can find the results from 20 different .380 ACP ammunition back in our very first gel testing article. Because handgun bullets typically travel at relatively low velocity, they possess little to no capacity to induce this phenomenon. If someone wants to kill you, and the only way to prevent that from happening is to shoot them, a handgun is not the ideal firearm to use — they just happen to be the type of firearm we’re most likely to have immediate access to. All of the JHP loads tested had trouble penetrating at least some of the time. The first condition depends on the person operating the gun. Here, Jason Hornady (right) works with a ballistics technician to measure one of the many blocks of gelatin used to validate research. Even so, the performance in gelatin between the two loads was comparable. Most of us train to fire at the vital zone or “center mass” high in the chest area of the target, which is an area typically covered by clothing. Conventional wisdom says to use ammunition with a hollow point bullet. Our test of the .380 ACP Hornady Critical Defense resulted in a an average penetration depth of 13.2 inches and average expansion of .52 inches. Some of the loads became partially clogged with the heavy fabric which prevented complete expansion and led to slight over-penetration in the 18-22 inch range. If you’re looking for more .380 ACP goodness, you might want to check out this article that discusses the history of the caliber and its merits as a self-defense cartridge. When ballistics experts have suggested changes to the 12 inch standard, it has only been in the direction of increasing that number, but for the time being, the FBI still deems the 12-18 inch penetration range to be ideal. If the bullet needs to reach the middle of the chest cavity where the organs are, wouldn’t we need a penetration depth less than half of that in most cases? cotton t-shirt material (approximately 5.25 ounces per yard, 48 threads per inch), cotton shirt material (approximately 3.5 ounces per yard, 80 threads per inch), cotton denim (approximately 14.4 ounces per yard, 50 threads per inch), 9mm: Smith & Wesson M&P9c, 3.5-inch barrel. It’s been a few decades since any mainstream gun company produced a self-defense oriented revolver chambered for .32 S&W Long (aka .32 Long). Once the bullet travels as far as it can go, the elastic properties of the Clear Ballistcs gelatin cause the bullet to “snap” backward slightly before coming to a complete stop. This testing will be ongoing, and we’ll keep adding to the results as we have the chance to test more loads. AmmoLand Giveaway – 5,000 Rounds of CCI Blazer 9mm Ammo FREE! The size of the pistol also plays an important role. For rimfire calibers, we tested .22 LR and .22 Magnum (aka .22 WMR). Instead, we’ve used an asterisk on the chart to indicate the few loads that retained less than 85% of their original weight on average. Clicking on the graph (or the photo icon if you’re using a mobile screen that’s too narrow to display the graph) will display actual photographs of the gelatin block we fired. No signs of over pressure at all. Today on Kentucky Ballistics we perform a ballistic gel test with 9mm, 357 Sig, 10mm and 5.7x28mm. A four-layer heavy clothing barrier was placed in front of the gel for each test. Critical Duty had launched commercially in 2013. While this is the most practical way to measure bullet expansion, keep in mind that the numbers can be misleading. We shot the front with a .44 Mag and the back with a 9mm pistol. We typically imagine a potential attacker will be directly in front of us, facing our direction with squared shoulders, much like the paper and cardboard targets we usually use. We could also have included .380 ACP in this category, but we already tested that caliber in our original batch of gel testing (and we’ve added a few newer .380 loads since that initial test). A Taurus Curve served as the test platform for the 380 ACP. My Ruger LCR in 22 Magnum is light-weight revolver that definitely promises a no-recoil solution to a defensive handgun. Expansion also helps prevent overpenetration, which is when the bullet retains enough velocity to exit the far side of the target and potentially harm a non-threat on the other side. Generally, for handgun ammunition, only the permanent wound cavity should be considered to have any reliable effect on the target. The ballistic gelatin testing is an ongoing project and we’ve tested more than the calibers listed above, but they won’t all fit on one page without slowing down your browser. So aside from the marketing materials put out by the ammo manufacturers, how are we supposed to know which bullets are the most effective? But keep in mind, even though the gelatin tests can tell us a lot, there’s plenty of things they don’t tell us. Today on Kentucky Ballistics we perform a ballistic gel test with 9mm, 357 Sig, 10mm and 5.7x28mm. 1. Legal Disclaimer, Tip:click on product names above to see full test results, this installment of the Pocket Pistol Series, Our test of the .380 ACP Hornady Critical Defense, review of the Smith & Wesson Shield 380 EZ. Hornady has announced a Critical Defense load for .327 Magnum, but as of this writing it is not yet available. There are a lot of varying opinions on what to look for and what we can learn from ballistic gelatin testing, even among qualified experts. But when I mentioned the possibility in a video last year, enough fans of the 9×18 Makarov came out of the woodwork to convince us. We have to account for a human target that may be turned slightly toward or away form us at an angle, or possibly even above or below us, or with arms partially obscuring the torso. Most law enforcement agencies that have a minimum standard for duty ammo tend to prioritize penetration over expansion, and consistent expansion is often considered more important than a specific target minimum diameter. Most loads showed either good penetration but no expansion, or decent expansion with sub-par penetration. It has a 1 7/8 inch barrel, typical snubby revolver length. Furthermore, most ballistics researchers believe the temporary cavity created by handgun ammo does not lead to any significant wounding effects. Compared to the rimfire and semi-auto pocket pistol calibers, all of the .32 Long loads demonstrated respectable penetration. Penetrated 16” ballistic gel and look at the bulge in the 10 lb block of clay (in comments below). This is one area where we intentionally deviated from the typical FBI test. Purpose-made self-defense expanding JHP ammo for .22 Magnum is a new phenomenon, but it doesn’t seem that the ammo makers have achieved ideal performance yet. The centerfire semi-auto cartridges were .25 ACP, .32 ACP, and 9mm Makarov. The science of wound ballistics can be a daunting topic, especially if you’re not inclined to use your leisure time to study physics and anatomy. The temporary wound cavity can be seen in the high speed video footage when the gel balloons and stretches as the bullet enters. This usually means the heart or the brain/spine. In addition, the convenience of working with the synthetic gelatin allows testing on a scale that is not practical with a substance as delicate and labor-intensive as traditional organic ordnance gelatin. This brings us to our first myth that bullet efficacy depends on the size of the bullet. Update 7/11/2018: Test results for 11 different 10mm Auto loads are now live in a new post here! These bullets are designed to expand upon impact with soft tissue. The “real” organic ballistics gelatin blocks used by the FBI today are still made from dehydrated animal tissue. I received both gel blocks. Bullet expansion is unlikely and if it does occur, penetration will almost certainly suffer. Since .32 ACP pistols with barrels longer than the Cheetah’s are very uncommon, and the P32 has one of the shortest barrels on the market, we thought it made sense to stick with these two for our test guns. The Speer and Hornady ammo are specifically designed for self-defense use with short barrels. We recommend taking under consideration the measured diameter data and viewing the photos of the expanded bullets for consistency and uniformity. Preparing the Mold Obtain a large plastic storage container. Finally, we have the centerfire revolver calibers: .32 S&W Long, .32 H&R Magnum, and .327 Federal Magnum. Ballistics data gathered using full size barrels can be misleading if applied to these small concealable pistols. Also consider that the heavy fabric barrier we used is just one type of test, and results could vary for rounds fired into bare gelatin or hard barriers. Results appear in the charts below for .380 ACP, 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP. Only a few loads completely failed to expand on all five shots, and the fragmenting bullets were among the few to fall shy of the FBI’s 12-inch penetration depth minimum. We would have expected the FMJ load in this caliber to have the best potential for decent penetration, but it was still unimpressive overall, even compared to the JHP loads. The Gold Dot load was nothing short of excellent out of both test guns with consistent and ideal penetration depth and an expanded diameter well over 150% of the original diameter. Again, we could have included other calibers like .38 Special and .357 Magnum, but we’ve tested those previously. We tested the two most common: the Speer Gold Dot and the Federal Hydra-Shok. Whenever feasible, we tried to duplicate the testing protocol reportedly used by the FBI, but our first priority was to be consistent, using the same procedure and conditions for every load we tested. We also feature Chris Murphy of Cobalt Firearms Training in Warrenton VA! The FBI announced it was planning to swap out the .40 S and W pistols and ammunition now used by its agents and replace them with 9mm pistols and ammo. In the photos of the gelatin blocks, you can see lines that appear to be a continuation of the wound channel that extends beyond the resting place of the bullet anywhere from 1/8″ to over 2″. This is all stuff you’ll have to test on your own at the range with your gun. That’s something we would like to test in the future, but we decided to stick with handgun barrels for this batch of testing. Each shot was fired with the muzzle approximately 10 feet from the surface of the gelatin block. But as for the second condition — how do we know if the ammo we have in our self-defense gun is up to the task? In order to test as many loads as possible, we opted to skip over the bare gelatin testing and conducted all of our testing only with a heavy clothing barrier. Only a couple of loads managed to show decent numbers for both. As of now, .22 Magnum is still like most other pocket calibers: one must choose between good penetration with no expansion or mediocre penetration with good expansion. Because the vast majority of the tested loads exhibited 98% or better weight retention, we haven’t shown that data in our chart (although you can find that info on the individual product pages by clicking on the name of each load in the chart). For this batch of testing, we followed the same basic protocol we’ve used in all of our tests (outlined in painstaking detail back in our first gel test article). It’s true that .22 Magnum does lose quite a bit of velocity in a short barrel compared to what it’s capable of in a rifle. In reality, the effects of wounds from handguns are unpredictable and often not very dramatic. Of course, oftentimes violent attackers give up or flee before shots are actually fired. A ballistic gelatin block for usage in FBI testing is composed of porcine gelatin (mixed at 10% concentration), dissolved into water at 140 degrees Fahrenheit and refrigerated for 2 days before use. We fired five rounds of each self-defense load using short-barreled pistols positioned 10 feet from a Clear Ballistics synthetic gelatin block with a four-layer heavy clothing barrier placed in front of it. The permanent wound cavity is the “tunnel” made by the bullet that’s visible in all of the gelatin photos. Admittedly, none of us here on the Lucky Gunner team are experts in the science of wound ballistics — there is more that goes into professional ballistic gel analysis than measuring penetration and expansion. There is a fourth cartridge in this family: the .32 Short, but it was essentially made obsolete when .32 S&W Long was introduced over 100 years ago. Expanding bullets lose velocity quickly and are more likely to stay inside the target, but a hollow point that fails to expand can maintain enough energy to exit the target and potentially harm bystanders. In our tests, this load exhibited decent performance, but was not an improvement over the .380 ACP version. Comparisons. Choice of caliber and bullet are not the most important aspects of successful self-defense. We also haven’t addressed accuracy or muzzle flash (which can be an issue in low light). The deformed and expanded bullets are not perfectly round, so we measured them at their widest point. That brings our total number of loads tested across all pistol calibers to 204 with more to come in the future! This provides a much more scientific and objective method for comparing ammunition loads than anecdotal reports from real life shootings where there are a plethora of unknown variables to consider. At the end of the day, it’s really just the study of how and why bullets inflict damage. The difference in barrel length between these two guns is only about half the difference between the barrels used for the other calibers with multiple test guns. After each test, we measured the penetration depth of every bullet, then extracted the bullets from the gel to measure their weight and expanded width. Consistent slight over-penetration (greater than 18″) is generally considered acceptable if the alternative is under-penetration, or inconsistent performance. The gun is typical for its class with a short 2 3/4 inch barrel and a 6+1 capacity. Our test guns were a 1.9-inch Ruger LCR and a 4.2-inch Ruger SP101 (rounded to 2″ and 4″ on the charts below). Update 4/4/2017: We now have test data for 38 revolver loads in .38 Special and .357 Magnum! The current practice of the FBI is to use the 10 foot test for handgun ammo, and that’s what we’ve followed here. Having said that, knowing your carry ammo works not only provides peace of mind, there’s a chance that choosing a solid defensive load could be the one factor that tips the scales in your favor in a fight for your life. Expansion through heavy clothing proved a bit inconsistent in some calibers. wistiaEmbed = Wistia.embed("eaqpepxj6j", { videoFoam: "true", dnt: "1"}); So what can you do with this information? Its very rare that a company goes that far to make a customer happy, and I was not expecting that at all. Ordnance gelatin isn’t an exact simulation of living flesh. Using a .22 LR handgun for self-defense purposes is a controversial subject, and not one we’re going to cover here (check out this installment of the Pocket Pistol Series for more on that debate). Here’s a little more on how and why we set up our test this way. The Hornady load would seem to be an ideal pick for this caliber. Another notable 9mm ammo feature is a bullet’s ability to enter a target and expand to create as large of a wound cavity as possible. We also have some additional thoughts about this particular load in this post. Regardless of whether it’s a good idea, if one were to go this route, ammo selection should be based on achieving as much penetration as possible. Penetration, however, was more than adequate with both test guns. Anyone that’s shot both a 10mm and a 9mm round certainly understands that these two cartridges are different. Today, this type of testing is made even easier with the advent of synthetic ballistic materials. Find a container that is 12 (h) x 12 (w) … The top row was fired through bare ballistic blocks, the bottom through heavy clothing. Gold Dot 9mm 115 gr. And if you still want more info, you can click on the name of the load to go to its product page where we’ve published a detailed breakdown of the data and a high speed video of that load as it impacts the gel block. Only one load managed to land all five bullets past the 11-inch mark and that was the Hornady FTX Critical Defense. But it should come as no surprise that this is not how gunfights usually go down. The Hydra-Shok was not bad (especially considering that bullet design tends to under-perform in other calibers). After some velocity pre-testing, we decided to use these guns anyway because we were seeing a velocity increase of at least 100 fps with the Cheetah (with our gel test loads, the average increase ended up being 129 fps). Yet, when it comes to sports shooting or personal defense, both 10mm and 9mm have their advantages. You can find those results in this post. These real life encounters are messy, and what constitutes “adequate” penetration in any given situation is not a universal constant. Synthetic gelatin from the company Clear Ballistics is temperature stable up to 240° F, so the blocks can be shipped directly to the end user without melting or deforming. Blunt Force Trauma. Only one of the three loads tested was a hollow point and it did not show a hint of expansion with either barrel. The Clear Ballistics blocks we used measure 6”x6”x16”. 9mm Luger ballistic test The 9mm Luger, also know as the 9 x 19 Parabellum, was introduced in 1902 by Georg Luger and Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) for the German Luger semi automatic sidearm. Hits to the lungs and other organs can also be effective, but results may be slower. It’s worth noting, however, that the loads with the highest velocity did not necessarily result in the best penetration. Many of the loads that did stay within the FBI 12-18″ range showed excellent expansion, sometimes nearly twice the original bullet diameter. The expansion deforms the bullet and increases its diameter which creates a larger and more effective wound channel. It's time to look at the real-world performance of 9mm and .40 S and W rounds in terms of wound ballistics. The Silver Bear JHP essentially did the same thing. These are examples of what’s been called “psychological stops” and they are common, but they can’t be relied upon. Watch the video below for a brief overview of the project and an explanation of how to read the results. The current FBI standard for defensive ammunition is that an effective defensive round should penetrate four layers of heavy clothing, then go through 18 to 24 inches of ballistics … Fragmenting bullet designs are common in high velocity rifle loads, but not nearly as popular in handgun ammo, though more companies have recently begun to produce them. When the mere sight of a gun in the hands of a would-be victim doesn’t do the trick, an assailant will frequently give up once fired upon, even if they haven’t sustained any wounds that would immediately force their bodies to shut down involuntarily. Both guns are chambered for .327 Federal Magnum, which means they are also compatible with .32 S&W Long and .32 H&R Magnum. For .32 ACP, our two test guns were a KelTec P32 with a 2.7-inch barrel and a Beretta Model 81 Cheetah with a 3.8-inch barrel (rounded to 3″ and 4″ in the chart below). Penetration depth is right in the middle of the zone, great expansion, and … Update 8/16/2018: Test results for nine .357 Sig loads are now live. This gave us multiple data points for each load, which turned out to be important since many loads did not exhibit the same performance from shot to shot. From watching our high speed video footage, it’s clear these lines are the result of bullet “bounce back”. Clear Ballistics Gel FBI Block. Then the 9mm announcement was made. If you’re looking for a JHP 9×18 Mak load that actually has any serious chance of expanding and penetrating, the only real contender on the market right now is Hornady Critical Defense. We put the vest on a block of ballistics gel we made and proceeded to shoot at the vest. 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