9mm Terminal Ballistics

Suputin

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With the on-going, never ending debate about stopping power of various calibers, I thought it would be interesting to shoot some different 9mm's into wet phonebooks and see how they compared.

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Intl 75gr Frangible, Blended Metals 58gr, Fed JHP +P+, Win 115gr Silvertip, IVI 115gr, Montana Gold 147gr, Hydra-Shok 135gr, Win Bulk 147gr JHP, Golden Sabre 147gr, Ranger 147gr

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A closer look at the 147gr JHP's. Check out the pointed hooks around the outer rim of the Ranger bullet. NASTY :shock:

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Relative expansion size of the different 147gr JHP's. The Hydra-Shok is by far the biggest but it suffers with less penetration.

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Frangible Rounds. Note the visible rifling marks on the base of the compressed copper frangible bullet.
 
Suputin...excellent report.

I think we need more reports like this on different materials like the above wet phone books, wet newspaper, gel blocks, water containers, drywall layers, wood planks, plywood layers, etc

Makes for interesting reads and discussions.

:wink:
 
would have like to see some Gold Dots or Federal EFMJ.
You send me some and I'll shoot 'em, measure 'em and post 'em.

Which penetrated the deepest?
The solids. They went almost 16"

The 147gr JHP's went around 9-10"

The 115gr JHP's went a bit less at 7-8"

I am not at all impressed by the lighter 115gr JHP's. They simply disintigrated leaving a trail of jacket fragments down the wound track.

All the 147gr JHP's stayed almost 100% intact, expanded impressively and penetrated further than the lighter weight stuff.
 
I've always been a hydrashok man for defensive ammo. I see no reason to change that based on your tests. At the close-in home defense distances of under 8 meters, I know it will do the job - and then some.
 
If the perp is a big fat guy wearing a heavy jacket (it is sometimes winter in Canada) and the bullet has to go through his arm and then traverse the chest cavity to reach the heart, the Hydra-shok may not do the job. It sacrifices penetration for expansion. The best bullet is the one that opens reliably to a certain size and penetrates well as well.
 
If the perp is a big fat guy wearing a heavy jacket (it is sometimes winter in Canada) and the bullet has to go through his arm and then traverse the chest cavity to reach the heart, the Hydra-shok may not do the job. It sacrifices penetration for expansion. The best bullet is the one that opens reliably to a certain size and penetrates well as well.

Double Tap!
 
yoohoo, thats why police use guns with more than one bullet in the mag :)

I have found that wet paper and such tends to overexpand bullets... and I find that when bullets are fired into water jugs they tend to be more similar looking to when fired into real flesh.

I know i would not use hornday hollow points, nor the winchester sliver tips... They just don't reliably expand in water(this was .40s&w though)
 
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