Disposable Heart
Grandmaster
Warmer weather means shooting season again! Steve (Chief RO at Eagle Creek) and I have decided to do a little testing of favorite and famous bullet designs. While not super scientific testing, it does give some insights...
Medium: Wetted sand in barrel with approx. 2" standing water on top of sand. This rained down as I fired one at a time. Thank God for stainless revolvers!
All rounds fired from 2 1/2" Ruger Security Six at close (6" from water) range.
Pic Legend (Left to right)
ImageShack® - Gallery
First Pic:
Speer Gold Dot 125gr loaded by Hunting Shack .38+P
Federal 125gr .38+P Hi-Shock JHP
Remington 110gr .38+P Express JHP
Ranier 125gr "JHP" with starting load of .357 Mag with Power Pistol
Reversed Wadcutter .38 with 3.5gr Bullseye
Remington LWSCHP .38+P Metro Load
Second Pic:
PMC .38+P 158gr JHP
Hardcast SWC 158gr (thanks to SLow Hand) with hole drilled in front to simulate SWCHP with .38+P (5.4gr Unique, seated at crimp groove)
110gr .357 Winchester White Box JHP
125gr Federal .357 Mag JHP Hi-shock
125gr Hornady XTP .38+P factory load
Some notes:
These were fired from a 2" barrel. The 110gr WWB JHP would probably have began fragmenting with a longer barrel.
the 125gr Federal JHP in .357 seem well suited for this barrel length.
The Ranier and the hardcast (plus previous experience in shooting the Berry's HP in sand) all seem to indicate that the lead is TOO hard and will end up lost/fragmented.
The LSWCHP is always and will always be a damned fine choice for personal protection. It penetrated VERY deep (arm length) and expanded well.
The Hornady XTP, while a fine round, really needs more than 900 FPS to begin putting a SEVERE hurt on a varmit/bad dude. Next potential test should put these in the magnum (1400 FPS+) seat for a test drive.
The Federal 125gr .38+P was a BIG disappointment. It seemed to just lose it's "lip" as it expanded. Yuck.
The PMC 158gr JHP did as expected (actually a little better, but still a "meh" as a potential defensive round).
Gold Dot? WTF? From what I have seen of other Gold Dots online, it seems that if you have a short barrel, use the short barrel GD, not the normal one. This "expansion" is pretty typical of what I have seen of GD gel testing, if you dont drive it fast enough, it just doesn't impress. This would have woken up bigtime with more velo or longer barrel.
The Reversed Wadcutter was MEH! It didn't penetrate deep (running joke was I would find it floating on the top of the water due to "terrible" penetration). A decent concept for a contact distance gun, but not much farther. My shooting at 7 yards showed SOME keyholing.
I have a strong feeling that a 4" barrel or a true snub barrel would have had HUGE differences due to velo loss or gain. The 110gr WWB JHP, 125gr Federal JHP Hi Shock Mag and the Metro load I feel would be GREAT choices for snubs, while the others have some severe charecter flaws that need improvement (or velocity)
Thanks to Steve for some ammo donation and barrel access!
Medium: Wetted sand in barrel with approx. 2" standing water on top of sand. This rained down as I fired one at a time. Thank God for stainless revolvers!
All rounds fired from 2 1/2" Ruger Security Six at close (6" from water) range.
Pic Legend (Left to right)
ImageShack® - Gallery
First Pic:
Speer Gold Dot 125gr loaded by Hunting Shack .38+P
Federal 125gr .38+P Hi-Shock JHP
Remington 110gr .38+P Express JHP
Ranier 125gr "JHP" with starting load of .357 Mag with Power Pistol
Reversed Wadcutter .38 with 3.5gr Bullseye
Remington LWSCHP .38+P Metro Load
Second Pic:
PMC .38+P 158gr JHP
Hardcast SWC 158gr (thanks to SLow Hand) with hole drilled in front to simulate SWCHP with .38+P (5.4gr Unique, seated at crimp groove)
110gr .357 Winchester White Box JHP
125gr Federal .357 Mag JHP Hi-shock
125gr Hornady XTP .38+P factory load
Some notes:
These were fired from a 2" barrel. The 110gr WWB JHP would probably have began fragmenting with a longer barrel.
the 125gr Federal JHP in .357 seem well suited for this barrel length.
The Ranier and the hardcast (plus previous experience in shooting the Berry's HP in sand) all seem to indicate that the lead is TOO hard and will end up lost/fragmented.
The LSWCHP is always and will always be a damned fine choice for personal protection. It penetrated VERY deep (arm length) and expanded well.
The Hornady XTP, while a fine round, really needs more than 900 FPS to begin putting a SEVERE hurt on a varmit/bad dude. Next potential test should put these in the magnum (1400 FPS+) seat for a test drive.
The Federal 125gr .38+P was a BIG disappointment. It seemed to just lose it's "lip" as it expanded. Yuck.
The PMC 158gr JHP did as expected (actually a little better, but still a "meh" as a potential defensive round).
Gold Dot? WTF? From what I have seen of other Gold Dots online, it seems that if you have a short barrel, use the short barrel GD, not the normal one. This "expansion" is pretty typical of what I have seen of GD gel testing, if you dont drive it fast enough, it just doesn't impress. This would have woken up bigtime with more velo or longer barrel.
The Reversed Wadcutter was MEH! It didn't penetrate deep (running joke was I would find it floating on the top of the water due to "terrible" penetration). A decent concept for a contact distance gun, but not much farther. My shooting at 7 yards showed SOME keyholing.
I have a strong feeling that a 4" barrel or a true snub barrel would have had HUGE differences due to velo loss or gain. The 110gr WWB JHP, 125gr Federal JHP Hi Shock Mag and the Metro load I feel would be GREAT choices for snubs, while the others have some severe charecter flaws that need improvement (or velocity)
Thanks to Steve for some ammo donation and barrel access!
