Bullet integrity

[JimL]

Hollow point bullets of the past were frequently known to break up, lose their jackets or distort badly. More recent engineering has been aimed at producing bullets that maintain their integrity while expanding to a size that "gets the job done."

Although some photos of retrieved bullets are impressive, obviously, advertising claims aren't necessarily reliable. Who (what manufacturer) has actually done the best job of making bullets that spread out but don't fall apart?

 

[Rampant_Colt]

Speer Gold Dots are electro-plated and stand up well to intermediate barriers and hard objects like tempered automotive windshield glass.

This photo demonstrates the various window of velocity that GD will work under:

The GD hollowpoint cavity will nearly turn inside out before losing its jacket.
Bullets are designed to perform properly within a certain velocity range. Too low of a velocity will cause the bullet not to expand and can lead to overpenetration. Too high a velocity, and the bullet's additional impact energy will lead to violent expansion and/or fragmentation and result in a large loss of momentum; in these cases, the bullet can actually underpenetrate


Winchester, Federal, and Remington offer bonded ammunition now that features bullets that have the lead core fused to the copper jacket, eliminating jacket/core separation

Winchester PDX1 Bonded
Federal Tatical Bonded
Remington Golden Saber and Ultimate Bonded
Speer Gold Dot

Please read THIS

 

[JimL]

Winchester PDX1 Bonded
Federal Tatical Bonded
Remington Golden Saber and Ultimate Bonded
Speer Gold Dot

Thanks. I guess your answer to my question of who is best is "everybody." Do you know anything about the new Hornady "Critical Defense" cartridge?

 

[TylerD45ACP]

Hornaday Critical Defense are good SD rounds. I have some 115gr. for the 9mm. The polymer tip(I think) allows for rapid equal expansion among the hollowpoint and it is bonded. BONDED is the way to go when you want reliable hollowpoints.

 

[orionengnr]

Cor-Bon DPX.

 

[30-30remchester]

I am a student of terminal ballistics and have over 100 recovered bullets taken from game animals. Most are rifle rounds but a few are handgun bullets. I saw a Speer Gold Dot recovered from a mountain lion shot from a 44 Special. The bullet was virtually undamaged after traveling though the chest cavity of the lion and lodging under the skin. The bullet could have easily been reloaded and shot again.

 

[Sarge]

I saw that same 'performance', from that same .44 Special round, on two injured deer which were shot behind the shoulder with it.

 

[Rampant_Colt]

Hornady's new Critical Defense bullets aren't bonded as far as i know..

They're brand-spankin-new on the market, and i know next to nothing about them except that they appear to be an ingenious engineering design based on their SST, LeverEvolution and FTX bullet that uses a polymer filler tip to enhance downrange ballistics, prevent debris from clogging the hollowpoint, and enabling them to be used in tubular magazines like lever-action rifles have.



Personally, i don't think bonded bullets are necessary for home-defense and CCW scenarios, and tend to agree with Hornady's assessment of their new Critical Defense ammo lineup not being necessary to penetrate 12" in calibrated ballistics gel, or after penetrating hard tempered automotive glass

If their price is right, and they positively function 100% in your handgun, and aren't wildly inaccurate, i say go for it..


I'm currently using R-P 230gr Golden Sabres in my .45, and W-W 125gr Ranger T in my .357 Sig, neither of which are a bonded bullet design

 

[Elvishead]

I saw a Speer Gold Dot recovered from a mountain lion shot from a 44 Special. The bullet was virtually undamaged after traveling though the chest cavity of the lion and lodging under the skin. The bullet could have easily been reloaded and shot again.

Sarge

I saw that same 'performance', from that same .44 Special round, on two injured deer which were shot behind the shoulder with it.

I guess that's because of the low velocities the 44spl generates making them not expand. But what do I know?

 

[Rampant_Colt]

I'd like to clarify something i mentioned in post #2 about R-P Golden Sabers.

Standard Golden Sabres are not bonded; their new Ultimate Bonded are Bonded Golden Sabers marketed as something new, when they're only Bonded Golden Sabers.[with a capitol B]

Bonded Golden Sabers are generally sold to law enforcement in 50rd boxes, and Remington's new 'Ultimate Bonded' ammo and standard Golden Sabres are marketed and sold in 25rd boxes to the general public

does that make any sense?

 

[Ozzieman]

Here is a thread that I attached some photos of Winchester silver tips shot out of a Charger Arms bulldog.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233532

 

[JimL]

They're brand-spankin-new on the market, and i know next to nothing about them except that they appear to be an ingenious engineering design based on their SST, LeverEvolution and FTX bullet that uses a polymer filler tip to enhance downrange ballistics, prevent debris from clogging the hollowpoint, and enabling them to be used in tubular magazines like lever-action rifles have.

With all the disclaimers I can muster, I refer to a photo on the Hornady site (the lower left of four) with a bunch of very similar expanded bullets. _IF_ this isn't a bogus photo these look like very good cartridges/bullets.

http://www.hornady.com/store/critical_defense/

I've never seen anything _more_ consistent than those in the photos.

As for the suggestion regarding Corbon DPX, I've shot them into water and gotten very good consistency. If that extends to other mediums, great.

JimL