Magtech .357 ammo

[johnnypi45]

Hey folks,

I was bumming around the internets (al gore is my hero............shifty eyes*) today and came accross Magtech's solid copper rounds. They are advertised as being 95 grains. I have not seen any other .357 loads this light (bullet weight that is). Is this because they are a solid copper bullet and need to have a greater velocity to expand and has anyone tried them in any sort of testing? Opinions????....Thanks for all your great advise in advance.

Petey

 

[Canthros]

Copper (like steel, and many other materials) is not as dense as lead. If nothing else, the bullet is lighter just because the same mass takes up more space when it's composed of copper than when it's made of lead. Steel shot is lighter than lead shot, for that matter, and for the same reason.

Incidentally, Magtech's site says that the big advantage is that the jacket can't be lost en route or at impact, preventing a loss of energy due to loss of mass. I couldn't say if that's a significant advantage or not, but it doesn't look to me like the boost in speed makes up for the lost weight, comparing the .357 First Defense to the .357 Guardian Gold, which seems to be their other self-defense-oriented round. Granted, YMMV with respect to statistics.