RIP Lee Jurras

[shootniron]

We lost one of the great handgun ammo ballisticians on April 24th. His research and development forever changed hollowpoint ammunition.

I have one remaining full box of Super Vel ammo that I have managed to keep intact from back in the day...don't know how I have resisted shooting it for over 40yrs.

 

[mete]

Yes he certainly got the ball rolling, we owe him a lot !
Those early days got us to thinking . I watched and tested all the 200 gr 45 acp bullets Speer developed ! Wow did I learn ! My tests were all on 'chucks and feral dogs

 

[Hal]

R.I.P.

A sad day for all shooters indeed.

The JHP today is taken for granted by (sadly)millions that will only see a brief mention of his passing & not understand that w/out him, the JHP would have taken decades longer to come about.

Jurras is the the JHP as Tesla is to household electricity.

 

[Hal]

Even sadder here is the total lack of respect/interest people are showing for the passing of a legend.

.

THAT's what's really sad about this.

 

[Reinz]

Lee Jurras had probably sent more rounds Downrange and took more game with Auto Mags than anyone. Kent Lamont may have been the only other one to come close or better him.

The Jurras line Auto Mags from back in the day are now the holy grails for any Auto Mag collector.

 

[9ballbilly]

Many thanks for your work Mr. Jurras, rest easy.

 

[44 AMP]

The Jurras line Auto Mags from back in the day are now the holy grails for any Auto Mag collector.

Like this one??


One of the Lee Jurras stories I always enjoyed is a small thing, a blog writer went to interview him some years ago, and they did some shooting. Jurras was a phenomenally good shot, especially at long range. The writer remarked on how good he was, and Lee replied "Son, I used to own an ammunition company!"

R.I.P. to the man who showed the world that JHP pistol ammo could WORK, and a few other things, besides.

 

[RickB]

I haven't seen much about it online or in print, but the name Super-Vel has been resurrected, and new ammunition is available.
I shot some very light - 85gr? - 9mm Super-Vel on Saturday that is said to make well over 1400fps from a 4" barrel.
Don't know how good it is, but does sound like the same ballistic approach taken by Super-Vel forty years ago.

 

[SIGSHR]

IIRC when the "Big Boys" found out he was Onto Something, they pretty much put him out of business.

 

[FTG-05]

I thought he died years ago.

RIP.

 

[random guy]

One of the Lee Jurras stories I always enjoyed is a small thing, a blog writer went to interview him some years ago, and they did some shooting. Jurras was a phenomenally good shot, especially at long range. The writer remarked on how good he was, and Lee replied "Son, I used to own an ammunition company!"

Yeah, that would be helpful. lol

I've still got two boxes of Super Vel .44 Mag cases, fired and reloaded from when Dad got his Ruger SBH in @1972. I had thought about shining them up and "restoring" them. Sierra JHPs look pretty close to original Super Vel bullets. Both boxes are marked 180gr JSP though. I'm not sure there is a good substitute for those.

 

[tipoc]

Jurras was a handgun shooter and reloader from an early age. He paid a good deal of attention to the development of rifle bullet designs.

In the early 1960's he founded Super-Vel ammo Co. He had an idea that if you took a light weight bullet and got it going fast enough and paired it with a improved design for a Jacketed Hollow Point bullet you could have a round that expanded more reliably then anything else available from a handgun. The results of his work revolutionized pistol ammo design.

The standard fodder for the .357 Magnum was a 158 gr. bullet. Jurras took this and made 110 and 125 gr. bullets of enhanced jhp design. It's with these bullets that you could get a 125 gr. jhp going from a 4" barrel at about 1400 fps and mostly reliable expanding. The 110 went even faster, but teh bullets had a tendency to break apart. Had a tremendous muzzle flash and crack, but that scared a good many folks who were being shot at. The 125 became a go to for many police depts. and made a reputation for that round as a manstopper.

Improvements were also seen in the 9mm.

By the 1970s he had a full line of ammo that folks were swearing by. The major companies took notice. They began to mimic his loads and bullet design. They produced more at a cheaper price and by the mid 1970s or so his co. closed it's doors. But the impact was lasting. Hotter loads became a norm. guns were eventually made for that. The K frame giving way to the L frame.

He did a lot of other things over the decades.

But if you shoot a jhp out of a magnum handgun and it doesn't blow to pieces in the flesh of the beast or just punch a hole straight through...remember Lee Jurras.

tipoc

 

[2damnold4this]

RIP