Silvertip performance in the real world
I shot a 5'6" 130 pound guy twice with 185 Gr. Silvertips out of a Colt Commander. The first round hit the middle of his chest and exited his right armpit. The exit hole was about the size of a half dollar. He later stated that he did not know he had been shot until he started to feel kind of weak after about 15 seconds.
About that same time, I shot him in the middle of the back. That bullet had to go through a side window and the car seat to get to him. It expanded quite a bit but only penetrated about 4 inches. He stated that it felt like someone hit him in the back with a hammer. It really hurt. He decided to give up and stopped the stolen vehicle he was in. He threw out his weapon when directed to do so over the PA. At our direction, he exited the vehicle with his hands up and stood up. There was a lot of blood on his shirt, but he was not incapacitated.
I felt like the expansion was good but the penetration was marginal. In my opinion, heavier 45 ACP bullets give better penetration while still expanding well. I'd choose the 230 gr. Gold Dot or Hydro Shock. 45 is pretty big to begin with. Lots of the old timers carried hardball when I first started in law enforcement (1974) just to ensure adequate penetration. It wasn't uncommon to alternate hollowpoints and hardball in a magazine so a double tap would give you the best of both worlds. Some guys carried hardball as the first and last rounds in a magazine since those two seem to be the most likely to have problems feeding. Some guys carried hollowpoints in their weapon and hardball in their extra mags thinking that after the first 8 rounds, the bad guy would most likely be behind cover such as back inside his vehicle.
Nowadays, I carry 357 Sig 125gr. Gold Dot by choice. That's backed up by an AR-15 which is definitely what I'd use if I have any advance warning.
