SmallCaliberCentral

I'm not sure there is "One" bullet style or composite that will fill every reasonable, potential/anticipated need or situation...

It has been several years since I was involved in any wide spread ammo testing, but at that time, Speer producets seemed to have the edge in 'raw power' and I still have a good supply of most of them. Federal had the lowest 'flash' factor, and Remington had the best general accuracy for the average shooter...

I think it behooves a person to realistically evaluate the most likely targets/media that will be commonly encountered, and under what general conditions, and start there. I do change some of my loadings from Summer to Winter and keep a magazine loaded for more solid objects.

The other factor is accuracy for the firearm and shooter... While handguns in close quarters are not as finicky as rifles at longer ranges, I have run across some factory offerings that just would not shoot in one or more of my handguns, for whatever reason...Either the point of impact changed drastically or there just was no group to be had that was reasonable within normal shooting distances..

We can play "what if" games all day long, but the final decision comes down to the individual carrying the weapon.....I prefer my 10mm and .357 mag loads, but a lot of people couldn't handle the recoil.......There are time and locations, where my Kel-Tec .32 is the best I can carry and still maintain a high degree of concealment...it's certainly a 'last ditch' item, but better than nothing and it's loaded with Speer Gold Dots...

Ballistic Gelatin can be used over and over, but a better (and more expensive) media is a half hog or beef and cover it with an old leather jacket to test the penetration and expansion...I have my old police jacket that is made out of horse hide and it will slow down a bunch of handgun bullets on the market....not totally stop them but considerably slow them down if any distance is involved..

Personally, I want a caliber/bullet that will knock the assailant off their feet and knock the wind/life out of them. If I had to pull my weapon, something bad is happening, and I am protecting myself. The threat needs to end NOW.

So, if I have a +P round that factory states dumps 534 ft/lbs at muzzle (up to 10') that, in theory, should be enough to take the assailant off his feet and certainly take his wind. It may not put him 6' under due to variables in clothing, shot placement, etc. Although that much trauma to the chest would do no favor for the vitals!

When my ammo arrives sometime within the next couples of months (MidwayUSA backorder) I'll do some testing and post it. What opinions do you all have on testing bullets by shooting into a 55gal drum of water? Two pumpkins back-to-back, fill the pumpkins with JELL-O?

I don't think that there is "one magic round that solves all quarrels". But I would like to get as close as possible! Never-ending hunger for knowledge.

I would strongly suggest that you pull up and read a couple of articles in Shooting News: Demystifying +P Ammunition-http://www.handgunsmag.com/ammunition/d ... sp_0306-7/, and Testing Your Ammunition Before You Go Hunting-http://www.handgunsmag.com/ammunition/bullett_071207/

In the second article, it gets into performing the tests at the range of impact, rather than the muzzle velocity (common error).. While the second article pertains mostly to animals,,,,the same principles apply to defensive loads, just different medium concerns..

There are a wide range of testing capabilities, written from various perspectives...However, some that are published for law enforcement may not be readily available to the general public..

An example is the FBI Ballistic Testing-http://www.greent.com/40Page/general/fbitest.htm that identifies the nature of the tests, but not the results of the various ammunition tested..

Cool I will check them out now! This is the type of information I've been looking for. I appreciate all the info. It's great to have informed people to converse with.

Eric

Sweet mother of Abraham Lincoln! I just read all of the posted articles....very informative and very enlightening. Thank you sir for the links.