ammo test

What do you do if you don’t feel that a 12-gauge slug doesn’t have enough stopping power? OK, so maybe if you ever feel under gunned with a shottie slug you’re fighting Godzilla, but, hey, it could happen. You could try to stuff a 40mm grenade in there, but that requires all sorts of complicated licensing. A more realistic option might be to use a fragmenting projectile design. That’s exactly what Winchester Ammunition has done with their PDX1 Defender Segmenting Slug.

While most premium self-defense ammo will cost you over a buck per round, Remington’s HTP line appeals to the more budget conscious crowd. Packed in boxes of 50, it sells for about the same as most self-defense ammo packaged in boxes of 20. Doing the fancy math indicates that it’s a little less than half the cost of the most expensive stuff.

I’ve always been a big fan of .357 Sig caliber. Yeah, I know, it’s got more recoil and muzzle blast than 9mm. On the other hand, it comes darn close, and sometimes matches, the performance of the classic 125-grain .357 Magnum round. It’s hard to argue with the effectiveness of that cartridge.

One big contributor to poor group consistency is bullet concentricity in the case. Think of it this way, if you stuff a bullet into a cartridge case exactly straight, then a line from the center of the tip through the exact center of the base would continue on through the mathematical center of the case and out the center of the primer.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned a ruling against the military that will spare the Army millions in damages and royalties.

The Sig Sauer Elite Performance 125-grain supersonic 300 Blackout load is match grade and is tipped with a 125-grain Sierra Matchking projectile. Technically, like most Sierra Matchking rifle bullets, it’s a hollow point, or more accurately, Open Tip.

The HST line is the next generation of the Hydra-Shok basic design and delivers effective penetration and performance.

This Barnes TAC-XPD 9mm +P load is capped by an 115-grain, all copper projectile with a hollow point cavity big enough to hold your morning Cheerios. And they expand perfectly. If you are looking for an ideal carry round, consider these.

When it comes to .45 ACP expansion performance, and I’m talking about the heavy and comparatively slow 230-grain varieties, reliable expansion can be an iffy thing. What starts as a projectile capable of leveling a city block often ends with some percentage of unexpanded slow but heavy bullets. But the Sig? Hell’s bells. No way.