Two ammo questions

[Moonshot]

Two quick questions regarding ammo...

1) Handgun:

I have a rather sizeable quantity of 135gr +p short barrel Gold Dot .38sp ammo and nothing to shoot them out of. I had purchased them for use in several J-frames, but after reading of multiple examples of these rounds not opening up from a sub-2" barrel, as well as my wife and I both shoot 148gr WCs far more accurately from her 640 and my 642s, that my SBGDs are sitting in storage. I may try and sell them, or I may buy a new revolver better suited for these rounds. I would look for an all steel .357mag rated frame, either J-frame, K-frame, SP or GP, (the quality of the trigger and lack of storage lock will likely decide things), but I don't know what barrel length to look for.

Is there a minimum barrel length to help ensure reliable expansion from these GDs, even if it's cold out? Anything less than 2.25" and I gain nothing over my current crop of J-frames. Anything over 4" and it's too long for me to easily CCW (which I might end up doing if I ever need to stop carrying my current EDC G26). What barrel length would you all recommend for this ammo?

2) Rifle:

I found the following on another forum. I bolded what I thought was most interesting. I hope it's OK to post it here...

M855 (and indeed, almost any .223 round) will go through soft body armor. Things like car doors and auto glass pose a more difficult problem. Light, high velocity, conventionally constructed (lead core, copper jacket) projectiles tend to break up after passing through barriers. They do particularly poorly against layered barriers (like automobiles) because the first barrier breaks the projectile up into smaller fragments and the second barrier stops the fragments. Barrier blind ammo generally uses either a solid metal projectile (like the all copper Barnes bullet) a jacketed bullet with the jacket bonded to the core (Federal LE Tactical Bonded) or some other method (like the very thick copper base in the Mk318) to ensure that the round does not break up after passing through certain barriers. Barrier blind loads are not armor piercing. They generally won't go through anything that an M193 or M855 round wouldn't penetrate, the bullet will just be in better shape after passing through the barrier.

Now, a couple of caveats here. First off, sometimes we don't want this kind of enhanced penetration. For something like a home defense load in an urban area, a barrier blind round may be undesirable.

Second, we're really talking about improved performance against a relatively small range of barriers here. Barrier blind loads will not penetrate rifle plates, armored vehicles, cinder block, sandbags, etc. On the flip side, even non-barrier blind loads will penetrate soft body armor, drywall, furniture, plywood, etc. By and large, we're talking about better performance against glass and sheet metal. What's made of glass and sheet metal? Unarmored vehicles. The reason barrier blind loads get so much attention is that both police and soldiers (especially in urban warfare) and, potentially, civilians in a SHTF scenario, are often called upon to shoot at people in or behind vehicles. That's the situation where a barrier blind load really makes a difference.

If the above statement is accurate, this tells me that my heavy OTM ammo is still viable, perhaps even preferred, at all ranges out to its max fragmentation range, unless I am going up against someone in or around a vehicle. This is one reason I want to know the useful range of my 62gr GDSP out of a 16" barrel. I suspect my BB rounds will open up further than my OTMs will fragment (65 yards for my 68gr and 115 yards for my 75gr), and would therefore be the preferred round only out past where my OTMs would fail to fragment, or if I needed to go up against someone in or around a car. As I am not LE or MIL, both these scenarios are rather unlikely.

[Chuck Haggard]

The 135gr Gold Dot is pretty reliable from 2" guns for the most part, it's excellent from 4" guns.

[Moonshot]

The 2.25" barreled 640 Pro or DAO SP101 would meet most of my IWB revolver needs, but I am not convinced that this barrel length will allow for reliable and consistant expansion of the 135gr GD. A 3" barrel should work out well. I don't know if I really want to go to 4". It would give me better ammo performance, but that's a lot of leverage for a bad guy to grab onto in a disarm attempt. Even 3" might be too much.

I also think I wasn't too clear with my 2nd ammo question in my OP. Does anyone know the maximum range at which the 62gr GDSP will both expand and penetrate after hitting a barrier, when fired from a 16" barrel?

[spinmove_]

1.) Generally speaking, as long as you're shooting those rounds from a 3" or longer barrel, you'll be just fine. 4" is the sweet spot for .357mag as a barrel that is anything longer than that starts giving you diminishing returns.

2.) Generally speaking, as long as "your heavy OTM loads" are on "the list" you're fine. Having a barrier blind load for your rifle is somewhat dictated by what you're actually going to use it for. If this is home defense and/or you have a low probability of shooting at people in cars, then you generally don't need them. The idea is that you should be looking for something that performs better and more consistently than M193/M855. Although, in a pinch, M193 will work ok.