To say I am unimpressed with hornadys qc is an understatement. We issue the 135+p critical duty and I believe we are on the third lot of ammo due to various issues in the first two lots. Recent ois's do not inspire confidence either. So as always ymmv
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Last edited by PearTree; 04-18-2018 at 11:32 PM.
IF it’s Hornady, it’s not 135+p. It’ll be 124+p Critical Duty. The 124+p load was designed to meet the FBI protocol with both duty sized pistols AND short barreled guns (unlike 135+p). 124+p was made to consistently penetrate on the lower side (around 13.xx inches through a duty pistol at the workshop I attended), but it’s supposed to be consistent through all the barriers of the protocol. I guess that’s the compromise the engineers went with.
At the Hornady ballistic gel workshop, G2 was shot side by side with the Hornady 124+p and both performed just fine through a DUTY sized pistol (G2 tended to penetrate about an inch more than the Hornady stuff).
However, through a 3” barrel (Sig P938) the Hornady 124+p was more consistent and penetrated deeper than G2. G2 still made the minimum recommended penetration through heavy clothing and fell just short through auto glass.
So “better” is relative to what an agency wants the bullet to do. From what I’ve seen Speer G2 has been a consistent performer through duty pistols, but not so much through sub compact pistols (though sufficient in my opinion for ccw/off-duty carry).
Having attended 6 gel workshops in the past 2 years (and having seen the numbers from several more), I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no magical brand / line of bullets out there. I’ve seen reputable projectiles either under or over penetrate depending on the conditions. I’ve seen “good days” and “bad days” from the same projectile at different gel shoots.
While you want the most consistently performing bullet if you can help it, I became rather agnostic about what round was in my duty weapon during my time searching for my agency’s new duty load. Case in point, Oakland (California) PD did just fine with legacy 147 Gold Dots shortly after they transitioned to 9mm.
May I ask what QC issues you have seen? I am shooting 135-grain +P on a regular basis, but my ammo consumption is no where near any agency nor have my shootings been "social". I have gone through about half a case in the last six months. The only issue I have seen so far is the gilding metal on some of the bullets is tarnished. Every round has fed and fired with no failures, and the round is very consistent for me. Guns have been P30, G17.3, and G26.3.
First lot we all had failures to feed due to oal being way to long, deemed out of spec by Hornady. Second lot we were told the bullets we're deemed defective by Hornady and needed to be returned to the factory. Now we are on the third lot so we shall see if these will work or not. Other agencies have all had the same problems with qc problems with Hornady, and have for years.
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Next thing you know we will be hearing that it turns out that shot placement is more important than the precise new wonder bullet one buys.
Go figure.
Exactly.
Holes in hearts, spines and brains are holes in hearts spines and brains.....no matter what makes them. So less time spent worrying about ammo performance and more time spent working on human performance will get you much farther than a new "magic bullet" will.....
Last edited by Randy Harris; 04-19-2018 at 01:16 PM.