How cool! @Tom_Jones one for your collection.
How cool! @Tom_Jones one for your collection.
That's an interesting idea.
IIRC, the Federal .38 Special 129-grain Hydra Shok +P offered erratic expansion from our snubs; even in our gelatin tests, it expanded less than 20% of the time.
Perhaps a 0.355" - .357" 147-grain HS-Deep (allowing that the design can produce as promised/hoped) at 1,100 fps is the answer; oughtta be plenty of "on-board horse-power" out of a load like that to drive expansion.
Hopefully, the under-bore dimensions will not play havoc with your testing. Bullets hitting gelatin at significant yaw really screw things up IME.
I've just completed water-testing of a few different light-weight 9mm JHPs (in the 80 - 90 grain range) with surprising results for inclusion in an article elsewhere and look forward to seeing what you come up with in your testing (in the high sectional-density realm) whenever you get around to doing it.
Last edited by the Schwartz; 08-15-2019 at 05:02 PM.
''Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity.'' ―Albert Einstein
Full disclosure per the Pistol-Forum CoC: I am the author of Quantitative Ammunition Selection.
That has been my experience with the light-weight bullets intended for the .380 fired from the 9mm, too. Post-expansion sectional density is directly dependent upon starting out with as much material (bullet mass) as possible and retaining as much of it as possible after expansion is completed to whatever degree that is.
If there ain't much there to begin, then there probably ain't gonna be much left afterwards either.
''Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity.'' ―Albert Einstein
Full disclosure per the Pistol-Forum CoC: I am the author of Quantitative Ammunition Selection.
My EDC is a 9mm Walther PPS M2 with a 3.2 inch barrel. I consider barrel length critical in ammo testing (because it is.) I routinely look for new 9mm tests. Ammoquest on YouTube has extensively tested 9mm JHP as well as 380 out of short barrels. I used to load 147 gr Federal HST. After watching the Ammoquest 9mm test series I changed to Winchester Defend and practice with the accompanying Train ammo. The link is to the wrap up of the extensive testing. If noting else, it provokes some thought. For me it meant changing ammo
https://youtu.be/xc5n_JsY3aw
Then you might be interested in this intermediate barrier testing of the 147gr. bonded Winchester from a 3.1" barrel
https://www.ammunitiontogo.com/lodge/barriers-and-ammo/
It is a good bullet.
''Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity.'' ―Albert Einstein
Full disclosure per the Pistol-Forum CoC: I am the author of Quantitative Ammunition Selection.