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Hornady 135gr Critical Duty in Clear Ballistics gel.

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5pins

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Today I had the opportunity to shoot some Hornady 135gr FTX Critical Duty Into some 10% Clear Ballistics gel. Test pistol was a Sig P229 with a 4-inch barrel. The rounds where shot into two 16 inch blocks of Clear gel stacked back to back for a total of 32 inches.

The chrony didn’t pick up the velocity of the first round shot into the bare gel and it exited out of the side of the gel block at about 15 inches and expanded to .44 inches. The bullet was found on the floor after hitting the rubber backstop. Round two penetrated to 18 inches with a velocity of 977fps and expanded to .44 inches also. I decided to shoot a third round and it stopped at 18.5 inches, expanded to .46 inches with an impact velocity of 997fps.

ozRI0OLm.jpg

The first, and only, round fired through heavy clothing completely passed through both gel block and was not recovered. At this point I decided to stop the test and save my gel for testing something else.
 
460Shooter said:
Pretty disappointing performance.
Click to expand...

That performance might be the artifact of the test medium being used as Clear Ballistics Gelatin typically produces lower projectile expansion and correspondingly greater penetration than seen in 10% calibrated ordnance gelatin. Not knocking the OP's testing by any measure, but the medium does have it deficiencies.
 
I became curious as to what would happen I the polymer plug was removed and if it would change its performance. I fired one shot into a bare Clear gel block at 10 feet. I didn’t set up the chrony but penetration decreased to 15 inches and expansion increased to .52 inches.

USqOQZrm.jpg
 
So I was able to shoot an unplugged round through heavy clothing this morning. It penetrated 16.5 inches. I forgot to measure the expansion but as you can see it opened up ok.

MhT7uNVm.jpg
 
460Shooter said:
It seems like the little red plug is nothing but an inhibitor to expansion.
Click to expand...

The polymer plug is to aid in penetration, it protects the HP cavity from being filled with clothing and early body tissue which causes the bullet to expand quicker thus preventing deeper penetration. It's a balancing act to get enough penetration to ensure a vitals hit, while maximizing expansion.
 
According to Hornady.

The patented Hornady® Flex Tip® design eliminates clogging and aids bullet expansion. A large mechanical jacket-to-core InterLock® band works to keep the bullet and core from separating for maximum weight retention, excellent expansion, consistent penetration and terminal performance through all FBI test barriers.
Click to expand...
 
<*(((>< said:
The polymer plug is to aid in penetration, it protects the HP cavity from being filled with clothing and early body tissue which causes the bullet to expand quicker thus preventing deeper penetration. It's a balancing act to get enough penetration to ensure a vitals hit, while maximizing expansion.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's not right. You are misunderstanding the intent of the plug.
5pins said:
According to Hornady.
The patented Hornady® Flex Tip® design eliminates clogging and aids bullet expansion. A large mechanical jacket-to-core InterLock® band works to keep the bullet and core from separating for maximum weight retention, excellent expansion, consistent penetration and terminal performance through all FBI test barriers.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

This ^^^^^^ is why the critical defense and critical duty were designed.
 
I guess I misread their objectives when they first came out. Thank you for correcting me.

I wonder how their non-barrier blind "Critical Defense" would do with and without the plug.
 
<*(((>< said:
I guess I misread their objectives when they first came out. Thank you for correcting me.

I wonder how their non-barrier blind "Critical Defense" would do with and without the plug.
Click to expand...
I've been wondering the same. However when it comes to barrier blind ammo, I am starting to be more and more curious about the Underwood loadings with Lehigh Defense Extreme Defender ammo. It seems to penetrate consistently, create large wound channels in gel, and the CNC machined copper solid seems to resist deformation really well.

I used to shoot and carry a lot of Hornady ammo, but I am sort of expanding outward to newer and what I feel to be, more robust designs.
 
JONWILL said:
Good point. It seems to be

I am also wondering why they chosen 135 grain 9mm bullet? Normally they are 115,124 or 147
Click to expand...
Maybe that's the highest weight they could go and still stay supersonic. Aren't 147 grain non +p 9mms typically subsonic? I could be wrong about that, but I thought it was part of why folks who have suppressors typically go for heavy ammo.

Just a guess. Please correct me if you know better.
 
A good idea on that. Definitely easier to keep the pressure to operate and stay subsonic with heavy bullets, but not sure if they always are. Certainly with short barrels.
Otherwise, maybe it's a 124gr design, plus the plug?
 
5pins said:
View attachment 767774

Today I had the opportunity to shoot some Hornady 135gr FTX Critical Duty Into some 10% Clear Ballistics gel. Test pistol was a Sig P229 with a 4-inch barrel. The rounds where shot into two 16 inch blocks of Clear gel stacked back to back for a total of 32 inches.

The chrony didn’t pick up the velocity of the first round shot into the bare gel and it exited out of the side of the gel block at about 15 inches and expanded to .44 inches. The bullet was found on the floor after hitting the rubber backstop. Round two penetrated to 18 inches with a velocity of 977fps and expanded to .44 inches also. I decided to shoot a third round and it stopped at 18.5 inches, expanded to .46 inches with an impact velocity of 997fps.

View attachment 767775

The first, and only, round fired through heavy clothing completely passed through both gel block and was not recovered. At this point I decided to stop the test and save my gel for testing something else.
Click to expand...

Have you ever thought about including pictures of the bullets at rest in the gelatin? Not that your pictures of the expanded bullets all by themselves is a bad thing, but showing the expanded bullets as they lay at the end of the penetration path would add another dimension to your tests and would only require the investment of time (a few minutes) to take and add the pictures to your articles.
 
I’ve taken pictures and videos but never felt like it turns out well enough to post them. The gel blocks give off a lot of glare and get darker as they are re-melted making it difficult getting a good pic.
 
5pins said:
I’ve taken pictures and videos but never felt like it turns out well enough to post them. The gel blocks give off a lot of glare and get darker as they are re-melted making it difficult getting a good pic.
Click to expand...

I didn't say it would be easy....:D

If there is a will, there is a way....or so I have been told. Perhaps a little experimentation with angles and light sources gets you there? Lots of folks are doing it with the clear ballistics stuff as it seems a bit more tolerant of light issues.
 
5pins said:
But the rounds aren't supersonic.
Click to expand...
Hmm. Maybe it's the highest weight they could use, and not slow the bullet down to point that this particular design would fail to expand.

Just another guess. Probably wrong.
 
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