SD ammo for Kahr PM9

[verge]

Great article on another site.

http://ammo.ar15.com/project/Self_Defense_Ammo_FAQ/index.htm

 

[verge]

Ok, since I'm a proponent of of the lighter and faster bullet I thought maybe I was missing something and maybe using the wrong cartridge, but gelatin tests say I'm ok so I'll stick with the lighter and faster bullet.

I figure that the shorter the barrel the more velocity is needed to get expansion and the goldenloki gel tests indicate I'm ok with that.

Actually the ballistics experts at the FBI say go with the 147 gr rounds.


Check out the information at Firearms Tactical.

http://www.firearmstactical.com/tactical.htm

http://www.firearmstactical.com/afte.htm

Excerpt;

Mr. Larry Fletcher, of the Dallas County Institute of Forensic Sciences (formerly the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences), feels that Chapter 5 misrepresents his organization’s findings. He emphatically disagrees with Marshall’s and Sanow’s recommendation of lightweight, high-velocity projectiles such as the 9mm 115gr and 115gr +P+ JHP, .357 Magnum 110gr and 125gr JHP bullets, and .45 ACP 185gr +P JHP bullets. The Dallas County Institute of Forensic Sciences finds the overexpansion and excessive fragmentation exhibited by these bullets results in stretch and crush cavities at too shallow a depth. Mr. Fletcher strongly emphasizes that all of these loads offer inadequate performance for law enforcement use since they exhibit insufficient penetration to consistently reach the major organs and blood vessels in the torso, especially from the transverse and oblique angles commonly encountered in law enforcement shootings. The Dallas County Institute of Forensic Sciences recommends cartridges which offer reasonable penetration and reliable expansion without fragmentation, such as the 9mm 147gr JHP, .40 S&W 180gr JHP, and .45 ACP 230gr JHP.

 

[kokapelli]

The goldenloki tests seem to feature a lot of bullets that were in their prime 15-25 years ago. And the poor expansion exhibited by almost all of them proves that too. Thing is, like gofast said, a heavier bullet will lose less of it's velocity potential in a shorter barrel than a light and fast bullet, and they are designed for significantly lower velocities than the lighter, faster bullets.

The lighter bullets need to be able to hold themselves together at higher velocities than the 147s will ever see, which allows the 147 to be designed to respond much better to lower than expected velocities than the lightweights. 147s have higher inherent momentum and higher inherent penetration capability, so they don't need to sacrifice expansion to get the same minimum penetration depth as a lighter, similiarly designed bullet.

I'm talking purely apples to apples, if you have an older (or proven, if you like) bullet design that works well for you, go for it, but the 147s of today are the better bullets. I'm mostly talking about bullets of a like design in various weights.

Most of the Golden Loki tested stuff didn't look very impressive or even really all that up to par to me. Tested a bunch of 1992 vintage stuff, some of which you can't even find anymore outside of a couple of boxes of collector's interest stuff. It's cool that they did the tests, I appreciate the time and information, I just think it's not particularly helpful in 2011.

What! The 124 gr Golden Saber penetrated to 15.2" and expanded to .621 from the 3.1" barrel. Are you saying that is poor performance?

I might be convinced if there were gelatin tests with heavier bullets from 3" barrels that showed them to be better performers, but just because somebody says they are doesn't convince me that they actually do perform better.

Bullet velocities under 1000 fps usually are to slow to create good expansion and that is exactly what you have with the heavier 9mm bullet from a 3" barrel.

Until someone comes up with 147 gr gelatin tests from a short barrel that backs up these statements I'll stick with the faster 124 gr bullets.