Island Beretta
Member
First off, all protocols observed, Mr. Moderator if anything here might be prohibited or seems off please close thread.
Over the weekend I did an informal ammo test consisting of 4 premium rounds:
1. Speer Gold Dot 115g +P
2. Corbon 115g +P
3. Winchester SXT 147g
4. Winchester Silvertip 115g
The gun used was a Beretta 92fs compact L with 4.3" barrel.
Felt Recoil:
The Gold dot had the highest and gave the Beretta quite a thump this was surprising because the Beretta is such a soft-shooter. This was one hot round.
Second was the corbon, followed by the silvertip and last the sxt.
Test Media Results:
Sand
The gold dot expanded impressively into a full mushroom shape and penetrated about 9 inches whilst retaining most of its mass. The bonding also did not separate from the lead. Next impressive was the silvertip which expanded impressively too but not as much as the gold dot with about a 6 inch penetration. The plating adhered pretty well too. The corbon fragmented in little pieces and the sxt did not expand at all though it penetrated about 12 inches. Inspection of the sxt showed sand clogged in the tip. The gold dot and the silvertip also showed that it had picked up sand in the tip but they still expanded.
Clothed dummy (dummy made of heavy foam which is soaked with water with old heavy wool jacket and wet t-shirt on).
Again the gold dot expanded impressively with even less of the non-expanded material remaining. The silvertip again followed suit and this time the corbon did not fragment but expansion was mild. The sxt came into its own here and gave a full mushroom bloom but still not as impressive as the gold dot. Penetration was great with the gold dot, silvertip and sxt which all penetrated about 10 inches into the target. The corbon was about 8 inches but really rocked the dummy. We wondered if the dummy was stabler if the corbon would have penetrated more.
Clothed dummy as above but with windshield:
Again the gold dot just did its thing!! The sxt performed admirably here as well and penetrated the dummy the most about 13 inches. We wondered if this was because the sxt took a bit longer to expand (i.e. it behaved a bit more like a round nose). Whilst most of the rounds went cleanly through the windscreen the corbon created a huge shatter and barely penetrated the dummy. The silvertip seemed to have been radically slowed by the windscreen and only mildly expanded.
I know there have been countless ammo tests done, but really when you do the tests it is a different thing than reading about it. You learn so much more. For me the Gold dot was the clear winner and I give the silvertip second only because the sxt failed the sand test miserably. To me the corbon was disappointing given all the claims made but then some argue that it is too fast.. it is clear that on bare flesh it can be devastating but this doesn't carry through very well, it appears, once barriers/intervening factors are there.
Take this for what it's worth which might be nothing because tomorrow I or you could do the same tests and get totally different results but I just thought I would share.
Sorry I don't have a digital camera to show the rounds but the gold dot measured the widest in the clothed dummy at .75 of an inch, this means an expansion of about 200% (please check my maths) and the silvertip of about .60 in the sand.
Peace.
Over the weekend I did an informal ammo test consisting of 4 premium rounds:
1. Speer Gold Dot 115g +P
2. Corbon 115g +P
3. Winchester SXT 147g
4. Winchester Silvertip 115g
The gun used was a Beretta 92fs compact L with 4.3" barrel.
Felt Recoil:
The Gold dot had the highest and gave the Beretta quite a thump this was surprising because the Beretta is such a soft-shooter. This was one hot round.
Second was the corbon, followed by the silvertip and last the sxt.
Test Media Results:
Sand
The gold dot expanded impressively into a full mushroom shape and penetrated about 9 inches whilst retaining most of its mass. The bonding also did not separate from the lead. Next impressive was the silvertip which expanded impressively too but not as much as the gold dot with about a 6 inch penetration. The plating adhered pretty well too. The corbon fragmented in little pieces and the sxt did not expand at all though it penetrated about 12 inches. Inspection of the sxt showed sand clogged in the tip. The gold dot and the silvertip also showed that it had picked up sand in the tip but they still expanded.
Clothed dummy (dummy made of heavy foam which is soaked with water with old heavy wool jacket and wet t-shirt on).
Again the gold dot expanded impressively with even less of the non-expanded material remaining. The silvertip again followed suit and this time the corbon did not fragment but expansion was mild. The sxt came into its own here and gave a full mushroom bloom but still not as impressive as the gold dot. Penetration was great with the gold dot, silvertip and sxt which all penetrated about 10 inches into the target. The corbon was about 8 inches but really rocked the dummy. We wondered if the dummy was stabler if the corbon would have penetrated more.
Clothed dummy as above but with windshield:
Again the gold dot just did its thing!! The sxt performed admirably here as well and penetrated the dummy the most about 13 inches. We wondered if this was because the sxt took a bit longer to expand (i.e. it behaved a bit more like a round nose). Whilst most of the rounds went cleanly through the windscreen the corbon created a huge shatter and barely penetrated the dummy. The silvertip seemed to have been radically slowed by the windscreen and only mildly expanded.
I know there have been countless ammo tests done, but really when you do the tests it is a different thing than reading about it. You learn so much more. For me the Gold dot was the clear winner and I give the silvertip second only because the sxt failed the sand test miserably. To me the corbon was disappointing given all the claims made but then some argue that it is too fast.. it is clear that on bare flesh it can be devastating but this doesn't carry through very well, it appears, once barriers/intervening factors are there.
Take this for what it's worth which might be nothing because tomorrow I or you could do the same tests and get totally different results but I just thought I would share.
Sorry I don't have a digital camera to show the rounds but the gold dot measured the widest in the clothed dummy at .75 of an inch, this means an expansion of about 200% (please check my maths) and the silvertip of about .60 in the sand.
Peace.