9MM Over penatration.

[rondog]

Know if that 124gr Federal HST is available locally? I hate to pay shipping (and hazmat?) on one measly box of ammo, can't afford to buy more. Especially when I have tons of 9mm plinking ammo loaded up and components to build thousands more.

[hurley842002]

Know if that 124gr Federal HST is available locally? I hate to pay shipping (and hazmat?) on one measly box of ammo, can't afford to buy more. Especially when I have tons of 9mm plinking ammo loaded up and components to build thousands more.

You don't have to pay hazmat on ammo, but shipping is usually ten bucks or so. You can but the 20 round boxes of HST at Cabelas, but the cost on those is a bit steep.

[275RLTW]

Know if that 124gr Federal HST is available locally? I hate to pay shipping (and hazmat?) on one measly box of ammo, can't afford to buy more. Especially when I have tons of 9mm plinking ammo loaded up and components to build thousands more.

Check Jax in FOCO if your up this way. I'll double check next time I'm up there.

[Artema]

Finished cartridges don't have hazmat fees, just powder and primers when not combined.

[ChadAmberg]

I always wonder about folks worried about overpenetration. The real question isn't: "What happens to my bullets after they've lost almost all their momentum passing through a bad guy", but "What happens to the bullets that miss the bad guy because I've got about 9000 times more adrenalin coursing through my system than I've ever had and I'm shaking from it and it's dark and while I'm not firing blindly my muscles are on autopilot and <click click click> how did I run out of 18 bullets so fast and I hope everythings ok"

[Zombie Steve]

I always wonder about folks worried about overpenetration. The real question isn't: "What happens to my bullets after they've lost almost all their momentum passing through a bad guy", but "What happens to the bullets that miss the bad guy because I've got about 9000 times more adrenalin coursing through my system than I've ever had and I'm shaking from it and it's dark and while I'm not firing blindly my muscles are on autopilot and <click click click> how did I run out of 18 bullets so fast and I hope everythings ok"

You ain't the only feller wondering such things.

Having shot quite a few animals up to and including deer with hollow points, I can tell you that I am far more concerned with underpenetration than I am about overpenetration.

[ray1970]

I am far more concerned with underpenetration than I am about overpenetration.

As is just about every other heterosexual male on the planet I suppose.

[Zombie Steve]

Married, so I get it quarterly whether I need it or not. Cue the house music.

[rustycrusty]

Late to party- as usual.

It was already corrected, but to say it again... New 147gr defense ammo is NOT built for subguns. ColoCCW is working off of some VERY old data referencing the first 147gr bullets designed for increased accuracy out of some mp5 for SF folks. Testing on 147HST gives reliable expansion (best I've seen- anywhere in 9mm) and penetration of ~12" through FBI standard calibrated gel out of a 5" barrel.

I wouldn't worry about over-penetration. Worry about under-penetration. Brassfetchers has nice ballistics visuals as well as diagram showing just how much of target areas are covered by bone. Another thing to worry about is bad angles can vastly increase depth needed for ballistic effect (so can fat... And the majority of Americans walk around with a good 4-6in of it around vitals). Some Google image searching will yield plenty of pictures of rounds from some very large handguns stopped on top of a sternum. Also, things as simple as down jackets have shown to reduce penetration to under 3" in skinny bad guys being shot with FBI approved, department issued .40 180gr gold dots.

my work has me manipulating human tissue with all manner of tooling and I can tell you from experience- the layers of connective tissue,cartilage, and bone that cover the center of the chest will stop MANY ballistic objects. I have found buckshot lying on top of cartilage before.

[275RLTW]

Late to party- as usual.

It was already corrected, but to say it again... New 147gr defense ammo is NOT built for subguns. ColoCCW is working off of some VERY old data referencing the first 147gr bullets designed for increased accuracy out of some mp5 for SF folks. Testing on 147HST gives reliable expansion (best I've seen- anywhere in 9mm) and penetration of ~12" through FBI standard calibrated gel out of a 5" barrel.

According to the Hornady website as of today (current enough for you?), the 147gr has a KE at muzzle of 310 ft/lbs vs the 115gr at 341 ft/lbs. Thats a loss of approx 10% due to insufficient velocity from a 4" barrel. I don't know too many people who carry a 5" 9mm that you refer to in "testing." I won't get into the discussion of "ballistic gel testing/FBI Standard blah blah blah" and all the crap with that other than that phrase has lost almost all validity due to it not taking into all the other factors that affect terminal ballistics. A quick search can find thousands of discussions on 147gr in various barrel lengths., most agreeing that the heavier bullets should stay with sub guns.


As I stated before, pick a round that runs in your specific gun, from a well known manufacturer, and put holes in the threat until it stops. Trying to predict which round will do best for an unknown scenario is just guesswork. Anyone who says they have the "right answer" or perfect bullet is full of shit.