I was leaving work last night, going to test fire 80 gr Corbon DPX and 90 gr Hornaday Critical defense ammo I had ordered online when I saw a box of old magazines and catalogs. I filled a small box with the magazines and headed out. I realize this is incredibly unscientific and a box full of catalogs in no way replicates a bad guy, but it was fun. At best this tells something about how the ammo performs relative to the other ammo I tested. I fired two rounds of each, as well as two rounds of WWB 95 gr fmj rounds. I was able to recover all of the bullets, with each pair right next to it's mate. Hornadays penetrated the least, stopping about 2.5 inches in. One round had good expansion, and the other did not. The second round entered almost in the same hole as the first, so I wonder if that resulted in the lack of expansion. the DPX rounds penetrated much farther (comparatively) to about 4.5 inches, with excellent expansion with both rounds. As expected, the WWB FMJ's penetrated farthest, to about 5.5 inches. What surprised me was the marked difference in the Corbons and the Hornadays. Before this, I was biased towards the Hornaday Critical Defense, but as of last night my P3 is loaded with 80 gr corbon DPX. I will try to take some pics of the recovered bullets and post them as soon as I can. Also, I had an FTE with the final round in the magazine (WWB). Then I loaded a magazine full of WWB, and again had an FTE on the last round. Since it was cold and I was hungry I stopped. Anyone else experienced this?
Thanks for sharing. We can't have to many of these ammo tests. Especially since ammo selection is so critical in a short barreled .380 Once again DPX seemed to perform well.
FTE failure to extract (problem) or failure to eject (not a big deal as long as it is only the last round, maybe your 3AT is impersonating a NAA Guardian) ? GL
FTE on the last round both times. Sounds like you may be missing part#115, the ejector. If so give KT a call, they will send out a new one.
It was failure to eject. I will make sure I'm not missing anything. It only did that with the WWB though. The others functioned fine (although I didn't test any other ammo after the FTE).
I personally don't see how this test in any way tells how the ammo performs relative to one another given that you are shooting magazines, not flesh. That is like comparing apples and oranges. Take a side of pork rib or the like as one poster did earlier last year and fire into that and then compare. I may have to break down and get some of the Hornady Critical Defense, but right now I'm just don't want to have to pay shipping just to try it out.
In the OP he stated that is was un scientific in relation to a BG Both rounds were tested in the same media. It is what it is.....
Like I said in the beginning, I just did this last minute for fun. I had planned to go out and make sure the ammo fed without problems. I agree, there are far better ways to test ammo performance. The difference between the DPX and Hornaday was so striking though, I decided to share my results.
Good call. I am missing part #115. How embarassing. Even more embarassing, I can't really see where it should go.
Left hand side of your frame (the aluminum piece most of the way to the back. It's that empty slot/break in the rail part of the frame right now. They run home to momma pretty quickly if given the chance. -Scott
Thanks for the pics/instructions. Now I don't see how I missed that. Guess what I found rolling around in the box where I keep my cleaning stuff- my ejector! I guess it is my lucky day.
I have a pic of the recovered bullets, but I can't figure out how to post it. Where is this "browse" button I read about on the help page?
