Frangible Handgun Ammo- Anybody???

[jaybet]

In the spirit of initiating more good gun talk I'm starting another thread on something I've been thinking about. I've been considering purchasing frangible ammo for home defense. Since moving our neighbors are not as close, or I should say, our neighbor's houses are not as close, BUT they are occupied. At our old home it was a resort, and most of the year the houses were empty. Now we've got families etc around us.  We are very concerned about a round going through a wall to somewhere we don't want it to go.

Any experience here with frangible pistol ammo? I hear it's difficult to get the crimp right if you're reloading it...breaking the bullet at first. On the other hand we wouldn't use reloaded for HD anyway. Does anyone know if frangible is as effective?  I've seen it used on some hunting shows, and it seems to work.

Just a question I ponder when the mind wanders.

[fightingquaker13]

Right there with you Jaybet. I've often wondered about Glaser and the like, but they're too damn expensive to buy on a whim. I'd love hear from somebody with experience shooting them.
FQ13

[Solus]

Take a look at the the terminal performance of the frangible stuff.

It will still need to penetrate to vital organs to stop a threat.  

I have seen ads for the some of the stuff that says it performs like a shot gun hit at contact range, but have not seen a test that verifies that performance.

The problem some non-frangible light, high velocity rounds had was expanding to fast to give adequate penetration, causing shallow wounds which might kill eventually, but not stop the threat quickly.

[crusader rabbit]

Seems to me there was some testing done on Box o Truth regarding frangible ammo.  From what I have seen and recall, the stuff made by MagSafe seems to do the job from a personal defense standpoint while not penetrating drywall.  It's not something you would want to take to the range and practice with (unless you have significantly more money than this Rabbit) but you might want to invest in a test shot or three.

Crusader

[tombogan03884]

Try the "sintered metal" (compressed metal dust) like they use at some indoor ranges.
The local range uses it in rifle calibers and it seems to work OK.
Acts like ball ammo until it hits something hard like the backstop, then it powders.

[Sponsor]

[1911 Junkie]

I personally like frangible ammo (not Glasers) and use it in my carry gun and house AR. Reduced penetration on hard objects and the massive wound channels with near 100% energy retention are 2 selling points.  The nose of the bullet Fragments creating tissue damage and the base stays intact giving you the wound channel and penetration. If you look at ballistics jelly they outperform corbons hands down. You do need to do some research since there are a lot of "frangible" bullets on the market nowadays. Tailor the bullet choice for what you want it for, hunting, self defense, target and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

The best I have found is International Cartridge Corporation (ICC).  Check out their testing and videos online.

www.iccammo.com  (edit: They are making changes to their website and the videos of the ballistics gel aren't up right now)

Also Some info in another thread.  http://www.downrange.tv/forum/index.php?topic=7725.0

There have been other threads on the subject but one was all pincused up.

[TAB]

Have you checked brass fetcher??

[Solus]

I just have some doubts about frangible ammo.

Way back when...   the FBI designed ammo tests that used ballistic gelatin to simulate penetration in human tissue.  Of course it was not an exact replication because there was no bone/cartilage/heavy muscle   like there would be in a human body.

This is way they required  a minimum of 12 inches of penetration to score high on the test...a round that could punch through the 12 inches of gel would likely punch through the ribcage/other tissue and reach vital organs..

They specified a max penetration of 18 inches also.  The was primarily because any round that left the body of the target would not be delivering the maximum energy to the target.  It is also an indication of the possibility of collateral damage.  

While this is simulation is not a perfect representation of a bullets performance in a human body, it is based on solid measurements and is a good comparative tool for different rounds.

I found this YouTube video of a gel test of 9mm DRT sintered  metal ammo...it was recommended by someone associated with DRT...DRT appeared to me to have a good shot at being worth while.  ...In their ads the claim guys in the military started using Dead Right There  as what the initials represent...  

It is actually Dynamic Research Technologies    http://drtammo.com/

Here is the video.  Note in the testers evaluation the largest piece of the round reached about 11" of penetration, but it was a .32 caliber piece and had the weight of a .22 LR round.  May get the job done, but perhaps not certain.

The round did a tremendous amount of damage in the first 4 inches or so...which could mean it will shred the flesh and muscle covering the rib cage...might be a fight stopper or might not, but not quickly fatal

[tombogan03884]

Is Irlene Mandrell still their spokes person ?

[rojawe]

Military has been using it for a while and I like it since the bullet is lighter and faster and clean burning I have shot lots of it in the 9mm and yes I use it in a indoor range.