9x18 VS Playdough... finished expansion tests with 120gr Silverbear JHPs (pics)

S

Snowdog

New member
I finally received my 100 rounds of Silverbears for my IJ-70 Russian Makarov yesterday afternoon. As promised, I tested them against typical clothing for expansion. It is safe to say that I am impressed with the performance. This alone is surprising considering the price of $5.49/50rnds.

The preliminary tests were, ofcourse, limited. I tested these rounds in my semi-sound-proof basement, so the tests were limited to a total of 3 rounds. Later testing out in the country will test the feed reliability of these rounds. Featuring a most aggressive hollow cavity for a 9x18 round, reliability may be somewhat questionable. Time will tell.

The tests are marked #1 through #3.

*Test #1 was against bare PlayDough.

*Test #2 was against 2 layers of denim before medium.

*Test #3 was against 4 layers of demin before medium (this tends to clog the best of premium JHPs).

Recoil was also much more stout, as was the report... so I suppose I will opt for those 19lbs Wolfe recoil springs after all.


This first pic shows bullet 1 - 3 along with pulled JHP and live rounds:
 

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An upclose image

This last pic is of the same rounds up-close for a bit more detail.
They are lined up the same, test one through three, left to right.

Note test 2 & 3 yielded some sharp jacket petals protruding somewhat. The spiral lacerations caused to the poor Playdough was impressive. Penetration unfortunately was not measured, but I can say for certain, they penetrated much deeper than my Hornady 95gr XTP and Blazer 90gr Gold Dot tests, while seemingly causing more trauma.

Nothing else I've tested in this caliber using this method has expanded after 4 layers of denim... this is most definately a first.
 

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I did some informal testing on pumpkins after Halloween with 9x19 Silver bear. Those looked very impressive too. I wonder if anyone 'famous' has done any scientific testing to see what happens?
 
Snowdog, you got me goin' again. I think I'm going to go find some PlayDough and start packing PVC. :D

How far did this travel through the medium? IOW, if I pack the PVC rings, as we discussed the last time, to what depth did the bullet travel... 8"? 12"? 16"?

TIA!
 
Rovert,

As expected, test #3 yielded the greatest penetration due to the least expansion... I didn't get to measure it, but that round nearly made it halfway through the 4th block of PlayDough (each block in this test was a 4" cube).

I think it would be safe to say it made it nearly 14".

The bullet in test #2 was about an inch or two into the third block (about 10") and in test #1, the bullet was recovered from the second block... it made it to about 8" inches.

Hope this helps.

Good luck with your project.
 
That looks like good stuff. The cases appear to be nickel-plated in the images, is this true? At any rate, I'm all over this stuff.
 
In your basement?:eek:

I'm apprehensive about Russian hollowpoints for self defense. When you look at how major non-former commie manufacturers test, tweak, and subtly refine their bullets, with decades of experience, I have a hard time imagining Russian companies doing the same. Hey, I have all the respect in the world for the Russian peoples and culture. (I always read the National Geographic articles about Russia and other former Soviet republics!) It's just that their ammo manufacturers are new to hollowpoints, and they specialize in cheap ammo. Am I wrong about them being new to hollowpoints?
 
Glockdoc,

can't tell about bullets, but what really surprises me until this time is the difference in amount of testing and experimentation typical for industrial R&D in the US and Russia. I live in the US since I took off from the USSR in 1991, and although
there may be a certain time gap, what I see now is really strange. If typical Russian R&D effort I've seen (related to 1990) is to be assumed as 100%, typical U.S. R&D effort in average indistrial company I see here is probably close to 5%...Really strange, dah?
 
Destructo6,

You're correct, they are nickel plated cases... but nickel plated steel cases as opposed to nickel plated brass. Being that the Makarov was designed with steel cased ammo in mind, I'm not overly concerned.

Glockdoc,

I'd say you're right, the Russians are fairly new to JHPs, but that's what the testing was all about in the first place. As you can see, though being new to the JHP scene, their JHPs do indeed expand quite well.

Oris,

Ya vazmozhna ne znatye shto ve znatcheet, no doomeyo shto da! ;) Forgive the grammer, it's been 4 years since I've used it.
 
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Russky Mak ammo

As a Makarov enthusuast, I also had to check out the Silver Bear.... especially since it came in a non-standard weight. I use my little compensated Mak for the mid-bore class in local bowling pin shoots, and of course even with the pins just a foot off the back of the table, it's marginal. Thought the 120's might help, and the few that I have fired, I agree, they seem stouter, and they might just do it. I tried 1-only in water, through two layers of sweatshirt, and it did not open up. By no means a definitive test, and I am not saying that water means anything compared to more scientific tests-- it's just that water is what I have, and I use it as a comparitive medium. I also got some of the Silver Bear 145 9mm. This did open up pretty nicely in water. Also, the Barnaul 9mm Mak 95 grain JHP's give textbook expansion. All three loads have steel jackets, so I was pleasantly surprised to see any expansion.
 
Anybody else tried the Barnaul JHP as a comparison? The bullet w/ the aggressive hollowpoint in the Silver Bear looks a lot like the Barnaul round.
 
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