If you have been shooting and, possibility reloading, for any amount of time you have more than likely a collected bunch of odds and ends. Stuff like holsters, mag pouches, and ammo. I have a small cardboard box that, over the years, has been the stopping point for ammo that has, in one way or another, decided to call it home. It’s normally just one or two rounds, maybe a half dozen at the most, of just about every caliber is have owned in the past. Not long ago I went through this box to see what I have. It turns out I have a lot.
I don’t normally like to test rounds if I don’t have the box it came with. I have done some in the past but not knowing the age and history of the round makes the test less credible. On the other hand, I wonder how they would perform in gel.
And so here is my first installment of what I’m going to call “Loose Rounds”. Let’s start off with a 9mm round that was, if memory serves correctly, very popular round in the 90’s. The Federal 124gr Hyclad hollow point. I carried this ammo for a few years in the late 90’s in my Glock 19. I don’t really remember a lot about them or their history but I think they were discontinued in the late 90’s. My chrony data from 1998 shows me getting a 10 shot average velocity of 1057fps out of my G19.
I shot one round, the only one I had, into bare Clear Ballistic gel with a Sig P229 with a 3.9-inch barrel at a distance of 10 feet. The round had an impact velocity of 1059fps (pretty close to my 1998 data) and penetrated 22.5 inches. With penetration that deep some may have come to the conclusion that expansion was little to none and you would be correct. The bullet began to deform but didn’t achieve what I would call expansion.
While one round cannot be considered a proper test I have to say that I’m a little disappointed. I carried this round for a short time and now know that it may not have been the best choice.
