Gelatin test: .40 S&W 180 gr Gold Dot fired from pistol and carbine

A

Andrew Wiggin

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.40 S&W 180 gr Gold Dot from pistol and carbine video link


40 S&W 180 gr Speer Gold Dot loaded over 9.2 gr of AA#7 fired from a Kel-Tec Sub 2000 carbine and Glock model 22 pistol through four layers of denim into calibrated gelatin.

BB: 593.6 fps, 3.4"

Pistol data:

Impact velocity: 1,081 fps
Penetration: 14.5"
Retained weight: 179.7 gr
Max expansion: 0.741"
Min expansion: 0.492"

Carbine data:

Impact velocity: 1,320 fps (approx.)
Penetration: 16.6"
Retained weight: 178.9 gr
Max expansion: 0.781"
Min expansion: 0.538"


A few notes: The chronograph did not catch the impact velocity from the carbine shot so I took a four shot average. Velocities were:

1,312 fps
1,317 fps
1,327 fps
1,324 fps

I was surprised at how much velocity the bullet gained from the longer barrel and I was surprised to note that the faster bullet actually went deeper. I had to double check. The only explanation I can come up with is that the extra velocity pushed the petals back against the shank earlier.

Speer lists the factory velocity as 1,025 from a pistol so I believe that I got fairly close to what they put out but I do not know what powder they use so the burn rate could be substantially different. I did not have any extra factory ammo available for testing.


Pistol:

2hnuomr.jpg



Carbine:

w6theb.jpg
 
It's not surprising that higher velocities allow for deeper penetration. There's more energy to bleed off before the bullet comes to a halt, so it's going to go deeper before that happens.

How many rounds did you fire through the pistol?
 
All other things being equal, a solid usually will penetrate more deeply at higher velocity but JHP usually penetrates less when you drive it beyond its design envelope. I believe that is because it opens wider.
 
That is interesting. Seems like the entire Gold Dot lineup does a fairly good job of holding together at higher velocities, at least compared to the more basic cup and core type designs, and from what I've seen the shallower cavity the Gold Dot has the higher velocities it can withstand.

I would bet that a factory 180gr Gold Dot wouldn't have went nearly as fast out of that carbine, most of what I have chronographed with them shows slight gains with longer pistol barrels, but not much. I'm sure 9.2gr of AA7 help out here quite a bit, I think the factory load would use a faster burning powder as well.

I've not tried AA7 in the .40, but one of the more accurate loads I have tried is 8.0-8.5gr of Longshot using the 180gr XTP, which usually does good too at somewhat higher than "normal" .40 velocities. I think 8.5gr of LS chronographed about 1,210 fps from my 4" G23 with the 180 XTP.

I would be interested in knowing at what velocities the bullet stops gaining penetration and starts to lose penetration.
 
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