Hornady 135gr Critical Duty in Clear Ballistics gel.

5

5pins

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Today I had the opportunity to shoot some Hornady 135gr FTX Critical Duty Into some 10% Clear Ballistics gel. Test pistol was a Sig P229 with a 4-inch barrel. The rounds where shot into two 16 inch blocks of Clear gel stacked back to back for a total of 32 inches.

The chrony didn’t pick up the velocity of the first round shot into the bare gel and it exited out of the side of the gel block at about 15 inches and expanded to .44 inches. The bullet was found on the floor after hitting the rubber backstop. Round two penetrated to 18 inches with a velocity of 977fps and expanded to .44 inches also. I decided to shoot a third round and it stopped at 18.5 inches, expanded to .46 inches with an impact velocity of 997fps.



The first, and only, round fired through heavy clothing completely passed through both gel block and was not recovered. At this point I decided to stop the test and save my gel for testing something else.
 
My 9's like the 135 gr rounds as do I. It 'feels' more like a 45/230 push rather than the 9/115 snap. Easy to get back on target.
 
The Duty is meant for barrier penetration, so I'd expect good penetration. The Critical Defense is supposed to be a more all around defensive bullet. Have said that I do carry Critical Duty in my P-10C.
 
Those recovered bullets remind me of different 147gr loads I've seen tested over the years, fired from both duty & off-duty type pistols.

Consider that the load was developed by Hornady to fall within the FBI criteria for duty ammunition, using the FBI's testing protocols.

Here's the company's testing: http://www.hornadyle.com/products/handgun/critical-duty/135-gr-9mm-luger

The +P version: http://www.hornadyle.com/products/handgun/critical-duty/135-gr-9mm-lugerp

I carry neither load, myself, but if it were issued I'd not lose sleep carrying it.

FWIW, the 115gr Critical defense load: http://www.hornadyle.com/products/handgun/critical-defense/9mm-luger-115-gr-ftx

I only use the FTX bullets in the standard pressure 110gr .38 Spl load (to avoid stressing a pristine 37-2 Airweight), and the 45gr .22 MAG load.

If you're interested, you can download the Hornady Ammunition Test Report & Application Guide here: http://www.hornadyle.com/assets/site/files/Hornady-LE-Military-Application-Guide.pdf
 
Those 135's need more velocity to expand. Try them out of a 4.5 inch or longer barrel.

Yeah, I know that's a full sized gun, but that's what the police usually carry.
 
I like the heaver 9mm bullets and tend to go with the 124-147grn bullets in my guns. The Hornady and the Speer Gold Dots are my go to rounds for self-defense ammo. Thanks for sharing your results with us.
 
I became curious as to what would happen I the polymer plug was removed and if it would change its performance. I fired one shot into a bare Clear gel block at 10 feet. I didn’t set up the chrony but penetration decreased to 15 inches and expansion increased to .52 inches.

 
So I was able to shoot an unplugged round through heavy clothing this morning. It penetrated 16.5 inches. I forgot to measure the expansion but as you can see it opened up ok.

 
5pins-Thanks for posting your test results! Find it interesting these expanding more with the plug removed, and most wouldn't have even thought of trying it.
 
I run the 135grn Hornady through my Kahrs... after looking at your results I may have to give it some thought because the barrels on my pistols aren't even 4". Oddly enough, I clocked it at 1025fps out of my CW9 (3.5") and 930fps out of my CM9 (3"). I used to carry Hornady 147grn Critical Defense until it disappeared off the shelves, and the 135grn Hornady was more accurate than Gold Dots.
 
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