short barrel bullet weight. heavy or light?

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kevvo

New member
with concealed carry being the new eye of gun manufactures. what is the best combination of velocity and mass out of these short barrel handguns to keep as much of their calibers original performance for a full length barrel 4 inches and up, do you go for the lightest bullets to preserve velocity or do you forget velocity and go for mass to achieve maximum knock down?

let the theories begin
 
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Heavy. The heavier bullet travels slower, and is thus in the barrel longer, giving the powder more time to burn behind it. Also, pick a load advertised for short barrels.

If you reload, use a fast powder, like Clays or Bullseye. Slower powders are still burning when the bullet exits the barrel, and it is wasted.

Heavier bullets with a fast powder may be just as fast as lighter bullets.

(happy 3,000 to me!)
 
My personal rule of thumb

Have been using this guideline since 1977 & it has worked very well:

Short barrels (2" to 3.5") + light bullets + fast burning power = load efficiency (bulls-eye / red dot)

medium barrels (4" to 6") + medium bullets + medium burning power = load efficiency. (unique)

long barrels (6" & over) + heavy bullets + slow burning powder =
load efficiency. (blue dot / 2400)

guru1911
 
Well I'm definitely no expert, but in this month's digital edition of American Handgunner Magazine (called the September/October edition in the email), there was an article about choosing defensive ammo. If I understood correctly, the author (Dave Emory) says that in his opinion, one should seek a middle of the road weight for caliber to use in a short barrel so as to both keep velocity up but also have knock down power/penetration. He brings up that there is also a compromise between expansion and penetration and that out of short barrels, lighter bullets will be much more likely to expand fully/properly but won't penetrate as deeply, while heavier bullets will penetrate more but are less likely to fully expand out of short barrels due to lower velocity. He then leaves it up to the reader to decide whether they would prefer deep penetration or good expansion

However, one should also look carefully at the propellant being used. Several companies are now making short barrel rounds using faster burning powders that can propel heavier bullets better out of short-barreled handguns. With these types of rounds (such as Speer gold dot short barrel or buffalo bore short barrel rounds, just to name a couple of the more well known short barrel offerings), you can get enough velocity with heavier bullets out of a shorter barrel to penetrate more deeply and still expand well.

That's my two cents, but I'm sure that somebody much more knowledgeable than me in both the production of ammo and ballistics will chime in with a more detailed and thorough answer.

EDIT: oops! looks like a couple already did chime in while I was typing and reviewing my post. Serves me right for leaving in the middle for a few minutes.
 
Hmmm...I might have to check out that GD short barrel load for 9mm. I run critical defense in my PF9 under the impression that the short barrel could use the help of the polymer cap to insure exspansion.
 
A heavy for caliber bullet provides more resistance when fired and therefore has less velocity loss accordingly. Since velocity will be lost in a shorter barrel, it's best to use a heavy bullet to help achieve more penetration. This applies to any animal you shoot. A properly constructed, heavy bullet out penetrates lighter, faster bullets of the same caliber. Look up penetration testing by John Linebaugh on the net. It's an eye opener and changes how you look at bullet velocity, calibers and energy!
 
I tend to prefer heavier bullets for short barrels, however I favor POA=POI more than bullet performance so my Colt detective special gets 110gr and my Ruger P97 gets 185gr because they shoot to high with heavy bullets.;)
 
I like heavy bullets, regardless. The shorter the barrel, the more important I think it is that you use a (relatively) heavy bullet. Now that some loads are actually tailored for short barrels, it may not be as important, but most bullets are designed to expand at velocities that are generated in 4"-5" barrels, so if you're shooting them out of a 3" barrel you're not likely to see the desired expansion, so use a heavy bullet to at least help ensure adequate penetration.
 
I have a subcompact Glock, short barrel .45GAP. I use 200 grain Gold Dots mainly because I like to think the shorter barrel could use a faster round. Plus Speer designed the .45GAP so I would think they would know what was best. But I have boxes of 230 grain HST's that I wouldn't hesitate to use if I had to.
 
kevvo

short barrel bullet weight. heavy or light?
with concealed carry being the new eye of gun manufactures. what is the best combination of velocity and mass out of these short barrel handguns to keep as much of their calibers original performance for a full length barrel 4 inches and up, do you go for the lightest bullets to preserve velocity or do you forget velocity and go for mass to achieve maximum knock down?
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I tend to go with heavier bullet weights for a given caliber. I do that to get more reliable penetration. The best accuracy in the world may not stop a threat in a reasonable time, if the bullet fails to destroy enough tissue and cause massive hemorrhaging to cause a threat to stop.

I do not believe that handguns have knock-down power. In fact, defensive handguns are under powered. That is why people are trained to shoot twice to center of mass, assess, and proceed as needed.
 
I do not believe that handguns have knock-down power.
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I agree. A handgun is a hole punch. Make a big hole, hit vitals, stop the threat as soon as possible! A CNS shot is the only thing that will stop a BG immediately. Any other shot may slow them down or impair their ability to hurt you, and eventually possibly kill them through blood loss. Punch a big hole, deep enough to hit the central nervous system. A heavy for caliber bullet is best for that out of a short barrel. If the velocity is not high enough for a hollow point to expand, use a bullet with a broad, flat metplat to cut a hole, not just slide through tissue. That will help with the permanent wound channel, and thus speed up blood volume loss, if you don't take out the CNS.
 
You're not going to gain much velocity going with a smaller bullet, not in a short barrel. Not likely to get much expansion. I figure if I'm not going to get the velocity anyway, might as well go with the heavier bullet, and ensure penetration.
 
It don't make any difference at 10 feet in a real gun fight!
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It can make the difference in life and death if your bullet doesn't reach the CNS and incapacitate the BG right away. If you're carrying for self-defense of any kind, it is absolutely necessary to chose the appropriate round for your caliber, gun and barrel length. Anything is better than nothing, but making a good choice is better than a poor one.
 
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