WWB Hollow Points?

H

Hunley

New member
Let the flame war begin, lol.

I went to Wal-Mart today to see if they had any .45 ACP. They had one 50 round box of Remington UMC 230 FMJ and what I thought was 100 rounds of WWB 230 FMJ... It isn't. They are 230gr. JHPs. I thought $40 was high for FMJ, but you pay about the same for FMJ at the gun store. (That's if you can find them!) And before anyone says "hoarder", I bought both boxes since I'm getting some work done on my 1911 next week and will need to test it for feeding.

My question is this: Does anyone have any experience or know of any real testing with these rounds? How is the expansion? They look pretty solid, and I've never had a failure to fire with WWB ammo. I'd be interested to see how they stack up against something like a HST or Gold Dot.


EDIT: Also wondering about Remington UMC HPs since I got a box of those in 9mm.
 
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I've never seen them, but that's verrrry interesting. Since the FMJs have always been pretty good practice ammo, wouldn't it be nice to find that the HPs were insanely accurate with perfect expansion?:D;)
 
I was just wondering the same thing (Thanks for asking for me!:D)

It's ALL I can find for my .357 Sig and although I am using it, I wonder if they expand very good.

I'd like some Hydra-shok's or something, but all that's around here is WWB JHP and I won't pay scalper prices.

Edit PS:
I just made sure my .357 Sig (Sig 226) was shooting on this afternoon and shot a 6 shot group with it. 2 1/2" at 25 yards. A little large, but I would say I group on average 2X larger than the gun/ammo combo is capable of.
 
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I shot a 100rds WWB HP's out of my 9mm, because a buddy of mine spilled water on the boxes and didnt trust them anymore, so I got them free:D I really can't tell any difference between them and the WWB FMJ's They shoot fine and feed fine. But I would still rather stick to my Gold Dots for HD, and carry.
 
WWB JHP's look very similar to Silvertips to me (main difference being copper jacket vs. aluminum). If that's the case, they probably won't perform as well as newer JHP designs like HST's or Gold Dots. However, one of the nice things about a .45 ACP is that even the less than ideal JHP's still seem to be pretty good. While I would prefer a more modern design (I use HST's in my .45 and Ranger SXT's in my 9mm), I wouldn't feel too bad about using WWB JHP's as a carry load if that all that was available or all I could afford. They're still much better than FMJ.
 
The white box 110gr 357 JHP has a decent rep as a fighting round. Not sure about the rest, but I will say it's a lot harder to screw up a 45ACP than it is a more marginal caliber like 38Spl, esp. from a snub.

In 38Spl I'm REAL picky about my ammo. A 45 is, worst case, still a 45 :).
 
Not sure about the rest, but I will say it's a lot harder to screw up a 45ACP than it is a more marginal caliber like 38Spl, esp. from a snub.

In 38Spl I'm REAL picky about my ammo. A 45 is, worst case, still a 45 .
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I agree with this.

.45ACP is the only FMJ round that I'd feel semi-comfortable using in a defensive situation.

So, even if your WWB JHP doesn't expand one iota, you are still throwing a 230g projectile that will make a 1/2" hole in the target.
 
I carry Winchester WWB JHP 230gr "Personal Protection" in my S&W Commander when I carry it. I'm sure it won't perform as good as some high-end JHP's but it runs 100% in my gun with is the most important thing to me. Haven't bought any in a while so this prolly isn't true anymore but it used to be cheap enough that I could practice with it also which was nice.
 
.45 wwb jhp

My Walmart had 50 count of these for $28...Michigan (only one box left). Are you saying that you paid $40?
 
I've bought lots of WWB JHP in 45 acp, 40 s&w, 357 sig and 9mm. They are as accurate as WWB FMJ. For testing function with JHP I think that they are great. I wouldn't hesitate to rely on them, as I know they feed perfectly fine in all of my pistols and I can shoot them accurately.

I couldn't really speak toward how far they penetrated, but I have put a few of the rounds through a couple of inches of wood and found major jacket separation. I think I kept a couple of the rounds I found somewhere, so will see if I can find pictures. The expansion was very deformed - no petals at all. The case separated from the lead on much of the front of the round, and there was some case loss (as what was left attached towards the rear was badly bent and probably at 60%).

They definitely don't look as pretty as HST or Gold dots. Although, they run perfectly well for me, are a heck of a lot cheaper and (used to be) much more available. As I said above, I wouldn't hesitate to carry them but I also wouldn't claim that there isn't better technology available.
 
I bought some this am and shoot them better than the four other brands of range ammo I had. If I can keep them in supply, I will likely keep shooting them for practice. I am also keeping them in my pistol for daily carry for right now. I will likely upgrade in the near future, but for now it's all I got other than ball ammo.
 
In 38Spl I'm REAL picky about my ammo. A 45 is, worst case, still a 45 .
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I fall into this camp as well. In all of my .38's you will find the remington 158gr LHP +P (FBI load). In my SIG P220 I carry doubletap 230gr gold dots...but I have LOTS of fiocchi 230gr jhps stashed away!
 
Sorry folks, but I buy up the cheapest .45acp I can find. I'll test a box first before I keep mags full of them and on stand-by....If it goes BANG and I hit my target...then it's good enough. If it feeds ok and ejects ok then it passed the test. The bad guy can't tell what I paid for it.
 
I was able to turn up one of the rounds I recovered. Here's a before of a round of 45ACP WWB JHP:

img5292.jpg


Here are a few of pictures of a round I put through a few inches of wood:

img5290.jpg


img5291.jpg


img5295.jpg


Notice little expansion in diameter with some severe case separation. The lead was pretty bare and didn't even deform outward to increase diameter. There are a couple of splinters that got into the cavity, but I don't think they prevented expansion.

The lack of expansion is especially pronounced in this picture.
img5294.jpg


Even moreso when compared to what the Federal premium HST is supposed to look like:

9-hst.jpg


Granted, the HST was likely shot into water or gelatin, and wood may be a poor test for the expansion of a JHP round, but it's all I had available.


Ultimately, I feel comfortable with the rounds, as they feed properly and hit my point of aim. They're slightly better performing SD rounds than ball ammo, but don't offer the performance of newer technology premium SD rounds. They are, however, available at a price point that you may actually practice with, which is very useful. Hope this has been helpful.
 
Granted, the HST was likely shot into water or gelatin, and wood may be a poor test for the expansion of a JHP round, but it's all I had available.
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Bingo. Hollow points are made to expand once the tip impacts a soft material which fills the cavity under pressure and expands them outward. Wood doesn't do that so much.

I'm willing to bet an HST would look similar when shot into wood.
 
Unfortunately I don't have any pics, but in backyard testing I found that the .45 WWB jhp penetrated 4 1 gallon jugs of water and expanded to .667 with no fragmentation. That's good enough for me.

I use these as my carry load in my Ruger P345 for self defense and sometimes as back up to my rifle when hog hunting. I feel like they will do their job as long as I do mine.
 
My question is this: Does anyone have any experience or know of any real testing with these rounds? How is the expansion? They look pretty solid, and I've never had a failure to fire with WWB ammo. I'd be interested to see how they stack up against something like a HST or Gold Dot.
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Testing I've seen indicates they aren't bad for the obsolete bullet technology that they represent. Probably not a good short bbl. load.

Since ammo technology has moved on, so have I. Not saying you're one of them, but there are folks out there who buy quality firearms and equipment, hang out on gun forums where the issue of SD is discussed at great length, and then want to know what the best "cheap" ammo is.

WWB is great for stocking up on 'cause you never know, but for carry, there's Golden Saber, Gold Dot, DPX, and a few more that represent better bullets--including SXT by Winchester.
 
When you say testing are you or do you want to test for expansion or feeding? Feeding is easy fire a few rounds :D.

Expansion testing can be more difficult. It can be done a number of ways, ideally the best is ballastic gelatin, that is or can be expansive. The way I have tested in the past was to use quart bags of water in a wooden frame and 3 to 4 feet long. This will give you a pretty good idea of expansion as well as penetration. It will also do it a Whole Lot CHEAPER than ballastic gellatin.

Best of luck on your testing.
 
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