Ok, admittedly this was not exactly a scientific test, but it wasn’t exactly done off of the cuff either.

I was testing for penetration, expansion and “damage†by 3 rounds that I have in my personal inventory.

Using a Kimber TLE II in .45acp I fired four different kinds of ammunition into a stack of news papers, (undelivered USA Todays still bound in their wrapping) at a range of 7yds.

My control was standard 230gr military ball ammo FMJ.

The first tested round was the Winchester Ranger SXT controlled expansion in 230gr. This is basically the old “black talon†ammo with more politically correct name.

Second, was Winchester 185gr. FMJE + P Truncated Cone (Q4310 if you want to look it up). This is not an expansion round by any means. It is supposed to be a deep penetration round and I have used it to kill hogs on several occasions because of its penetration.

Third was MagSafe 68gr Super Swat http://www.magsafeonline.com/prices_specs.jsp
This is Pre-fragmented Safety Ammunition.

What I found was that the SXT or Black Talon held most of its weight but the “petals†did not expand in the classic mushroom form that you might see in advertisements.

The Winchester Ranger FMJE did a pretty good job of penetration. Basically making a hole as it is designed to do.

However, my question involves the 3rd round tested. The MagSafe penetrated deeper than even the truncated cone FMJ and did more damage than the Winchester SXT (black talon). The “wound chanel†was quite large as compared to theâ€black talon†or the FMJ rounds.
It did not, however, fragment. It stayed in one piece just like the FMJ control round or the Winchester Truncated cone round.
The round fed well and the recoil was almost non-existent but it did not “mushroom†or fragment in any way. Can you give me feed back on this? I have kids in the house and over penetration is a concern should I ever have to use my weapon.

Again, I realize that this was not done in a lab with gelatin and none of the bullets hit anything like bone or body tissue but it was an honest field test without any personal bias one way or the other towards any type of ammunition.

Ryan, I think you answered your own question ie. the test material used. This is an interesting point however, because if your MagSafe missed the target and hit drywall instead, it may not fragment but rather act like an FMJ. I believe that this may already have been reported somewhere.
Peter.

Yep. Dry newsprint will probably not expand a JHP properly. If you soak the paper in water and try again you should see much different results.

I have some discontinued Speer 200gr JHP known as the flying ash can or dixie cup that I've loaded in my 45 lc & 45acp brass.This was the favored bullet of the LASO.I gave a hundred of them to a ret le friend to load in his 45acp brass