Mag Safe rounds

[lancen]

Hello all, I just joined. I have a pea shooter - Beretta Tomcat which I really like. Plllllease, no long discussions on calibers. I'm interested in comments on the MagSafe rounds. In .32 the stats are very impressive; 1700 pfs and lots of ft/lbs. And guaranteed to fragment in the subject once entered. Seems pretty impressive. Whatdoyouthink?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Dangerfield]

Sounds like you answered your own question. I don't know anything about that round.

Welcome to Defensive Carry The best forum for sharing ideas and experience.

Help us keep this forum great by remembering the Golden Rule: Please treat others as you want to be treated.

I am from Kansas.

[archer51]

Not a fan of fragmentary rounds, but to each their own thing. Welcome from Virginia.

[retsupt99]

from Central Florida!


ret

[Jetfuelrm]

Welcome from Southwest Florida.

[lancen]

I appreciate the comments and will always treat folks as I would want to be treated. Not much in the way of comments on the round, ... but it's early. Wonder why Archer51 is not a fan of frag rounds - the stats are incredibly good ! I'm in central Oregon, BTW.

[Old Chief]

Welcome Aboard and Greetings from Rocky Top Tennessee

[Lnafree]

I bought some fragmenting soft point (RGCD, I think) last year for my .380. Guy had me convinced they were the greatest thing ever. I since noticed that they were 45 grain, unlike my HP, Fmj's being 90-95. After being told by some, that a .380 isn't powerful enough anyway, It has me wondering. I have them staggered in with HP right now. . I'm not downing a .32, on the contrary, that is what I'm trying to get my wife to carry. I just would not completely count on a fragmenting round. I'm no expert on the matter. Just my $.02

Welcome by the way

[lancen]

But guys, these are the test results from MagSafe's 32 rounds: Tough to argue with these stats!
Lance


32 ACP #32X 36-grain X-Load NEW! 36 1,450 + fps/168 ft-lbs in SEECAMP. Really FAST! 21.95 Super Potent in any auto. Now OK with all .32 ACP Pistols
.32 H&R Mag #32HD Defender 50 1,700 f.p.s. /321 21.95

[1MoreGoodGuy]

Welcome from Fort Worth, Texas.

[sensei2]

dear lancen: welcome to the site from another resident of the pacific northwest.


to answer your question about MagSafes: many forum members (most?), favor the FBI standards in defensive ammo, which tout penetration over fragmentation. so MagSafes, Glasers, RBCD, Extreme Shok, and similar rounds are not much in favor here.

i happen to disagree. especially in the lower power rounds, such as your Beretta's, i feel that MagSafes offer about the maximum stopping power possible with today's technology.

the main caveat is that they are light-for-caliber rounds driven much faster than more conventional rounds. this means that the recoil impulse they supply to the pistol's slide is different than the conventional weight rounds for which the gun was designed. so it is VERY important that you fire a few through your Tomcat to make sure that the cartridges will FEED, FIRE, and CYCLE in your gun. at $2-$3 a round, this is not cheap, but it is necessary. otherwise you risk carrying a single-shot pistol. what i do when i'm testing such expensive rounds in my semi-autos is to load the exotic rounds in the chamber, the top round in the magazine, one partway through the mag, and as the last round fired from the mag. these are, IMO, the most likely positions for a round to fail to feed or cycle.

i use MagSafes in my aluminum-frame S&W 642 revolver, which is chambered in .38SPL. i use more conventional JHP's in my more powerful handguns.

so, in a word, i think you've made a good choice, but don't be surprised if many here disagree.

[gasmitty]

Welcome from AZ!

Re the .32 ammo... look beyond external ballistics, and try to find the real-world effectiveness of the round. In the grand scheme of things, you may find that FMJ is more effective than any fragmenting or expanding bullet.

The fundamental problem is that the .32 ACP just doesn't have a lot of poop. So if you're going to carry one - and I do, on occasion - you need to know the cartridge's limitations. Will it penetrate as deeply as a 158 grain .38 Special? Probably not. If the bullet fragments or expands, will it do enough damage to stop a fight? Probably not.

With a lightweight caliber like .32, you are at the threshhold of the "have a gun" argument. The guns are typically small and the bore size is not impressive, so the deterrent value of the gun itself is not impressive compared to a full-size 1911 in .45 or a .357 Colt Python. The .32's effectiveness is pretty much limited to bad-breath distance, and at that, I consider it an "eye socket" gun. What I mean by that is that I won't expect my .32 to slow down or stop a bad guy intent on harming me unless I can get that gun's muzzle in contact with his ear, nose or eye. At that point, the ammo in the gun will make scant difference, but I would opt for the heaviest bullet I can find and FMJ would be my first choice, for the sake of best penetration.

[Ghost1958]

I try to stick with the weight bullet that the platfrom was designed around. Example the SW40ve as far I can document was designed around a 180 gr bullet. Other handguns I use different weights for some of em.
Not that lighter or heavier bullets wont work cuz they will. Just normally I find a particular handgun usually is at its most reliable and accurate using the weight bullet it was built around. JMO though

[VPNAVY]

Welcome aboard from the great state of Pennsylvania!

[GH]

Welcome from Wisconsin!

I can't add any more info on the frags than you already received.