[Kentucky]

Ran a small test on 2 diff. .40 cal. S&W cartridges this eve and got some (I thought) wierd results. I set up an old computer manual ie 'The Macintosh Bible" , a 2-1/2" thick large paper back and fired my two 40 S&W's from my Bersa Firestorm into it from 20ft away. The 2 cartridges were a Federal Hydra Shok JHP 135 gr. and Winchester white box FMJ 165 gr. Much to my surprise, the Fed. Hydra Shok went completely through the book and buried somewhere into the ground while the Win. full metal jacket only penetrated 1-3/4" and even more surprising, it even 'mushroomed' approx. 10-20%similar to a hollow pt. !!!!! These 2 bullets seemed to act exactly opposite of what you would think to be !?!!
Can't figure out why except that the Fed. might be a much 'hotter' load than the Win. and also it , being a lighter grain bullet, had much more velocity and therefore penetration ?? Any comments??
Thanks

 

[HollowpointHank]

That does seem strange. When reading about guns being tested, I see that sometimes the heavier loads that you would think would travel faster, actually go slower. I can't make sense of some of these things!

 

[uudl]

Allthough I have never chronographed the Federal load I would expect the Federal Hydra Shock to be quite a bit hotter. I have Chrongraphed the WWB 165 gr FMJ load at 1022 FPS out of a 4" barrel which is about the mildest factory load for this weight of bullet I have Chronographed. The only way I could explain the slight mushrooming of the FMJ is that it must have a very thin jacket. I have chronographed other brands of 135 gr ammo and the velocity is usually up about 1300 FPS or more.

 

[P95Carry]

Assuming the book was dry then - a JHP would not achieve any expansion for hydraulic reasons and - it is obviously hot enough to just penetrate. Even maybe the ''cookie-cutter'' aspect could have helped it drill thru.

The FMJ certainly as uudl said - could have a pretty thin jacket and once it impacted, upset could have been rapid and so once lead core exposed at all - it mushroomed - purely for reasons of distortion.

A seemingly odd result but on reflection maybe not too surprising.

 

[rocky]

I would guess the Hydra shock would be loaded "hotter" , and with a lighter bullet would have a higher velocity.

 

[Kentucky]

Assuming the book was dry then - a JHP would not achieve any expansion for hydraulic reasons

The book was dry but i would'a thought that the Fed. would have filled with enough paper to expand it but like the bullet is called.." Hydra Shok", it probably like you said needed a "Hydraulic " aspect to perform. One other thing, The boxes of WWB .40 S&W's I have bought for the past year or so (Walmart) , were FMJ's that look as if they are BRASS jacketed or at least plated ? rather than copper and the box I just bought yesterday, for the first time, were definitely copper jacketed. The jacket was fairly thick as where it split soom after mushrooming, it was thick enough where I couldn't 'peel' it any with my thumb nail !
Thanks for the inputs guys !!!!!