Federal Guard Dog Ammunition Video

Federal introduced the Expanding Full Metal Jacket (EFMJ) a few years back, and those rounds have been fairly well received.  More recently, the company introduced the Guard Dog line of personal defense ammunition, which uses similar technology.

The design concept is to achieve an expanding bullet without using a traditional hollow point.  In some pistols, a hollow point bullet design doesn’t reliably feed.  Even more, people run into the problem of hollow-point ammunition not being legal in some places (like the entire state of New Jersey).  Another problem with traditional hollow points is that material can plug the hollow point and prevent expansion.

The Federal Guard Dog ammunition uses a polymer core and a full metal jacket.  When the nose of the bullet strikes the target, the polymer core “gives way” and the bullet flattens.  As the bullet flattens, it expands, creating a larger wound channel, which will hopefully incapacitate an attacker more quickly.

In the above video, Aaron caught up with the folks at Federal for a run down on the ammo loads and a look at how the bullet expands.

In the following video, Mike Holm gives us a rundown of the ammo from the SHOT Show, albeit with better audio:

 

The rounds are currently available in 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. The bullets are all relatively light for the caliber:

• 9mm 105 gr @ 1230 fps
• .40 S&W 135 gr @ 1200 fps
• .45 ACP 165 gr @ 1140 fps

According to Federal, the lightweight design combined with the relatively fast velocities help the bullet to deform quickly. When encountering a barrier – such as wallboard – the bullet tends to penetrate much less than conventional hollow point designs. While this may not be ideal for a law enforcement officer, this could be a very good option for a citizen who is shooting inside his own residence.

Update – The National Rifle Association awarded Federal with a Golden Bullseye Award for Ammunition Product of the Year in recognition of this line of ammunition.