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Ammunition

Hornady Critical Defense Ammunition: “Purpose Built for Concealed Carry Guns”

Hornady Manufacturing recently announced a new line of personal protection ammunition: Critical Defense. The Critical Defense line of ammo is specially designed for small, compact firearms frequently carried concealed for self-defense.

The Critical Defense ammunition features a hollow point bullet the same style of “Flex Tip” polymer tip that Hornady uses in the LEVERevolution line of ammunition. The tip prevents the hollowpoint from being plugged with clothing and helps ensure expansion. Because of the Flex Tip technology, Hornady claims to achieve “100% reliable expansion every single time.” Subsequent gel testing by independent parties seems to support this claim.

Hornady Critical Defense 357 Magnum Review

The new Hornady ammo is not designed to meet the FBI test protocols used by some law enforcement agencies when choosing ammunition. Rather, Critical Defense ammunition is designed to operate in small, concealed carry guns against clothed attackers–not through steel and glass as required by the FBI testing. For ammo that meets FBI protocols, scroll down this page for information on the company’s new Critical Duty line of ammo.

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Ammunition

Wolf Ammo Ban Does Not Exist!

wolf ammo 223 spamcan
wolf ammo 223 spamcan

During the past few days, there has been a firestorm of questions and panic on the Internet forums regarding the US government banning all Wolf ammo from being imported into the United States. A lot of the information thrown out there is incorrect. To make it perfectly clear:

The US government ban on Rosoboronexport does not apply to the consumer importation of Wolf-branded ammunition.

Here is what is going on…

On August 4, 2006, the U.S. Department of State announced sanctions against Rosoboronexport, because the Russian government, who controls Rosoboronexport, violated the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000. In December 2006, the ban was confirmed and extended two years. The ban prohibited the United States government, not its citizens, from doing business with Rosoboronexport.

On October 23, 2008, the U.S. government announced a new two-year ban that prohibits itself from doing business with Rosoboronexport. This ban relates to Russia selling anti-air missiles to Iran, presumably to defend against air-raids on the Iranian nuclear programs. The new ban is, in effect, simply an extension of the old ban that is set to expire in December 2008. Again, this ban only prohibits agencies of the U.S. government from doing business with Rosoboronexport.

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Ammunition

Federal Nyclad Ammunition in .38 Special to be Reintroduced at 2009 SHOT Show

Federal Premium Ammunition will be re-introducing the Nyclad in .38 Special at the 2009 SHOT Show according to the folks at the Pro Arms Podcast. During a show on “snub nosed” revolvers, one of the participants made the announcement.

federal_nyclad_38

The Nyclad line of ammunition was developed several decades ago and became popular as one of Federal’s self-defense lines of cartridges. The .38 Special self-defense load was a 125 grain, standard pressure round that featured a soft-lead bullet with a very deep hollow point. The bullet was coated in a jacket of polymer, similar to nylon, that allowed the bullet to reliably expand all even low velocities.

Many experts feel the 125 grain Nyclad hollow point was the best standard pressure cartridge loaded for the .38 Special. It offered excellent expansion with a relatively light recoil in even the lightest of revolver frames. My own informal testing seemed good out of a model 642 Smith and Wesson (1 7/8″ barrel), and Evan Marshall’s research tended to show good results in the street.

Until Federal confirms or denies this information, it is merely a juicy rumor at this point. I have seen a lot of people snap up the remaining old-stock of Nyclad whenever it has shown up at AmmoMan and other places. I suspect it will sell very well if re-introduced.

Update

Update: Federal did re-introduce the Nyclad. Scroll down for additional information from the SHOT Show.

The re-introduced Nyclad is a .38 Special load that uses a 125 grain hollow point bullet. The load is rated at 830 fps, which is in line with the original Nyclad load. Federal designed this load for reliable expansion at low velocity. While it would not be my first choice for personal protection, it is a great choice for anyone who carries a .38 and needs a low recoil load due to injury or infirmity.

Check out this video showing how well this load performs in gel through the denim test.

Report from the SHOT Show

Federal Premium Ammunition re-introduced the Nyclad in .38 Special at the 2009 SHOT Show. Available only in .38 Special, the Nyclad round is a standard-pressure, self-defense load with a nylon clad 125 grain soft lead hollow point. The nylon coating allows the bullet to reliably expand at low velocities, unlike traditional copper jacketed hollow points which normally require faster velocities in the .355-.357 bullet size range.

The .38 Special loading pushes the 125 grain hollow point at 830 fps for a muzzle energy of 191 ft-lbs. While this may not seem like a real “manstopper,” keep in mind that the Nyclad proved to be excellent in its class. For a firearm not designed to handle +P pressures, or for someone that is especially recoil sensitive (such as someone who is arthritic), this is a mild recoiling cartridge that will reliably expand.

The Nyclad line of ammunition was developed several decades ago and made its way into one of Federal’s self defense lines of cartridges. The original .38 Special self defense load was a 125 grain, standard pressure round that featured a soft-lead bullet with a very deep hollow point. It appears that the new Nyclad ammunition will be a close copy of the original.

Many experts feel the 125 grain Nyclad hollow point was the best standard pressure cartridge loaded for the .38 Special. It offered excellent expansion with a relatively light recoil in even the lightest of revolver frames.

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Ammunition

Ruger LCP Ammo

Need some Ruger LCP ammo? According to Michael Bane’s blog, a major ammunition manufacturer will bring a new .380 loading to the market that is specifically designed for the Ruger LCP. This is exciting, as two current problems exist with the current crop of ammunition and the LCP.

The first problem is the .380 ACP cartridge is an underpowered chambering. Generally, the .380 loads are weaker than what is available for the .38 Special. For self-defense, you need all the bang you can get.

The second problem is I have been getting some reports that the LCP is ammunition sensitive. Some popular cartridges are not feeding properly. This, of course, is a HUGE problem if it extends to the entire line of LCP’s and not just a few examples. One of the reports was posted as feedback here (scroll all the way down).

Time will tell who brings what to the market. However, Bane has a lot of good contacts and I expect this information is very reliable. I expect we will see a variety of Ruger LCP ammo loads in the near future.

There are a number of smaller ammunition manufacturers who are producing .380 ACP ammo and I imagine they are testing the loads in the LCP.  They might not market the loads as “Ruger LCP ammo,” but I suspect that they are definitely testing it since it is such a popular handgun.  After all, if your ammo doesn’t work in one of the most popular concealed carry pistols, why would anyone buy it?

Update – November 2008: Hornady has introduced a new line of ammunition: Critical Defense. The Hornady Critical Defense ammunition is designed for self-defense from small handguns like the Ruger LCP. I’m not sure this is the ammunition that Bane was hinting at, but it certainly fits. More information about the Critical Defense ammo can be found here.

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Ammunition

New Fusion Sabot Slug for 20 Gauge Shotgun

Fusion, a division of ATK, introduced a new deer hunting load in 20-gauge. The new cartridge is a 3/4 ounce slug in a 2 3/4″ shell. At the muzzle, the slug is running 1600 fps for 1864 foot-pounds of energy, making this a very potent load for the 20-gauge hunters.

The 20 gauge Fusion features:

  • Copper jacket is electro-chemically applied to the core through a sophisticated and
    refined molecular application technique;
  • Formed under consistent pressure for complete dimensional control and slug integrity;
  • Perfectly uniform jacket;
  • Skived, pre-programmed nose provides consistent expansion; and
  • Maximum weight retention for deep penetration.

With more than 1800 ft-lbs of energy, this slug will penetrate deep and deliver a knock-out blow to humanely kill the animal. The benefit to the hunter is this shell will give you less of a pounding than a 12 gauge load. This load is a good 50-100 yard shell depending on your gun and abilities.

I would expect that this load would also make a good self-defense round. What will take a deer, will also put an armed attacker down as well. Just make sure you hit your target, because that 3/4 ounce slug will pop straight through a sheetrock wall like a hot knife through butter.

Fusion branded ammo is made by Federal and is situated to be very good quality ammunition but at reasonable prices. The Fusion line is not a “budget” or “cheap” line of ammo. Instead, it is priced to be a step below the top premium rounds, but still above the cheap lines like American Eagle. The Fusion line will provide very good performance, and will likely fill the needs of all but the pickiest of hunters.

Update

Federal Premium eliminated the 3/4 oz slug from the Fusion line of 20 gauge ammo. A similar load can still be had in the Federal PowerShok line, but not in the Fusion line.

As a replacement, Federal now offers a pair of 7/8 ounce Fusion Sabot Slugs: one as a 2 3/4″ shell, and the other as a 3″ shell. They run 1450 fps and 1550 fps respectively. Both are suitable for taking deer to the 100-125 yard range.