Ballistic Gel Tests

[JohnR]

I put Magguts in both my Shield 9mm mags, no problems at all.

[S. Roche]

Thanks Muggsy. 124 gr. HST feed flawlessly in both my Sigs and from the information you provided perform well enough. No need for change here

[CPTKILLER]

Always useful.

[kwh]

I know this is partly off-topic. Nothing is ever simple particularly when you change more than one variable at a time. In addition to trying Hornady Critical Defense FTX I decided to try Magguts parts in a magazine again. I removed them some time ago due to problems, FTFs and slide locking open with rounds still in the mag. Well, not willing to run an extended test that burned thru a bunch of expensive defense ammo, I have just removed them again.

The very first Magguts magazine with the Hornady Critical Defense FTX had three light strike misfires. Numerous Forum posts about light strikes (not Magguts associated) indicate one problem can be interference between the bottom of the striker and the top round in the magazine. Anyway, based on a very small sample, I am guessing Magguts must be associated with interference not experienced with the standard Kahr magazine. All the Hornady's fired and fed without a problem from the stock magazine. Also, I have never had light strikes with any ammo before.

I did a lot of reading about Magguts before I ever bought them. Seemed too good to be true. But most users seem very satisfied. Guess my gun is an exception.

Thanks for the post.

[muggsy]

One thing to remember with these gel tests is that human flesh doesn't tear like ballistic gel. Human flesh stretches. Those massive temporary wound channels that you see in gel tests amount to no more than bruised human flesh in real life. You need penetration to reach vital organs and over penetration is preferable to under penetration.

[Barth]

That was interesting, my 230 gr .45 Hydra Shoks sure didn't expand much, and penetrated deeper than I might want, acting more like FMJ than a HP.
Thanks for posting, I am going to have to reconsider my choice of ammo for my CM45.

Before High Tech bullets, 230 gr Hydra Shoks were the Gold Standard (out of a 5" barrel).
I still believe it's a good round from a full 5" barrel.
But times have changed and there is much better ammo available that performs well from shorter barrels.
My recommendation is Federals HST 230 gr +P.
It's a thumper and performs well in tests I've seen.
It's my go to carry round in HK USPT45 and HK45c.