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Old 09-04-2009, 10:14 PM
flop-shank flop-shank is offline
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.60"+ expansion really isn't what you want in a .380 and the above data shows exactly why. While I do like expansion, I don't if it limits adequate penetration. Speer and Hornady's engineers got it right as their JHPs only expand to ~.43" and are designed to stop expanding at that point. They put on the brakes, but only enough to stop the bullet from going into overpenetration. It really looks as if the cats at both companies tweeked expansion just right so that the bullet wouldn't penetrate less than 12" in gelatin. That's impressive in a cheezy, light bullet, low case capacity, low velocity caliber like .380.
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