I have been a fan for years of the Winchester 127 grain +P+ LE Ranger SXT load in 9mm for my G-19, G-26 and G-43. I recently decided to shoot one of the Ranger loads next to a Ruger 9mm ARX through five water jugs for comparison. Both rounds penetrated through two one galloon water jugs and stopped in the third. The Ranger SXT load expanded rather nicely, as it is prone to do and it looks like I could reload the ARX round and shoot it again.
But, where the Ranger load penetrated and blew a hole through the jugs, the ARX load actually split the first jug from top to bottom all the way around. It was almost cut in two even halves save for about an inch of plastic. Very impressive. Those flutes are supposed to cause extreme hydrostatic shock in flesh and I believe it. I want to shoot some critters like groundhogs and such with it before I really jump on the bandwagon, but it does seem to have a lot of merit.
Here is a photo of the two recovered bullets...
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