Lehigh Defense

[Florida J Frame]

I'm usually not a fan of the boutique ammo that is advertised to make your pocket pistol into a .45 but Lehigh Defense is getting some good reviews. The penetration in the "Shooting the Bull" test showed the .380 to be the equal of most 9mm SD rounds. Has anyone here done any tests?

[BE Mike]

That ammo is too expensive to do any testing and besides, I don't want to mess with ballistic gelatin, etc. I was convinced by a few tests on the Military Arms Channel to start carrying it in my Kahr CM9 and wife's Taurus TCP pistol. We are using the Underwood Xtreme Defender (non +P) rounds. Of course, I did check for function and accuracy before we switched.

[V0OBWxZS16]

The idea of a fluted bullet is an old one and has never been proven to work as claimed. The PolyCase ARX, LeHigh, Devel (1991), THV (early 1980s), and similar designs all trade permanent cavity for temporary cavity which is not a significant wounding effect at pistol velocities.

ShootingTheBull410 misinterpreted the gel results for that test. Usually he correctly ignores the temporary cavity for pistol rounds.

Before asking "What ammo should I use?" you should ask "What should ammo do, what shouldn't it do, and how is it tested?" I recommend the following:
Handgun Wounding Factors and Effectiveness by the Firearms Training Unit of the FBI
Basic Wound Ballistic Terminal Performance Facts by Dr. Roberts (DocGKR)
Ordnance gelatin test assessment for rifle and pistol calibers by Dr. Roberts (DocGKR)
What's Wrong With The Wound Ballistics Literature And Why by Dr. Fackler

For specific recommendations I start here:
Service Caliber Handgun Duty and Self-Defense Ammo by Dr. Roberts (DocGKR)