44 Mag at 1960 FPS

[Retired W4]

I came across this stuff recently, and this 38 Special +P+ moving at 1804. I was told it is not made any more. I have no plans to shoot any of it but my curiosity may get the best of me. It came with a couple other varieties of Magsafe. Anyone have experience with this?

 

[ralph7]

Those bullets are very light for caliber size, probably safe pressures.

 

[pharmer]

Definitely some hot stuff. Joe

 

[colt_saa]

I remember that stuff from years ago. That was one of the first "pre-fragmented" projectiles on the market.

I never shot any of it myself

As I recall the jackets are filled with shot or BBs in a resin

I was always concerned about accuracy because of the possibility of uneven weight distribution in the projectile

 

[Retired W4]

The Magsafe I got came out of an estate. The previous owner had a lot of unusual things. He had a thing for Winchester Silver Tip, among other things. I got a couple Effingham Blackjack knives and some really cool guns.

 

[Retired W4]

I remember that stuff from years ago. That was one of the first "pre-fragmented" projectiles on the market.

I never shot any of it myself

As I recall the jackets are filled with shot or BBs in a resin

I was always concerned about accuracy because of the possibility of uneven weight distribution in the projectile

You can see the resin in the hollow.

 

[Sevens]

Glaser "Safety Slug" was another one of these too.

 

[fishwishin]

I believe this stuff was around in the early-mid '90's. I remember it being marketed pretty heavy when it came out.

 

[Bill Lear]

I came across this stuff recently, and this 38 Special +P+ moving at 1804. I was told it is not made any more. I have no plans to shoot any of it but my curiosity may get the best of me. It came with a couple other varieties of Magsafe. Anyone have experience with this?

I guess I'm showing my age because I remember Magsafe ammo quite well! I remember testing some back in the day but didn't have a chrono to speed test it. The founder of Magsafe, Joe Zambone was killed in a motorcycle crash in 2000 and the ammo went out of production.

It's not at all different from Liberty Ammunition's line of solid copper "cup" projectiles fired at extreme velocities. I clocked Liberty Civil Defense 9mm 50gr. at 2,178fps from a 3.9" Sig P228 and the .45ACP 78gr. clocked 1,948fps from a 5" 1911. Shot the .45 auto from my Colt Defender with no issue, just don't have the recorded speed close to hand.

I've also loaded the Lehigh Defense .451" to 1,576fps as a +P, over 2,013 fps from my Glock .460R with 6.61" barrel, and 1,960fps from the 5.4" Clark .460R barrel.

Such light bullet loads place less stress on the breech face than most standard bullet weight loads, and have surprisingly light recoil. Over on Lucky Gunner you can find gel tests showing the Liberty load which looks to be a good choice for SD based on the radical fragmentation/energy transfer, with the base section penetrating around 9-10" or so in 9mm. The .45 auto version dumps all 594 foot-pounds into the gel in a dramatic explosion before the base comes to rest about 11" in.

Some years back I had the the opportunity to test both Civil Defense and some custom developed pre-fragmented projectiles I loaded in .45 auto. Without going into details, chest area impact resulted in "DRT" performance with both types of rounds. The downside to these ultralight bullets (not Lehigh Defense) is they have very poor sectional density and lose speed quickly and tend to be less accurate, and tend explode on auto glass which could make a difference when it counts.

The Lehigh Defense slugs have proven to deliver excellent penetration though everything - there's a great video on Youtube where Iraqiveteran8888 puts the factory loaded 120gr. through a series of tests and the results nothing less than impressive. The all copper slug is super hard, fluted, and impacted well above the speed of sound at normal handgun distances.
Underwood Ammo .45 ACP Xtreme Defender - YouTube

 

[rockquarry]

No one mentions how well these shoot with regard to accuracy. Anyone have experience?

 

[Narragansett]

No experience, but I used to roll some .355 90 gr stuff in 357 cases. That used to zip right along.

Personally I would not shoot stuff like this unless I made it

 

[30-30remchester]

Reminds me of the time I loaded 110 grain Hornady hollow points in my 357 magnum. I loaded it HOT. Seeing a marmot that had been raiding our garden, I shot it at mere feet away. At the shot, it died. Upon investigating I discovered that the bullet had mushroomed perfectly but had failed to exit a 3-pound marmot.