Ron Reed's Serious PD Ammo

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Ron Reed builds some serious ammo.

.38 Special 158g Man Stopper
The Man Stopper bullet is full caliber wide open hollow point design specifically for self defense applications. It features a modified flat base for accuracy due to the 90 degree base and superior flight characteristics. It's full caliber hollow point face begins expansion immediately upon contact and the interior button creates tissue upset to ensure maximum energy transfer as well as prevent clogging from material.

(And they're standard pressure for alloy frames.)

DSCN4013-1.jpg
 
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How would something shaped like that go thru winter clothing?
 
Looks a lot like an amalgamation of several versions of the earlier designs that became Hydra-Shok. I like its wicked look. Even if it does not expand, if the bullets will stabilize, it ought to work like the now-discontinued Safe-Stop ammo, which was designed by Jim Cirillo. Winter clothing? I'd think there would be nothing about which to worry, unless the clothing contained layers of Aramid fiber or Kevlar. I look forward to an opportunity to test some.
 
Its a proven design with the stud in the center of the hollow point. An ammo manufacture did this many years ago and put mercury i believe behind the stud so the bullet would actually explode on impact. At this time i witnessed many local leo's purchasing this ammo too again it was many years ago. I have jjust 6 rds left of this special ammo from that time.

Ron has a good handle on it and knows what a bad guy/man stopper really is.
 
Just ordered two boxes of .38s and a box of .357, all in 158gr. flavor. Will try to remember to report back after I've tested them as to velocity, consistency and expansion.
 
Its hogwash....1960's technology at the best. Big deal back then was a 148 HBWC loaded head first...but of course it didnt have that cutsy HEX shaped cavity or that post inside it....geeze. Accuracy is great too....with a snubnose if a perp had you down on the floor...shoot him in the belly and ya might get him in the throat!

If ammo such as that was what I HAD to stake MY life on....Id carry a ballbat instead.
 
In the 70's i did some ballastics testing in wet sand with my reloads. This was when i reloaded for the very first time and i didn't trust my reloads yet because i knew nothing about there performance. With Reed's jacket going to the edge is a great idea. In my testing the lead becomes a fine light gray powder while the jacket turns into a piece of jagged shrapnel. With reed's bullets the way they are manufactured/designed i think the bullet turning into a piece of shrapnel will happen much sooner then my tests did in the wet sand. My JHP's did turn into shrapnel but much farther into the sand. I think reeds bullets will open up right away and perform awesome at being man stoppers. I'm interetsed in them too. Don't underestimate the hex jacketed stud points there not ice cream scoopers there flesh /meat scoopers. It has to make a really ugly wound too i'm sure. Bill
 
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I would like to see a video comparing the regular jacketed bullets and this Reed man stopper using gallon jugs filled with water. I'm sure already which one will perform better but seeing it in a video would convince the skeptics i'm sure. Bill
 
Planning on testing them in the "boxotruth" soon.

After spending some time looking at the other ammo Reed builds, I'm going to bet that his manstopper rounds will work well.

But time will tell, and until then I'm still carrying my Barnes DPX'ers.
 
Sully said:
Its hogwash....1960's technology at the best. Big deal back then was a 148 HBWC loaded head first...but of course it didnt have that cutsy HEX shaped cavity or that post inside it....geeze. Accuracy is great too....with a snubnose if a perp had you down on the floor...shoot him in the belly and ya might get him in the throat!

If ammo such as that was what I HAD to stake MY life on....Id carry a ballbat instead.
Click to expand...
Base-first HBWCs did tend to keyhole sometimes, but when they did not, their accuracy was typically quite good, and when they impacted nose-first, they pretty much always expanded. Don't know about the hexagonal shape of the cavity, but one of the things that the central post did, in the early development of the Hydra-Shok, was help eliminate the propensity to keyhole. Its effect on expansion has been debated, and falsely denied by some, but hard proof shows that it works. (There was a lawsuit about that once, wherein a prominent expert was shown to have falsified data.) These may look like "old technology," and they might not work well at all, but until I test them, I'll not discount them or switch from my JHPs to a baseball bat. Jim Cirillo proposed sharp-edged full wadcutters as good self-defense loads back in the mid-70s, and he shot lots more people than anyone I know, so I'll not be too quick to discount older ideas.
 
This looks like a very good idea. It's about time we saw some more 200 gr. .357 Magnum loads. I just hope the exposed part of the bullet is slightly tapered. Full caliber bullets that stick out this far won't chamber in many of my revolvers.

Dave Sinko
 
Here's my post from our private forum:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Funny you should ask, guys. I received two boxes of the .38/158 loads Friday, and did a little testing yesterday, using my once-Erich's 37-2. Here are my findings and impressions:

They shipped FAST. The packaging sucks, and 50% of all the rounds were floating around loose in the boxes when they got here. Nonetheless, the rounds were undamaged, and the ammo looks good, with consistent, proper crimps.

The bullets begin to engage the leades, and required a little push to seat them in the chambers. I shot three rounds over the chrono:

Avg. 610.3 fps.
ES 17.1 fps.
SD 7.9 fps.

As one would expect from the SLOW readings, recoil was negligible. This particular gun runs Speer 135gr. Short Barrel +Ps at about 830fps., which is significantly slower than some of my Js, but I was surprised at just how slow the Reed ammo ran.

I set up some water-filled plastic jugs and shot them. It penetrated one 1/2 gallon jug and then two 1 gallon jugs, striking a stump I had behind the second gallon jug and falling to the ground. Other than a minor ding where it hit the stump, the only change in the appearance of the bullet was the rifling marks. Zero expansion.

I did not check accuracy, but the round that struck the water jugs hit nose-on and penetrated in a straight line through the jugs.

Conclusion: Consistent ammo, may be good for those with little recoil tolerance, or in longer barrels, but I'll not be carrying it in my snubbies.

If I remember my camera tomorrow, I'll post some pics.
 
that was kind of disapointing to hear I ordered two boxes of the 38 and 1 box of the 200 gr 357 mag.

Pete
 
Here are a couple of pics of the bullet I shot into water jugs. I erred when I said "zero expansion." Actually, there was a teeny, tiny bit of expansion, which I did not bother to measure. In fairness, it did cut at least a full-caliber hole, and I deem the penetration to be adequate, at least if we disregard the possibility of heavy winter clothing.

P1030332.jpg

P1030330.jpg
 
Thanks for posting this info.

I'm still carrying with CorBon Barnes' and look forward to testing Ron's .38 SPL loads as soon as I can.
 
Not to be a dooms-day kinda guy, but I sure hope that you don't have to do a combat re-load with these. I bet that they are tough to speed load.

I would be curious to hear reports on this from the Gents who have already ordered.
 
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