Hey all any opinions on Norma’s monolithic hollow point line of ammunition? Is it a viable self defense load, or should one stick with the “ proven” Gold Dots etc?

It's an NRA Golden Bullseye winner. It must be good!

quote:

Originally posted by clayflingythingy:
It's an NRA Golden Bullseye winner. It must be good!

I think you forgot the

This certainly does not qualify it as anything other than having paid the toll for advertising.

Garand Thumb did a decent test with it and it did not perform terribly well. HST or Gold Dot.

MikeNH, a hyper link, please, sir?

The test shown in the video linked by RichardC didn’t do the ammunition any favors.

If one were really enamored of the ammunition it would be wise to find other tests. The most common flaw in testing documented in YouTube videos is the almost universal very small sample sizes. I once saw a Hornady 9mm Critical Duty load fail to expand and penetrate completely through a 16 inch block of actual ballistic test gelatin. Although that test result wasn’t worthless, it was hardly representative of the performance of many other similar bullets. If, however, that was the only test result I had available to evaluate, then I might have concluded that the ammunition was hardly what I should select for defensive purposes.

Even with the very small sample size of the test shots in the above video, though, we can be sure of a few things that occur at least sometimes with the ammo.

The first is that its average velocity of about 1200 feet per second is far less than the claimed 1300+. That plus the lighter-than-usual weight of 108 grains means its kinetic energy is also significantly less than that of a number of conventional 9mm +P loads. That means that even if it expands reliably, it doesn’t deliver the energy to the target that others do.

The next thing is that when the bullets expand, they may not penetrate very far as compared with conventional bullets. That may not matter, but again it’s something we don’t have to accept in a self-defense loading.

Then there was the abysmal performance of the bullet when fired through clothing cloth. Again, a sample of one that may not be typical, and poking a hole through the target is the most important thing, but if we want expansion after passage through heavy clothing, there are many other loads that deliver it pretty consistently.

In short, I see no special advantage to the ammunition, and some disadvantages.

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
MikeNH, a hyper link, please, sir?

Ugh I meant to go back and add this before. Sorry!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24yz0OzVlE4

He's a bit goofy with some of the antics but the test is solid enough. If nothing else he is pretty funny.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeNH:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24yz0OzVlE4

It would have been useful to see the recovered Norma bullets, and I wonder why they weren’t shown.
For anyone who is interested in only the Norma test, it starts about 24:00.