I ran across this report and thought I'd share.
Hopefully it hasn't been posted before but I found it informative...

https://www.luckygunner.com/la...mmo-ballistic-tests/

I used that a while back to purchase .38 +P ammo for my carry pistol...exceptionally informative and well done. Should be an Internet sticky...

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This has been posted before, and I'm glad you posted it again because I had forgotten about it and I found new loads since I last reviewed it.

An important aspect of ammo testing is the barrel length. Most of the handguns used during ammo testing by the Lucky Gunner are short barrel rather than the duty length handguns the FBI uses for their testing. The exceptions being the 4.5-inch barrel handguns the Lucky Gunner used for testing .357 Sig and 10mm ammo. The Lucky Gunner also used both short and long barrel handguns for their .357 Magnum testing.

The test guns used by the Lucky Gunner:

.380 ACP: Glock 42, 3.25-inch barrel

.38 Special: Kimber k6, 2-inch barrel
.38 Special: Ruger GP100 Match Champ 4.2-inch barrel
9mm: Smith & Wesson M&P9c, 3.5-inch barrel

.357 Sig: Glock 31, 4.49-inch barrel
.357 Magnum: Kimber K6, 2-inch barrel
.357 Magnum: Ruger GP100 Match Champ 4.2-inch barrel

.40 S&W: Glock 27, 3.42-inch barrel
.45 ACP: Kahr CW45, 3.64-inch barrel

10mm: Glock 20 Gen 4, 4.6-inch barrel

Per the Lucky Gunner test strategy page...

Short Barreled Handguns
This is one area where we intentionally deviated from the typical FBI test. Ballistics testing is most often conducted with full size or “service size” handguns with barrel lengths of at least 4”. However, most armed citizens carry smaller guns with shorter barrels, which means the bullets they fire will fly at a lower velocity than what is advertised by the ammo manufacturer. Ballistics data gathered using full size barrels can be misleading if applied to these small concealable pistols. We ran our tests with popular concealable handguns with barrel lengths we think are more representative of what the average citizen is actually carrying.

Those are great. I love how visual they are. Go to your caliber, find 3-5 loads where you see all the bullets expanded and lined up between the 12"-18" lines. Find 1 of those available online or locally at a good price and purchase!

Lately I'm rollin' 115g standard pressure Gold Dots in 9mm for all my carry guns. Easy to find, not very expensive (for premium ammo) and works great in barrels down to 3.5" as tested.

Looks like Sig's V-Crown has respectable results in most calibers. It's always on sale so it's probably one of the more cost efficient options. Very cool.

I like those guys. They run a really good YouTube channel also FYI.

I really like them, website and youtube chanel both. There was this one article they did though...discussing the irrelevance of .357Sig due to hot 9mm rounds. The nerve, how dare they!!

I was pleased to see my two carry rounds 147 grain RA9T and 230 grain RA45T, both performed very well. Regards 18DAI

quote:

Originally posted by dry-fly:
I really like them, website and youtube chanel both. There was this one article they did though...discussing the irrelevance of .357Sig due to hot 9mm rounds. The nerve, how dare they!!

.357 SIG and DeLoreans...a hot commodity.

You can't beat Lucky Gunner's ballistics tests. They may be the very best out there. Visuals are great, and they are data driven. I'm surprised that they don't have 2 millions YouTube subscribers, as good as their videos are.

Thanks for sharing the link. Good stuff.

Really like the effectiveness of the Federal, 38+P 130g HST micro load through a 2” snubbie

quote:

Originally posted by Cobra21:

quote:

Originally posted by dry-fly:
I really like them, website and youtube chanel both. There was this one article they did though...discussing the irrelevance of .357Sig due to hot 9mm rounds. The nerve, how dare they!!

.357 SIG and DeLoreans...a hot commodity.

Cobra21 is here all week folks! Try the veal and don’t forget to tip your waitresses..

Thanks...this is is very helpful.