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My goal was to try each round out to see how they grouped, functioned, and of course, see how they fared against ballistic gel. The new ammunition comes in the Holy Trinity of self-defensive staples – 9mm. Naturally, I don’t buy anything (get it!) without finding out for myself, so I requested a sample of the entire line and set out to the range with a chronograph and some Clear Ballistics 10% FBI gel. It turns out that these bullets expand just fine at reduced velocities, and all that needed to be done was to find the right powder charge to make them cycle reliably at less than 1,100 feet per second.
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While Hornady is known for its revolutionary bullets, they went with their tried and true XTP bullet- a classic hollowpoint design. Honestly, I like the route they chose because simplicity is a lost art and that is a lot of what is going on here. Looking for Hornady Subsonic Ammo? Go to the gun store and ask for “Hornady Subsonic Ammo,” because that’s what it’s called. While plenty of work went into the design, they said “screw it” when it came time to come up with a quintessential, one-word super-tactical product name. So after countless emails and social media digs this year our taunting brought us subsonic handgun ammo that expands! Through the years I’ve come to realize that if you want a certain type of ammo to exist, all you have to do is tell Hornadythat it can’t be done. This has always been the reason the design was never completely welcomed for defensive ammunition. Of course, if velocity is reduced too much, expansion might suffer.
#Subsonic 9mm ammunition best choice crack
Just take a heavy bullet and pair it with a light powder charge and you can easily stay under the speed of sound and thwart the ear-piercing crack of a sonic boom. Now no ammunition is guaranteed as safe to fire without ear protection, especially in an indoor setting, but going subsonic might just be the difference between temporary and permanent hearing damage. There is one thing you can take to the bank though…you likely won’t have ear protection on. In short, there is very little that you can count on. The location, the time, or even the specific threat is going to present itself at complete random. A defensive shooting situation is anything but predictable.
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