12 Mar 19
Last weekend, during a DTI DHG Course in LA, I had my first chance to test terminal effect of Lehigh Defense all-copper (monolithic) FTM bullets.
LD manufacturers their own line of FTM ammunition, and also supplies bullets to Underwood, Black Hills, and others.
We shot a pork loin through a SIG320 (9mm) with LD FTM +p (90 gr), Speer Gold Dot +p 115gr, hardball, Hornady CD, and several others.
All completely penetrated nine inches of pork!
Tissue damage from the hardball round was unimpressive. Through and through. Exit and entry looked nearly identical. The piece of loin did not move when shot. Recovered bullet displayed no deformation.
Gold-Dot bullet expanded as advertised. Exit wound was large and ragged. Pork loin jumped when hit. Internal damage to tissue along the wound-channel bore witness to significant tearing and cutting.
Several other high-performance HP rounds, including Hornady Critical-Duty 135gr, turned-in a similar performance.
All (except hardball) were very satisfactory!
Lehigh FTM bullet’s performance and wound-channel were indistinguishable from that of the high-performance HPs. Much tearing and cutting, ragged exit wound.
The recovered FTM bullet was not deformed, save for a slight “dent” in the base, probably inflicted when the bullet (after exiting the pork loin) struck the gravel backstop.
Of course, I need to examine more evidence. Yet, this first test demonstrated to me that depth of penetration and tissue destruction brought-about by FTM bullets compares favorably with that from high-performance HPs
All with no expansion, no deformation!
/John