1 Jan 02
Warm greetings from a friend and trainer in South Africa:
“All the best from your far-flung and ever-striving cadre of instructors over here.
Our history is being written in blood, the blood of innocents and the blood of our untrained and poorly equipped police officers, who, nonetheless, go forward and try to do their job. We are averaging three police officers shot every week here in Capetown. In too many cases, there is the urgency here to get everyone “qualified,” and a corresponding lack of concern about real learning.
Local politicians speak endlessly about “fighting crime,” but the fact is, politicians benefit from high crime rates, and nothing is being done other than the usual useless talk.”
These guys are true heroes! I am honored to have walked with them.
/John
5 Jan 02
Carjacking tips from a friend in South Africa:
“A real problem has developed as a result of the fact that most expensive cars here are now equipped with tracking devices, which are designed to help police in recovering stolen vehicles. It sounds like a good idea, but carjacking gangs have responded by developing a policy of shooting the driver immediately, so he is unable to activate the tracking system. That is now their MO.
Carjackers routinely scout affluent suburbs. Most homes are fitted with automatic gates and garage doors. Once the bad guys have selected their victim, they wait (in their car) in the vicinity for their selected victim to arrive home. When the target vehicle enters the property, the bad guys pull right in behind, before the gate is able to close. Because of high security walls, neighbors rarely hear gunshots or see what is happening. The driver is always shot to death immediately. This pattern is epidemic in Johannesburg.
I tell our students that, in addition to always being alert, they need to scout, particularly when arriving at their home. It may mean going around the block before pulling into one’s driveway. We all need to know which vehicles belong on our street. Any unknown vehicle, particularly if it is occupied, is always a danger sign.
A cell phone, in addition to a pistol, is now a required item of safety equipment. One needs to be carried at all times.”
Additional anti-carjacking advice:
1. Don’t beg the question. Asking for trouble is a pretty good way to get it. Go where you need to go, but don’t go to dangerous places for unimportant reasons.
2. Soft body armor. The time may have come that smart people need to wear soft body armor all the time, as well as being armed all the time. Soft body armor may allow one to fight his way through a situation instead of being incapacitated right away.
3. Alertness. It seems obvious, but driving around when one is self-consumed is an invitation to victimization. People who are constantly alert will see trouble in the making, and see it soon enough to avoid it.
4. Keep the car in motion as much of the time as possible. I doubt that many successful carjackings take place with moving vehicles. Even when stopped in traffic, smart people will maintain interval space which they can use to move the vehicle through.
5. Keep the vehicle in outside lanes as much as possible. Pulling up on a sidewalk or into a median is a difficult option when one is boxed in in a center lane.
6. Be willing to shoot it out. There are things worth fighting for! Carry a powerful handgun with high-capacity magazines all the time and don’t hesitate to shoot a hijacker through your car window. Shoot, then move the vehicle as quickly as possible, exiting the ambush zone.
7. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. People who are willing to fight make poor victims. Victimizers customarily pass them by.
We live in exciting times! We all must be constantly reevaluating our personal situations and revamping our security routines. Being taken by surprise is always result of a lack of alertness. “Any commander can be forgiven for being defeated, but no commander has ever been forgiven for being surprised”
/John
6 Jan 02
The inescapability of confronting evil with force:
Albert Einstein was known as a pacifist in the early part of the last century and, when he dabbled in politics, became associated with various antiwar movements. Like other geniuses, he had great difficulty understanding why most other people, even most of his physicist colleagues, were not able to see obscure scientific truths as clearly as he was. Although, in his early years, he publicly rejected the concept of a biblical God, he became closely coupled with Zionism as he watched anti-Semitic sentiment increase dramatically in his native Germany in the years between World Wars I and II.
In 1933 Hitler came to power in Germany. At the time, Einstein was in America on a lecture tour. Being Jewish, he wisely decided not to return to Germany. In response, the Nazis manufactured a negative public relation campaign in an attempt to discredit him (along with many other Jewish intellectuals). A book was even published, entitled One Hundred Authors against Einstein. When shown a copy, Einstein replied, “If I am wrong, one will be enough!”
Einstein could see the future he feared coming true, as few others could. The Nazis would develop an atomic bomb and use it to overwhelm the entire world. He suddenly renounced pacifism and wrote to President Roosevelt urging him to begin the development of an atomic bomb immediately, before it was too late. The rest, of course, is history.
Einstein was offered the presidency of the new nation of Israel in 1952. He declined, insisting that he would rather work with equations.
Lesson: There is nothing quite so scary as coming face to face with your own principles. Evil violence must be confronted with righteous force. Only force will do. Nothing else works. Nothing else will get their attention. The current generation of naive grasseaters insist that ALL force is bad. They are wrong. They have always been wrong. Even Einstein was able to see that!
/John
7 Jan 02
In a lively discussion within the police training community, trigger finger position is being discussed in earnest. It is an important training issue. One school advocates the “Sights on target, finger on trigger. Sights off target, finger off trigger” The school I adhere to advocates, “Finger in register until the sights are on the target AND the decision to fire immediately has been made.” There are several variations on the theme, but those are the two main camps.
An advocate from the first camp recently pointed out that hard procedures in this regard are nearly impossible to teach, owing to the wide spectrum of circumstances in which an officer might find himself.
My reply:
ADs are not just a safety issue. They’re also a tactical issue. Having an AD in the middle of a tactical scenario destroys one’s focus and may lead to our hero getting shot as he stands in astonishment, wondering how his gun just went off! We’ve surely seen it in training.
I’m fully aware of the “Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle,” but “soft rules” make for poor training, particularly when students are novices. Our students are confused enough already.
Students don’t need more confusion. They need a clear procedure; a procedure they will follow and that will get them through, even when they are in the midst of “cerebral fibrillation.”
/John
10 Jan 02
Illustrative trigger-finger incident from a friend in LA:
“One evening several years ago, I confronted two juvenile robbery suspects in China town I relieved one of them of a snubby revolver (38 Spl). I was about to yell ‘gun!’ to my partner, but I then reminded myself that I didn’t have a partner that night. The second suspect had his arms outstretched and was posing no obvious threat, but I knew there was a high likelihood that he had a concealed pistol too.
I instructed him not to move. I was simultaneously ‘staging’ the trigger on my S&W M19 revolver. I don’t even know if I was aware that I was doing it. In those days our training on this subject was incomplete and ambiguous. In any event, my pistol discharged, unintentionally and unexpectedly. I was more dumbfounded that either of the two suspects! The discharge came as a complete surprise to me.
Fortunately, I regained my focus more quickly than either suspect. Realizing that neither had been hit, I quickly knocked both to the ground. They were petrified! The second suspect, as it turned out, did have a concealed pistol.
All is well that ends well. Both suspects were taken into custody without further incident, and my AD, though embarrassing, did not result in any injury or property damage.”
Lesson: As stated earlier, ADs are not just a safety issue. As we can see here, they are also a tactical issue. This officer could not only have shot someone accidentally, he could have been killed by a suspect taking advantage of his temporary loss of focus.
The second obvious lesson is: When unexpected events (no matter what their source) rear their ugly heads, we can’t allow ourselves the luxury of taking our time to regain focus. Me must refocus immediately, form a plan, and move forward aggressively. We must not allow the other side to use the event to reverse the momentum and seize the agenda.
Finally, training which is “incomplete and ambiguous” does our officers no good service.
/John
10 Jan 02
More on fingers and triggers, from a friend who runs a prestigious indoor pistol range:
“We hired a new instructor to teach our state-mandated concealed carry courses. I got to the point where I was unable to do them all myself.
In any event, the new instructor teaches the out-of-date ‘sights on target, finger on trigger’ system. During his last class his students had three ADs! In all cases, they occurred when he made the command, ‘Target!’ As per his instruction, the students put fingers on triggers as soon as their sights were on target, but they were still waiting for a command to fire. In all cases, the students broke a shot prematurely, and without intent. This new instructor has a low key demeanor, and a soft voice, so I see the stress load on students as low.
My conclusion is simple: these students cannot be blamed for their unintentional discharges. They were acting exactly as directed, under the direct supervision of their instructor. The technique he is teaching is the obvious culprit. At my insistence, the curriculum is changing at once!”
/John
17 Jan 02
Of S&W and the 357SIG
I just completed an Instructor’s Clinic at a large PD in the Midsouth. They issued steel-framed S&Ws in 9mm (self-decocking) for a number of years. The pistols served them well, with few maintenance problems. Two years ago, they switched to S&W 40s, with aluminum frames. Unhappily, they have proven most unsatisfactory. They biggest problem is cracked frames. Most of them will not go past 5000 rounds without frame cracking. After just two years, they are getting rid of them in favor of either Glocks or SIGs. Interestingly, SIG has agreed to make a run of pistols that “feature” magazine safeties, as the PD brass think that is what they want. They had a sample there. The S&W P99 was rejected, owing to the problems experienced by the NJSP
The Tennessee State Police, following Texas’ example, will be equipping their officers with SIG 229s in 357SIG caliber. The transition will take place over the next two years. This may be becoming a trend!
/John
21 Jan 02
High Marks for DS Arms:
“I was in your Urban Rifle/Shotgun class last year at Darnell’s in Bloomington, IL last year. I was using a new DSA-58C, and had function problems with it.
I called John at DSA, and he told me to bring the rifle over, as I live 45 minutes away from the factory. When I arrived, he stopped what he was doing, personally repaired the rifle; enlarged the gas port, replaced a spring, polished the gas tube, showed me how to lubricate the gun, adjust the gas valve, polished up a magazine, and who knows what else. We test fired it there with sixty rounds, and it ROCKS!”
/John
22 Jan 02
I just completed a two-day Patrol rifle Course with a large PD on the West Coast. Everyone in the class used an AR-15, mostly Colts, a few Bushmasters. Ammunition was generic Winchester. Each student expended nearly one thousand rounds.
We had a few failures to feed which were quickly reduced by the student, but no catastrophic breakdowns, save one. One student, a gunsmith no less, brought a tight-chambered (SAAMI), heavy-barreled, target rifle that started life as an AR-15, although it was difficult to tell by looking at it. It heated up and seized during the first hour of the class. We had to pull it off the line and give him a military surplus M-16, which worked fine for the duration. Any serious, autoloading rifle needs a NATO chamber. Only bolt guns should have SAAMI chambers.
A great contributor to AR-15 reliability is the chronic habits of: (1) keeping the dust cover closed, and (2) keeping a magazine continuously in the magazine well. Those processes, in concert, plug all the holes and keep blowing grit and dirt out of the weapon. It should be standard procedure.
/John
24 Jan 02
From a friend in the Philippines:
“Our president managed to convince the leadership of Congress as to the validity of the presence of US troops here, under the ‘Visiting Forces Agreement’ of 1999. The Justice Secretary presented the legal arguments. He made it clear that American troops would not engage in active combat on Philippine soil. They are supposedly limited to participating in training exercises with Philippine troops manning front lines against local Islamic extremist groups.
As usual, there are mixed reactions (including some rioting) coming from the public and the media. Most believe that American troops have no intention of limiting themselves to training and will be shortly involved in direct terrorist eradication. All of which is fine with me, but it would have been much better if it had been clearly stated in the beginning.
When it finally happens, they will first deny it, then, when all the lies unravel, the finger pointing will begin as local politicians scramble to hang onto power.”
/John
24 Jan 02
Ammunition story from a friend at a state training academy:
“Today, a recruit charged up a magazine for his G21-C (45ACP). He didn’t pay close enough attention to the task at hand! When this student subsequently attempted to fire, the pistol failed to discharge the second round. After a quick T-R-B procedure, the student heard a muffled report, and the pistol seized up. He was unable to fix it.
Sure enough, the first round in the magazine had been a 40S&W, not a 45ACP. My investigation revealed that the 40S&W round had chambered but was not picked up by the extractor. It therefore remained in the chamber during the T-R-B. A round of 45 ACP subsequently did chamber and pushed the 40S&W round past the chamber and up into the barrel. When the 45ACP then fired, the bullet struck the base of the 40S&W round and detonated it also.
The 40S&W bullet exited the muzzle, but the 40S&W case was pushed forward by the 45ACP bullet and lodged sideways just under the barrel ports. Semi-molten brass then extruded upwards into and through the barrel ports. The 45ACP bullet did not exit and was found squashed into what remained of the 40S&W case. The barrel did not rupture, but it did bulge. The front sight was also ruined. The pistol was wrecked and out of action.
The ammunition we use here is purchased by the State on a low-bid basis. Today, we were using a brand called HSM. A number of 40S&Ws have been found mixed in with 45ACPs in 45ACP boxes! State purchasing bureaucrats wonder if this is ‘really a problem.'”
Lessons: Ammunition mixing is a real issue in training, particularly between 9mm and 40S&W and between 40S&W and 45ACP. Of course, it doesn’t help when the ammunition manufacturer himself mixes up calibers in the same box, but the ultimate victim is still the careless and inattentive shooter.
We all need to make the personal commitment to use only quality ammunition. Few foreign manufacturers are on the recommended list. MOST FOREIGN AMMUNITION IS TRASH. Much of the commercially reloaded ammunition is trash too. I’ve advised against using Wolf, S&B, and Norinco. You can add HSM to that list.
Finally, ported pistols are for the kiddies. Don’t let anyone cut holes in your barrel!
/John
25 Jan 02
Thoughts on competitive shooting and shooters:
This is from a friend in the Philippines:
“A local shooter was trying to learn the ‘speed rock’ as taught by a number of instructors. He was using a Para-Ordnance Commander in 40S&W, equipped with a Hybrid barrel. He nearly dropped the gun after only one shot. Had he not been wearing glasses, he would have spent a longer time in the hospital, I’m sure.
Ported pistols are popular here because of the dominance of IPSC. Even local trainers are essentially products of the IPSC system. Few have ever seen the wrong end of the gun. The IPSC culture has even permeated the ranks of Police and Military services. I cannot remember the number of times I’ve seen beat cops using IPSC holsters on duty.
It saddens me that many have unwittingly decided to adopt the games approach to survival rather than learn from the true lessons of our past. I’ve met my share of real world survivors over here, and none of them had ported guns or fancy rigs. All of them lived to retire.”
Lesson: I wonder if the competitive shooting community realizes the real harm they are doing when they leave their arena. Many among the unenlightened are unable to discern the non-serious approach from the True Way. In 180AD, when Marcus Aurelius commented upon his worthless son, Commodus, so that all would know why Commodus was being passed over for his father’s position, he said, “Oh yes, Commodus. He is only interested in games.”
/John
26 Jan 02
Agincourt, France, 25 Oct 1415
The “Hundred Years’ War,” between England and France, starting in 1337 and ending in 1453 (actually covering 116 years), took place over the reigns of five English and five French kings. The war forever separated England and France, ending all English claims to French real estate and visa-versa, and it started England on the path to becoming world’s premiere sea power.
When the Moors from North Africa, newly converted to violently evangelistic Islam, successfully invaded the Christian Iberian Peninsula (present-day Spain) in the early part of the 700s AD, nominally Christian warlords throughout Europe became nervous. In response, Charlemagne (Charles the Great) in present-day France, son of Pepin the Short, burst upon the world stage in 770AD, and began putting together an expansive empire. Western Europe had been without any kind of central government since the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the late 400s. Charlemagne’s kingdom eventually included what is now Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and some of Germany. Charlemagne converted the Saxons (Germans) to Christianity, but was unsuccessful in absorbing them culturally. Like virtually every other European ruler ever since, Charlemagne clearly recognized the military significance of the British Isles, but he never attempted an invasion. That would have to wait until 1066.
As Charlemagne’s grandsons quarreled and dithered, Rollo and his Norman band invaded western France (Normandy) from Scandinavia in 890AD. Rollo was his French name. His given name was Hrolf (Ralph), but the local French found that unpronounceable. He has been Rollo ever since. Rollo and his invasion force were absorbed culturally by the French. They readily adopted the French language, the Christian (Catholic) religion, and, it seems, quickly forgot where they had come from! It was Rollo’s descendants who gradually became French noblemen, displacing Charlemagne’s. Rollo’s great-great-great grandson, Duke William of Normandy, successively invaded England in 1066, finishing the work started by Charlemagne. He became known as William the Conqueror.
Between 1066 and 1337, both England and France and any number of other territories were simultaneously claimed by numerous kings. Hopelessly entangled marriages, loyalties, and political intrigue held for a season, but it was not to be. The whole territory could not be held together. By the end of the Hundred Years’ War, England and France would be permanently separated and thereafter function as autonomous, sovereign nations. Germany too would emerge as an independent nation. By 1400, European Spanish would finally drive the Moors out of the Iberian peninsula.
In 1337 both King Philip, VI of France and King Edward III of England claimed both France and England. Philip declared he would take over the traditionally English Provence of Guyenne, and the war was on! The English, with the help of their famous archers, won a clear victory at the Battle of Crecy in 1346. The English were also victorious at the Battle of Poitiers ten years later. The Treaty of Bretigny in 1360 brought hostilities to a temporary halt as the Peasants’ Revolt in England briefly took center stage. But, Henry V of England renewed the fighting and, in a lopsided victory, emerged triumphant at the famous Battle of Agincourt in 1415. The English were still on a roll in 1428 and laid siege to the City of Orleans. An unlikely general, young Joan of Arc, led a French army and, in the face of all conventional wisdom, was successful in ending the siege and driving the English away in 1429. She was captured by the English, who burned her to death, but she had succeeded in turning the tide. The French continued to reclaim territory. By 1453, England had lost all its domain in France with the exception of the Port of Calais. The French finally retook Calais in 1558.
In the summer of 1415, twenty-seven-year-old King Henry V had been on the throne for only two years. He was determined to lead an invasion of France and reclaim territory that had already been won and lost numerous times during the previous century. He knew well the peril inherent to large, isolated armies that find themselves deep in enemy territory. More than one British legion had been thus wiped out when it was unable to sustain itself and unable to move to friendly territory. British soldiers and archers were feared, but the French had learned to avoid direct contact with them. All they had to do was shadow the British and wear them down as the invaders marched deeper and deeper into unfamiliar territory. Eventually, fatigue, disease, exposure, attrition, and lack of decisive contact would work in favor of the French.
Young Henry decided upon an amphibious invasion. His plan was for his small army to move fast and suddenly appear out of nowhere, forcing the unprepared French to fight on his terms. He could then march, unopposed, right into Paris! Landing on a beach west of the Port of Harfleur on 14 Aug 1415, Henry’s plan seemed to be working. The landing was unexpected and unopposed. However, the French garrison at Harfleur put up a good fight, not surrendering until 22 September. Henry had lost too much time. The critical element of surprise was gone.
Henry’s army was small in comparison to what the French were likely to put together to oppose him. He commanded six thousand men, mostly unmounted archers, and his position was weakening by the day. He could easily and safely turn around and return to England. That would keep his army in tact, but he would be accused of cowardice, and would likely find it impossible to hang on to his crown, or his head! So, on 8 October, with the weather turning cold, Henry led his army out of Harfleur in an attempt to at least march through, of not capture, disputed lands. If he could do that and then make it back to the British-held Port of Calais before the onset of winter, all without a major engagement, he would be safe and could return home, if not a conquering hero, at least with honor.
He marched up the coast and then inland, but French units were beginning to shadow him continuously. In a treacherous game of cat and mouse, Henry’s army would make one move, only to be countered and blocked on their next. In sixteen days, Henry’s well disciplined army marched 260 indecisive miles. On 24 October, Henry’s luck ran out! With his army cold, malnourished, and exhausted, French units had figured out his route and, near the small village of Maisoncelles, deployed in front of him, blocking his path to Calais Henry had no choice but to fight, retreat, or surrender. Neither of these options offered much promise!
The essence of the art of tactics is to make the best of unpromising circumstances, to see order where others see just chaos, to be hopeful while others despair. Instead of looking for an excuse to lose, Henry looked for a way to win! Henry knew if he retreated, his army would just be all that much weaker when it was cornered once again, which it surely would be. If he surrendered, most of his men would eventually be killed anyway. Only the nobles would be spared and only because they could be held for ransom. He would be put on disgraceful display in Paris. But, Henry also knew that the French force opposing him had been hastily thrown together. It was large, nearly four times the size of his own, but ponderous, poorly organized, and overconfident. He knew that charging French cavalry horses would have poor footing in the plowed field turned into deep mud by the recent rains. If the French could be goaded into attacking too soon, their attack would be ill-planned and disorganized. Henry could then inflict heavy casualties quickly and stampede the remainder. That was his plan, and he executed it brilliantly!
On the rainy Wednesday morning of 25 Oct 1415, the two armies confronted each other in a rectangular field nine hundred meters wide and bounded by thick forest on either side. Henry hoped the French would attack, but they did not, so he pressed the issue. He ordered his archers forward to within several hundred meters of the French line, just within the furthest range of their arrows. The archers arrived and immediately planted sharp stakes in the ground as a deterrent to charging horses. The first volley of arrows struck the French, doing little damage, but provoking them into a hasty cavalry charge which was followed closely by a spontaneous infantry charge. It was just what Henry wanted!
The withering volleys of arrows that followed decimated the mounted soldiers who were forced to turn back. Horses stumbled and fell in the slippery mud. However, being constrained by the flanking forests, they ran right into their own advancing infantry! In the melee, a second line of French infantry surged forward. The disorganized French attack finally reached the English line, but the line gave way and absorbed the heavily armored French infantry. Lightly armored and agile English swordsmen and archers then attacked the tightly packed French from the flank. The French were slaughtered! Seeing what was happening to their comrades, the remainder of the French army lost its nerve and withdrew. No attempt was made thereafter to stop Henry’s army on it way to Calais.
On 29 October, Henry and his army, along with two thousand prisoners, reached the Port of Calais. He returned to England at once and received a hero’s welcome in London. The nearest fortified village to the actual battle site was Agincourt, and the battle has borne that name ever since. Henry won the battle, but, as noted above, the English eventually lost the war. King Henry’s helmet, dented by a (nearly fatal) sword blow at Agincourt, is today on display at the Chapel of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey.
Lessons: Combine a well trained, well equipped, and well disciplined army with inspired leadership, and they will predictably pull victory from the jaws of defeat! Henry provided visible leadership, always from the front. His men could all see him, and he spoke to them directly on the eve of battle, filling them with inspiration, reinforcing the righteousness of their cause. We don’t even know the name of the opposing French general, but we do know that the French army was rife with squabbling nobleman who were far more concerned with their personal appearance and comfort than with their responsibilities as leaders. Their overconfidence had a shaky foundation, and it disintegrated shortly after the battle was joined.
Like lions, we live a short and glorious life. All fear death, but the wise fear irrelevance even more!
/John
26 Jan 02
Handgun ammo testing by a friend in OH:
“I have done some testing on the new Federal Expanding Full Metal Jacket rounds.
John Farnam gave me a handful for the .45ACP 185gr PlusP EFMJ rounds at an advanced class last year.
When I tested those rounds I got these results when compared against the Fed 230gr HydroShok:
Chronograph 185 gr EFMJ round 1040 f/s in my Colt Commander
230gr Federal HydroShok clocked at 955 f/s in the same gun
Both fired into seven plastic water jugs in tandem
Both rounds penetrated the first two jugs dented the back of the third (24 inches of water) and, in the process, expanded to .700+ in
I then fired these same two rounds through a heavy, fleece-lined jacket placed in front of the water jugs:
The EFMJ yielded the same penetration and expansion
The HydraShok penetrated all seven jugs and was not recovered. I get an identical result with hardball, so I assumed the bullet’s hollow point plugged when passing through the jacket.
I was impressed with these results and wanted to see what the 40S&W and 9mm EFMJ would do. I was not able to find them in OH or in any mail-order catalog. I did find a dealer in NJ who had some.
The 40S&W round is 165 gr, but wimpy. I tested it in comparison with my present defensive round, the Cor-Bon 165grHP.
Chronograph results:
165gr Corbon (G23), 1150 f/s, (G 27), 1100 f/s
165gr EFMJ (G23), 940 f/s, (G27), 915 f/
155gr FMJ (G23), 1050 f/s, (G27), 985 f/s
I fired both rounds (EFMJ and Cor-Bon) into water jugs from the G27 in the same manner as the 45ACP test. Both rounds split the back of third jug and expanded to .675+ in
Adding the fleece jacket:
Cor-Bon bullet entered the fourth jug (25+in) and expanded to .650+in
EFMJ bullet hit back of fifth jug (40 in) and expanded to .420+ in.
I tested the 9mm EFMJ+P in comparison with Speer Gold Dot 124gr+P.
Chronograph results:
124gr +P Gold Dot (G19), 1215 f/s, (Kahr P9 Covert), 1160 f/s
124gr +P EFMJ (G19), 1110 f/s, (Kahr P9 Covert), 1050 f/s
124gr hardball (G19), 1075 f/s, (Kahr P9 Covert), 1024 f/s
I fired both rounds into water jugs from the Kahr P9 Covert in the same manner as the 45ACP test.
Both rounds (Gold Dot and EFMJ) penetrated into the fourth jug (25+ in) and expanded to
.475+ in.
Adding the fleece jacket:
Gold Dot penetrated into the fourth jug (25+ in) and expanded to .460+ in.
EMF bullet split the back of the fifth jug (40 in.) and expanded to .370+ in.
I was not happy with EFMJ’s terminal performance in 40S&W and 9mm. I was happy with it in 45ACP. However, EFMJ’s feeding reliability is superior in all calibers, and I may carry it in my Kahr Covert for that reason.
All the EFMJ rounds expanded as advertised, but it is my opinion that the 9mm and particularly the 40S&W have inadequate velocity. I was impressed, as always, with the terminal performance of Cor-Bon and Gold Dot.”
/John
29 Jan 02
My friends at Cor-Bon indicated to me yesterday that their Powerball round, now available only in 45ACP, will be available in 40S&W, 10mm, and 400C/B this spring. It will be a 135gr bullet in all cases.
Sales of 45ACP Powerball have exceeded expectations. It is turning into an exceedingly popular round, for obvious reasons. It and Federal’s EFMJ are the only rounds I will trust in my G36.
When I get my hands on 40S&W and the 400C/B Powerball, I’ll test it immediately. I predict this will be a major product line for Cor-Bon.
/John
