During the range day of SHOT Show 2018, Hailey Ordnance Company has introduced a new line of ammunition. The company is specialized in making silencers and suppressed weapon systems and the ammunition they are now making is subsonic which, as you know, is more efficiently suppressed due to lack of the sonic boom produced by the supersonic bullets. They are going to start offering 9mm Luger, .45 ACP and 12 gauge cartridges loaded to subsonic velocities and with projectiles heavier than it is normally seen in this calibers.

The 9x19mm offering is shown in the top image of this article. It has a 185 grain hollow point projectile. You can see how long it is compared to the 9x19mm case as well as the expanded bullet.

The 12 gauge load has a huge cylindrical slug that weighs 2.5 oz! For comparison, the normal/average 12 gauge slug weighs 1oz. In the image below you can see Hailey Ordnance Company’s slug compared to the conventional 1 oz Lee Drive Key slug.

The slug has a devastating terminal performance. In the image below, you can see the result of this slug hitting a steel target.

According to the company officials, the new slug surprisingly well stabilizes.It is obviously stabilized because of its center of mass is shifted to the nose, just like in the case of many other smoothbore slugs. Note the cavity in its tail.

They haven’t brought the .45 ACP version of their subsonic ammunition. However, they told me that they are loading it with a 325 grain bullet. Many .45 ACP loads are loaded to subsonic velocities. What I think is the goal this company tries to achieve is to get most from the .45ACP cartridge in terms of fitting it with the heaviest possible bullet that will still allow to cycle the firearms and be within the pressure limitations of the cartridge.