#Fragmentation

Ops-Core is releasing a new line of Fast Helmets in both ballistic and carbon fiber. The ballistic version will first be released with an MSRP of $1700 and weighs lighter than its predecessor. A sales rep at the Ops-Core booth said the SF was 6% lighter when compared to the Maritime helmet.

Bret Hunter is the founder and owner of TacticalRX. I met Bret at Big 3 East a few years ago and although I have 20/20 vision I am amazed by his glasses. Many shooters who use prescription lenses typically use their normal glasses as eye protection or they might get some form of prescription sports eyewear. This usually means an insert or flat lenses. Bret’s shooting glasses are curved and the prescription is 100% throughout the lens. Tim Yan did a review on them back in 2014.

In my comments section recently, I was asked to shed some light on the velocity penalty created by moving from 20″ long rifle barrels as in the M16 to 14.5″ long carbine barrels as in the M4 Carbine. Our readers’ wish is my command, and so here we are.

We have been covering the US Army’s latest M855A1 and M80A1 “Enhanced Performance Rounds” (EPRs) here at TFB for the past few years. We’ve seen how in independent tests both M855A1 and M80A1 fragment early, thanks to their yaw-independent characteristics and special jacket design. One question that has not been answered publicly, however, is at what point do these rounds fail to fragment and upset; in other words, at what velocities do the EPRs not have enough gas to create the kinds of dramatic terminal effects we’ve so far seen from them?