#Gun

We shoot Remington 9mm 124gr Golden Saber brass jacketed hollow point ammunition from a Smith & Wesson Shield with a 3″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

We shoot Federal 9mm 150gr HST jacketed hollow point ammunition from a Smith & Wesson Shield with a 3″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

We shoot Ventura 10mm Lehigh 115gr Extreme Defense and 140 gr Extreme Penetrator ammunition from an EAA Witness with a 4.5″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

Yes, you don’t own a flying car, but at least some of the promises of the future are coming true: The United States Navy has successfully tested its railgun prototype in multi-shot (autoloading) mode, earlier this summer. Although the US Navy has been testing railguns since 2006, this latest test was the first time such a weapon had fired multiple shots in quick succession, thanks to an autoloading mechanism fitted to the rear. You can see the railgun in action in the video below, released by the Office of Naval Research:

The A-10 “Warthog” attack aircraft is beloved by pilots and gun enthusiasts alike, and not the least because of its powerful 30mm GAU-8 Gatling cannon. On the other side the Cold War, though, another aircraft was developed with matched an equally rugged and dependable airframe to an equally fearsome cannon: The Sukhoi Su-25 is called the “Frogfoot” by NATO, but to those who fly it and those who depend on it alike, it is the “Grach” (Грач, “Rook”). This red bird of death has overseen battlefields from Afghanistan to Syria, packing rockets, missiles, and its own potent 30mm gun. It is a twin engined jet with a pragmatic appearance, somewhat smaller than the A-10, and designed more as a generalist attack aircraft than a direct counter to enemy armor. The concept behind the Su-25 goes all the way back to before World War II, when the Soviet Union was exploring attack aircraft as part of a program that eventually led to the famous Il-2 Sturmovik. A tactical aircraft that can carry bombs, guns, and rockets in direct support of infantry was a concept that the Russians pioneered, and which had its baptism in fire on the Eastern Front of WWII against the Germans. Today, the Su-25 carries on that legacy in service with the Russian Federation and 22 other countries. But this is a gun blog, so let’s talk about its gun.

If you’re a gun guy, odds are pretty good that non-gun people often ask your opinion on things. At least, People often make the mistake of asking my opinion, anyway. I guess they figure that just because I write about and make videos about guns, that my opinion is worth listening to. Of course you, dear reader, know that my opinion is worth every cent you paid for it. Still, I should probably indulge these poor, misguided souls. To that end, I’m going to answer some of these more common questions in a series of articles. Today, we’re going to cover the ever popular “best” home defense gun.

I know, that HK USP45 looks wicked operator and it’s a lot easier to shoot well than your 638. But where is it right now? In your safe? Big handguns are more fun to shoot and we can shoot them much faster and more accurately than little guns. But most folks end up leaving their full size pistols at home most of the time. Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t ever carry a larger gun. Especially if you have a solid reason, like for large animal defense when you’re out in the sticks. Even just because you enjoy carrying that fancy 1911 in the nicely tooled leather holster at a social gathering. It really isn’t carrying a big gun that’s bad. It’s leaving your Beretta 92F at home because it might print at the grocery store and you’re too macho to carry a P3AT that’s stupid.

Can a computer pick out and identify guns directly from video footage, without the aid of a human? That’s the technology being demonstrated by a program at the Spanish University of Granada, which earlier this year released a video purporting to show an computer artificial intelligence doing just that. You can see this technology in action in the video released by the University, embedded below:

Last week, Sig .40 S&W 180 gr V-Crown didn’t do very well from a short barrel. This week we shoot it through a Glock Model 22 into ClearBallistics gel to assess velocity, penetration, expansion, and weight retention. Performance is still mixed, even with the longer barrel.

Buy it at Ventura Munitions: https://www.venturamunitions.com/hsm-9mm-124gr-xtp-subsonic-ammo-50-rounds/

Take a look at our test of Speer’s .45 Auto 230 Gold Dot. The Gold Dot is not technically a bonded bullet, but rather a plated one. Nevertheless, it tends to perform like bonded bullets and the plated construction is essentially the same as a bonded bullet in that core and “jacket” are chemically bonded to each other, resulting in high weight retention. This bullet lives up to its reputation as one of the very best defense loads by expanding well and penetrating perfectly in both bare gel and when fired through heavy clothing. The moderate velocity of approximately 830 fps proved adequate to initiate expansion and the bullet was able to perform properly even when fired through four layers of denim. The IWBA standard of four layers of denim is a more difficult protocol to pass than the more realistic FBI heavy clothing standard. The IWBA heavy clothing test is not intended to simulate real world clothing, but rather to present a worst case scenario of many, closely packed, dense fibers which can clog the cavity of some hollow point ammunition, preventing expansion. Having performed well even in this worst case scenario, the Gold Dot proves to be an outstanding choice for personal defense and the more rounded nose tends to feed better in unmodified 1911A1 pistols than some other hollow point designs. Not only was the bullet able to expand adequately in adverse conditions, it was also able to penetrate to an appropriate depth. The variation in penetration depth was also extremely consistent, with only a small difference between bare gel and heavy clothing. Retained weight was also 100% for every bullet and expansion measurements varied little from bullet to bullet. This highly consistent performance indicates excellent quality and speaks to superior performance across a range of other conditions not evaluated in this test.
Avg velocity: 834 fps
Avg penetration: 14.6″
Avg retained weight: 229.6 gr
Avg max expansion: 0.695″
Avg min expansion: 0.601″

We fired 10mm Hornady 175 gr Critical Duty FlexLock from 4.5″ barrel EAA polymer frame Witness at 20 feet into clear ballistic gel to assess velocity, penetration, expansion, and weight retention. While the performance may not be perfect, it is nevertheless quite good.

We fired Speer 124 gr Short Barrel Gold Dot from a S&W Shield through heavy clothing and bare gel to assess penetration, expansion, and retained weight. The Speer Gold Dot is one of the most highly regarded handgun projectiles for defense, but we find some surprising results with this load.

Whether you’re focused on honing your tactical skills or interested in spending as many hours as possible in the woods you undoubtedly own more than a few lights. Some are simple flashlights, and more than likely there are untold numbers long forgotten in various drawers and boxes. Others are specifically made for tactics or hunting, but are handheld. And then there are the lights designed to be mounted to your firearms. Even those particular lights can be hard to find in your hoped-for design, whatever it may be. Companies such as Sightmark understand the importance of seeing what you’re after which is why they offer a full line of sights, lights, and binos. Now they’re also offering a 3000 lumen spotlight capable of getting the job done in more ways than one.

The little M1 Carbine really is a timeless classic. Made in huge numbers for only a few years during WWII, original Carbines have steadily become scarcer and more expensive as the surplus reservoir accordingly declined.