[oldgranpa]

After researching web sites for .45acp JHP ammo for compact pistols like my Bersa Thunder 45, I chose Remington GoldenSaber 230gr for a test comparison with my SA 1911 MilSpec 45. The GoldenSaber was compared against Winchester 'white box' 230gr 'personal protection' JHP. The following results shows the GoldenSaber is an excellent JHP choice for compact 45s. The Win JHP didn't expand as well in the Bersa but did OK in the 5" barrel 1911MilSpec. (Side view of the bullets is shown in the next post on this thread.)

Keep in mind that wetpack penetration is about 2/3 that of gelatin. Therefore, minimum acceptable penetration in a wetpack is about 7". Also, this data is not intended to be "official", "valid", "FBI approved" and is only a comparison in my handguns. Your pistol may be different, use your own judgement.
og

 

[oldgranpa]

Side view of .45acp JHP tests

Here's the side view of the bullets from the JHP tests above.
og

 

[MurrayNevada]

OG:
As usual, some very informative posts. Thank you. I have attached a link about Win W.B. personal protection ammo that you will find interesting:
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0BQY/8_48/87564357/p1/article.jhtml

 

[KeysBear]

That was actually pretty good expansion for Win white box. I've never seen them look that good in any caliber. The bullet design for Win JHP leans toward a better feeding bullet that doesn't expand to maximum, but it does a good job for reliable feeding. Might try a lighter bullet in the Bersa.

Regards, Keys 8)

 

[flyandscuba]

oldgrandpa,

I'd be interested in seeing one of your "wetpack" experiments with my favorite carry round of the Cor-bon Pow'RBall in any caliber (.45, .40, .357 Sig, 9mm). It would be nice to see how the polymer ball acts on the expansion of the hollowpoint while retaining some penetration.

Great and informative post...

 

[oldgranpa]

more testing??

Hi Murray,
thanks for that neat article. It is amazing how close my expansion results were with the 5" barrel 1911 MilSpec and the Win whitebox JHP. I guess you can't get a penetration number in water though. Sure a great article. And yes, Win White Box 'personal protection' JHP is the way to go in full size, longer barrel pistols where the velocity is higher. Excellent price at WalMart and comes in 50/box so you can practice/test it and still have a bunch left over for carry.
GoldenSaber comes in 25/box which is not bad. Other brands are only 20/box and cost more.

Hi to oldtimer scuba,
well, I just wanted something a little better than Win whitebox JHP for my Bersa. Tests last month using Win whitebox were the same with the Bersa, not great expansion with the 3.6" barrel Bersa. A lot of reports on GoldenSaber showed it might work better, so I bought a box and sure enough it does great as shown by the results above. Bullet design makes the difference. So that's probably as far as I'm going with .45 tests right now. I'll carry it in the Bersa.
An old pro like you can make a newspaper wetpack and try that new Pow'rBall ammo. Just have lot's of soap and water handy when you take the wetpack apart after shooting into it. :roll: Nothing dirtier than wet newspaper. :lol:

Hey, Keys, thanks for the comments. The Bersa is a solid made .45, all steel and aluminum frame. No plastic. Recoil is very light considering it is a compact design. It handles the 230gr loads as easy as my full size SA 1911 MilSpec.
It will be my primary carry when I get the holster I ordered.

Cheers,
og 8)

 

[Midiman]

Re: Side view of .45acp JHP tests

Here's the side view of the bullets from the JHP tests above.
og

Interesting... I just bought a bunch of the Winchester USA45JHP for my as of yet undelivered mil-spec. Along with some of 165hr Hydras and a bunch of UMC 239gr FMJ.