Recovered bullets

dickttx · October 8, 2011, 12:07 PM

I was trying out a new to me 9mm Colt Commander this week. Haven't done much with 9mm in the past.
I was shooting into my pond dam, on which I had some time ago stacked several bags of play sand behind the target.
After fining several rounds I went looking for a bullet.
Found the two below.
The lead on the left is a .45 ACP, 200gn RNFP from MBC, loaded with 5.0gn of HP38.
The plated on the right is a 9mm, 115gn plated HP from Rainier, with 4.7gn of HP38.
The .45 bullet I recovered was fired from 50 feet and weighed 198.8gn.
The 9mm bullet was fired from about 21 feet and weighed 114.4gn.
Both were recovered from the sand.
Just thought it was interesting that the 9mm expanded like it did and retained it's weight. Don't know what the original actual weight was, just the nominal weight.

Hammerhead · October 8, 2011, 01:05 PM

Was the sand wet?

dickttx · October 8, 2011, 02:06 PM

WET???
There hasn't been a drop of rain there since April!!

Hammerhead · October 8, 2011, 02:42 PM

Oooh, sorry, didn't see your location.
bad summer down there. My Minnesota born niece, a Lawyer (unfortunately), couldn't handle the weather in Dallas, quit her job and moved to Madison WI.

I hope things improve for the state of Texas.

michaelcj · October 8, 2011, 04:12 PM

I grew up in Fort Worth in the late 40's through the 50's. Remember the "second dustbowl" in the mid 50's. Camp Bowie Blvd. was still brick clear out pat Ridglie Hills. Can's say as I miss it much. If I could send you some NW moisture I would.

MJ

dickttx · October 8, 2011, 05:15 PM

My wife grew up in the Riglea area and graduated from Arlington Heights in 1955.
She just went to a class reunion at Angelo's Thursday evening.

m&p45acp10+1 · October 8, 2011, 05:21 PM

It is not a big surprise to me that the plated bullet expanded. The copper plating is thinner than paper, and the lead core is near to pure soft lead.

Oh and I grew up just south of you in Joshua. Here in the Ft. Hood area we have not fared much better. Though I hope theese clouds bring some rain. The lake here is way low. I am picking up fishing lures like crazy though. What once was a stump field is now dry cracked ground. At least I get to recover my crank baits from the cove.

dickttx · October 8, 2011, 06:10 PM

That would be like Christmas, getting to harvest those crank baits.
In the 70's my teen son and I bass fished. We bought lures by the dozens when we found a good price! We could lose them almost as fast as we could buy them. Also threw Ambassador reels and custom rods overboard twice. Add the Ranger Bass Masters Classic rig and the pickup to pull it, and fishing got expensive.
Notice I am in a good mood this evening. Boomer Sooner.

Mike / Tx · October 10, 2011, 04:50 PM

Well I hope you got a bit of rain this weekend, least we did over round the Palestine area, but got close to 7 inches here at home over two days. Today you can't even tell.

That 9mm jacket sure looks to be a bit thicker than just plating, you sure it's just plated and not a standard jacket?

Most plated bullets I have recovered, hardly had any plating left on them.

slammedsi · October 10, 2011, 10:48 PM

I noticed my plated rounds doing the same. On a lighter note, We got 2.6 inches at my ranch here in North West Texas. 50 miles West of Wichita Falls. Looked like the same line headed right through Ft Worth.

dickttx · October 10, 2011, 11:00 PM

Finally got some rain in Fort Worth! 4 1/4" Sunday. Don't know if we got any at our place up by Gainesville. Both ponds completely dry there.
I ALMOST make it to Vernon quite frequently. My Dad lives at Hobart. Turn north at Oklaunion.
I was kind of suprised at how the plated bullet mushroomed and retained nearly all its weight.

slammedsi · October 11, 2011, 09:36 PM

Yep Good old Oklaunion... Better not blink going through haha.

I noted that when shooting the 45acp plated bullets, That they didnt expand. But on 38 super/9mm they did. I tossed that one up to the FPS of the round tho.

jimbob86 · October 11, 2011, 09:43 PM

I have recovered a 230 gr Ranier HP expanded into a perfect mushroom, recovered from the dirt bank, after going through a bowling pin......

zplinker · October 11, 2011, 10:31 PM

Bowling pins and dirt are both a considerably tougher medium than what one is likely to encounter hunting or in self defense. Milk jugs full of water are pretty close to what you will see, using calibrated ballistic gelatin. Water tends to cause bullet/jacket separation more than it should, but otherwise, its cheap and sometimes a real eye opener. Couple layers of denim, maybe an old leather coat, all make for interesting and useful test additions. A lot of my 'premium' self defense pistol loads became 'plinking ammo' after some testing!

October 8, 2011, 02:06 PM	#3
dickttx Senior Member Join Date: May 29, 2011 Location: Fort Worth Posts: 500	WET??? There hasn't been a drop of rain there since April!! __________________ Education teaches you the rules, experience teaches you the exceptions (Plagiarized from Claude Clay)

October 8, 2011, 05:15 PM	#6
dickttx Senior Member Join Date: May 29, 2011 Location: Fort Worth Posts: 500	My wife grew up in the Riglea area and graduated from Arlington Heights in 1955. She just went to a class reunion at Angelo's Thursday evening. __________________ Education teaches you the rules, experience teaches you the exceptions (Plagiarized from Claude Clay)

October 8, 2011, 05:21 PM	#7
m&p45acp10+1 Senior Member Join Date: May 3, 2009 Location: Central Texas Posts: 3,930	It is not a big surprise to me that the plated bullet expanded. The copper plating is thinner than paper, and the lead core is near to pure soft lead. Oh and I grew up just south of you in Joshua. Here in the Ft. Hood area we have not fared much better. Though I hope theese clouds bring some rain. The lake here is way low. I am picking up fishing lures like crazy though. What once was a stump field is now dry cracked ground. At least I get to recover my crank baits from the cove. __________________ No matter how many times you do it and nothing happens it only takes something going wrong one time to kill you.

October 8, 2011, 06:10 PM	#8
dickttx Senior Member Join Date: May 29, 2011 Location: Fort Worth Posts: 500	That would be like Christmas, getting to harvest those crank baits. In the 70's my teen son and I bass fished. We bought lures by the dozens when we found a good price! We could lose them almost as fast as we could buy them. Also threw Ambassador reels and custom rods overboard twice. Add the Ranger Bass Masters Classic rig and the pickup to pull it, and fishing got expensive. Notice I am in a good mood this evening. Boomer Sooner. __________________ Education teaches you the rules, experience teaches you the exceptions (Plagiarized from Claude Clay)

October 10, 2011, 11:00 PM	#11
dickttx Senior Member Join Date: May 29, 2011 Location: Fort Worth Posts: 500	Finally got some rain in Fort Worth! 4 1/4" Sunday. Don't know if we got any at our place up by Gainesville. Both ponds completely dry there. I ALMOST make it to Vernon quite frequently. My Dad lives at Hobart. Turn north at Oklaunion. I was kind of suprised at how the plated bullet mushroomed and retained nearly all its weight. __________________ Education teaches you the rules, experience teaches you the exceptions (Plagiarized from Claude Clay)

October 8, 2011, 01:05 PM	#2
Hammerhead Senior Member Join Date: May 31, 2004 Location: Minnesota Posts: 2,432	Was the sand wet?

October 8, 2011, 02:42 PM	#4
Hammerhead Senior Member Join Date: May 31, 2004 Location: Minnesota Posts: 2,432	Oooh, sorry, didn't see your location. bad summer down there. My Minnesota born niece, a Lawyer (unfortunately), couldn't handle the weather in Dallas, quit her job and moved to Madison WI. I hope things improve for the state of Texas.

October 8, 2011, 04:12 PM	#5
michaelcj Senior Member Join Date: June 15, 2011 Location: Lopez Island, WA Posts: 279	I grew up in Fort Worth in the late 40's through the 50's. Remember the "second dustbowl" in the mid 50's. Camp Bowie Blvd. was still brick clear out pat Ridglie Hills. Can's say as I miss it much. If I could send you some NW moisture I would. MJ

October 10, 2011, 04:50 PM	#9
Mike / Tx Senior Member Join Date: April 8, 2000 Posts: 2,101	Well I hope you got a bit of rain this weekend, least we did over round the Palestine area, but got close to 7 inches here at home over two days. Today you can't even tell. That 9mm jacket sure looks to be a bit thicker than just plating, you sure it's just plated and not a standard jacket? Most plated bullets I have recovered, hardly had any plating left on them.

October 11, 2011, 09:43 PM	#13
jimbob86 Junior member Join Date: October 4, 2007 Location: All the way to NEBRASKA Posts: 8,722	I have recovered a 230 gr Ranier HP expanded into a perfect mushroom, recovered from the dirt bank, after going through a bowling pin......

October 11, 2011, 10:31 PM	#14
zplinker Senior Member Join Date: February 21, 2011 Location: way out here Posts: 262	Bowling pins and dirt are both a considerably tougher medium than what one is likely to encounter hunting or in self defense. Milk jugs full of water are pretty close to what you will see, using calibrated ballistic gelatin. Water tends to cause bullet/jacket separation more than it should, but otherwise, its cheap and sometimes a real eye opener. Couple layers of denim, maybe an old leather coat, all make for interesting and useful test additions. A lot of my 'premium' self defense pistol loads became 'plinking ammo' after some testing!