I came up in my law enforcement career during the time when the only nine mm ammo was military, full patch, and over penetrated everything. The auto loaders built for the 9mm were notorious for jamming when you needed them most. In fact the first Federal agency I worked for the, old Bureau of Narcotics...under the Treasury Department...outlawed the carrying of the 9 mm in any format. I carried a 45 acp 1911 not the A1...but the older model. It had been built in the early years of production for the Army...my Grandfather had owned it, I think he stole it from the Army after the first World War.

The nine is a high pressure/high intensity round running 30,000 to 35,000 psi where the 45 acp runs around 18,000 psi. With the full patch bullets the potential of the nine mm was being wasted. Because the 45's bullets are near a half inch and blunt, and at a much lower velocity, even in full patch they didn’t over penetrate and yet they were, and still are, highly effective in law enforcement. The era of reliable and effective expanding bullets was a good 15 to 20 years away back then.

When the craze for the 9mms in law enforcement started in the late 1970s and spread into the 1980s...it was the autoloader handgun that carried the round into law enforcement. The U.S.’s police forces and agencies for the most part carried revolvers. The Illinois State Police was the first large police agency to go with auto loaders...and they were in nine mm. That was in the early 1970s, they started with S&W model 39s...then they went to H&Ks. But they had problems with the full patch ammo and it’s ineffectiveness.....and the push was on to find effective jacketed ammo for the 9mms.

Enter Super-Vel....this fledgling ammo company at the time was lowering bullet weight and upping the velocity of the 38 special ammo and doing a brisk business with police departments all over the country. And Super-Vel finally started doing it with all calibers of handgun ammo. Their 9mm ammo was the first or one of the first, to use light for the caliber hollow point bullets at accelerated velocities....I first tried their 9mm ammo in an all steel version of the S&W mod.39, that S&W was trying to market to my agency. I was the head of a state drug control agency at that time in the 1970s.

Their 9mm ammo was excellent...but their 45 acp ammo was even better. My agents were allowed to carry what ever they could qualify with as long as it carried more than 500 lbs of muzzle energy....that excluded most 9mm ammo. Our under cover operatives could carry small handguns that didn’t meet that requirement only during actual operations. My guys (and Gals) tended to carry heavy handguns and calibers..there were a lot of 41 magnums as well as some 44 mags. And a goodly number of 45 acps. But a number of small Star nines were carried in undercover operations.....

But 99% of the time it was the big guns. In fact one of my lady agents, in 1972, was approached by a idiot bad guy at night in a parking area...he demanded her purse at knife point...she gave it to him alright....right on the side of his head with her best Willy Mayes swing....She had a N-Frame S&W 41 magnum in the bag. He went to the police ward of the hospital with a very severe concussion.

Today nine ammo is excellent and makes all the difference in the world to the old stuff from back in the 1960s and 70s. Even with short barreled autoloader handguns like my Kahr 9 the ammo expands and dumps a good amount of energy into it’s target.

One of the surprises that I had happen was when testing the 9mm ammo from revolvers...Ruger SA 357 magnums, with the extra cylinder in 9mm...I fired the ammo from a 7 and half inch barrel Bisley model and from the SS 4 and 5/8s barrel model. First thing we must realize is that because the 9mm is so short a round, .848 to .850 actual ammo measurements. And the 357 is 1.28 inches actual measurements, there is nearly a half inch difference. Also in the revolver cylinder the nine has nearly an inch more barrel length then it has in comparable autoloaders. So for example, the velocity from revolvers marked four inches and autoloaders marked four inches (barrel lengths) will be substantially different. With the higher velocities going to the revolvers with the longer burning lengths. And the chambered 9mm autos having less barrel length, much lower velocities.

For example my Kahr 9 has a measured 3.5 inch barrel...but when the round is chambered the measured length is 2.4 inches! In a Ruger Mod.101 revolver, in 9mm with a 3.5 inch barrel....loaded you get from the muzzle to the nose of the bullet 4.3 inches! That is nearly 2 inches difference in burning length, which translates to actual barrel length. And the surprise is the 9mm out of that length barrel is not comparable to the 38 special....even the plus p 38s. It is more comparable to the light bulleted 357 magnum ammo.

From my Ruger 4 and 5/8s barreled 357 revolver...the 9mm Federal 135 grain Jacketed H.P. ammo went over the screens at 1377 fps 568 ft.lbs.....out of the little Karh9 it just broke 1100 fps and 361 ft.lbs. But and it is a big ‘but’.....they both expanded in extremely soaked phone books. The Ruger’s round went two inches deeper then the Kahr’s round. Both opened to 63 caliber plus. Both held together very well and BOTH passed the heavy clothing test.

The FBI tested 9mm ammo after the disaster they had in Miami with the 9mms performance. I differ in my conclusions to why the 9mm seemed to have failed in that shoot out...but what the FBI and I do agree on is...some Jacketed H.P. ammo will not expand when it passes thru heavy clothing first. The hollow point gets clogged with the clothing matter and the bullet becomes in essence a solid....with over penetration and little shocking power or energy dumping in the intended target. I tested a number of 9mm JHP bullets thru leather and into soaked phone books. My-my were we surprised.

The Starfire JHP 95 grain 9mm load is a very sexy round and it is certainly high velocity at 1300 fps out of the short barrel Kahr9. It will expand to well over 60 caliber in the soaked books, and the penetration though somewhat shallow isn't bad for it's weight.

But as you can see in the photo bullet #1, it failed the heavy cloth test. The hollow point filled with jenes material, it then over penetrated thru the phone books. Yet bullet #5, the Federal Scorpion JHP expanded in the phone books thru cloth, then thru leather and even heavy cardboard. And next to it is bullet #6, another FC 135 grainer that I shot directly into the rear end of a running coyote. It was in the shoulder when I dug it out fully expanded to over 65 caliber....better then the phone book test.

Using a 150 grain cast bullet in the Keith design sized .356 in 9mm cases, I was able to easily brake 1200 fps for 490 ft.lbs. from the short barreled Ruger. The nice thing about the soaked phone books is you can trace the wound channel and measure it's size. The Federal load gave a 2 ½ inch radial diameter (that's across/length)for ten inches in depth and stopped in 13 inches overall. The Keith load from the Ruger at 1200 fps gave a 1.75 inch radial cavity and penetrated 14.5 inches. The FBI states any bullet should give at least 12 inches in penetration for enforcement purposes.

Twelve inches in any living animal...man or otherwise...is very deep. A lot less will kill just about any human. And I would think six or seven inches in any human is adequate for law enforcement...that's not six or seven inches in phone books but in humans. Paper even wet compresses and slows a bullet down well....same bullet and load shot into jello would go further. All these tests are designed to see how the bullet will operate...but it is imperative that street stats be looked at for positive knowledge of bullet performance before it is accepted for enforcement.

I won't be telling you new news when I say the larger the caliber and the blunter the nose of the bullet the more transference of energy and shock to the target. I was involved in and investigated a number shootings involving 355 to 358 caliber bullets....at various velocities from a number of different guns...including the 9s (.355) the 38 specials (356/358) and the 357 mags...

The various 125 grain 38 powerPlus and 357 magnums are very effective....several of the 9mms are also...it’s all according to what bullet is being used. Remington's scalloped hollow pointed bullets of any weight are excellent. The 125 grain Remington load in 357 ammo is one of the best. But the whole genre of 125 grain bullets in plus P 38s and 357s on today’s market are very good.

A number of the 115 grain JHP 9mms are also very good. Like Federal, Hornady Gold Dot, and Cor-bon...but I have witnessed, been in, and investigated a number of 45 acp shootings also. The problem with the statistics and the 45s is that hard ball shootings are mixed in with the new breed of JHP loads...so it lowers it's one shot stop ratios. The truth is....a 180 grain to 200 grain JHP from a 45 acp is every bit as good as a 357 high velocity 125 grain JHP. And the 40 caliber craze is probably confirming that. You don't think there is one wit of difference between the 45 acp JHPs and 40 S&W JHPs in design do you, except for waist size?

For a police weapon I am still convinced the 45 acp is the minimum...I have little knowledge of the 40 S&W and 10mm in actual combat...they came after me...but if their test stats carry over well into actual shootings and I don't see why not, then they should be excellent. Lets face it the 355-358 calibers have to work to get to 452 caliber. Some of the commercial 45 acp ammo doesn't have to expand it's already large and blunt...but it expands anyway and really becomes deadly.

But the 9mm has come up a long way in my estimation. And for personal protection and or a back up small auto...with this new generation of ammo I think it is dependable. Cor-Bon has always made outstanding ammo...always a cut above the field in velocity and bullet performance. That hasn't changed with it's 9mm ammo. I am hard pressed to duplicated their ammo with reloads. And of course I carry manufactured ammo...so Cor-Bon or Federal is on the top of my list. Part two of this article will be the test results.

Bullet #3 is the 95 grain Starfire fired into phone books. #2 and #4 are Cor-Bons fired into phone books at 100 yards...still deadly even at that range. The three in the lower row are the noses of loaded ammo to show the differences in frontal mass...#1 is a nine, two is a 40, and three a 45...it speaks for itself. As is said a photo is worth a thousand shootings....or some such.

We have a goodly number of states now that give CCWs, last time I counted it was well over 30. A number of gun store owners in the Tucson Metro area tell me that there is a brisk business in 22 LR and 25 Auto pistol sales. I am sure that a 22 auto loaded with Stinger (CCI) ammo would be very detrimental to a criminal....but a 32 auto is better and a .380 auto is even better. The only place a 25 auto should be carried is in a pawn shop window! Even if it is better then a broken bottle.

But we are still talking marginal ballistics with the 380 and under. Thou I have to admit there is some ammo for the .380 on today's market that does make the .380 a nasty little round...head and shoulders above the rest of the mini-autogun calibers. At across the room, or parking lot distances, it may not be a sure stopper but it is most certainly a sure dissuader.