Handguns magazine, yea great source, has this to say about the new C duty.
Hornady’s new Critical Duty handgun ammunition is the only law-enforcement ammunition that currently exceeds the FBI’s minimum 12-inch standard for target penetration. That’s a bold statement.
To pass, bullets have to penetrate 12 inches into 10 percent ballistic gelatin through five different barriers: heavy winter clothing; dual-layer interior wallboard; 3/4-inch plywood; dual-layer auto-body steel; and laminated auto safety glass set at a 45-degree angle with a 15-degree offset. For the last four barriers, the gel is also fronted with a light clothing layer simulating normal indoor wear. Bullet upset is also measured as a means of wound channel comparison between loads having similar penetration.
Critical Duty sectioned, bullet, loaded ammo
The Critical Duty bullet features a polymer insert to prevent the hollow point from plugging, and the thin jacket is locked to the lead. The case is crimped into a cannelure to prevent bullet set-back.
No expanding-bullet handgun load has ever passed all the penetration tests, and the killer barriers have always been the glass and auto-body steel. But Hornady’s new Critical Duty exceeds the minimum 12-inch penetration standard for all barriers, and by significant amounts.
Hornady came and did a Critical Duty demo for my LE agency after we had a bad lot of Gold Dot .40’s.
Obviously they were shooting their stuff, but all of us in attendance were encouraged to “shoot what we brung” so we could get a small sample head to head comparison. Everything from 115 gr 9mm’s to 230 gr .45’s got shot out of attendee’s guns, and the Hornady guys ran every 9/ 40/ 45 round in the line.
All of this was done in accordance to FBI Protocol as best I could tell (range, calibrated gel, denim, etc) and the Critical Duty out performed everything on the line (which was mostly Gold Dots and Federal JHP’s) to the bullet if I remember correctly . I left impressed with it for sure.
I’ll see if I can get the chart that our range master made during those test and post it up here for all to see.
I want to think they did but I can’t remember for sure. I want to think that it wasn’t 230’s though.
It was pretty interesting to hear some of the tech that went into the Critical Duty stuff, apparently the polymer density and make up differs between nearly each cartridge/ velocity.
They also touted the Critical Duty as being superior to Critcal Duty in regards to barrier penetration. Based on the things that were said, I am very intereste in the Duty but not interested in the Critical Defense at all.
Out performed how? The testing Ive seen seems to indicate that it penetrates deeper but has lower expanded diameter compared to other duty loads from Speer, Winchester and Federal.
If I remember correctly, the Hornady stuff had better (and more consistent) expansion, and equal or better penetration. There were a couple of Gold Dots that clogged on the sheet metal test and turned into FMJ’s. The Hornadys either expanded as designed or mushroomed every time. I guess that was the most impressive part to me.
I wouldn’t say that the Hornady’s “crushed” any of the competition and a couple of the test were neck and neck with a slight edge to the Hornady stuff. I definitely wouldn’t complain if we switched over to them based on what I saw.
With that said,I actually left feeling better about my 124 +P Gold Dots than I did when I got there since I actually got to see it perform with my own eyes. It was one of the “neck and neck” test against the 135 +P Hornady load.
Hornady came and did a Critical Duty demo for my LE agency after we had a bad lot of Gold Dot .40’s.
Obviously they were shooting their stuff, but all of us in attendance were encouraged to “shoot what we brung” so we could get a small sample head to head comparison. Everything from 115 gr 9mm’s to 230 gr .45’s got shot out of attendee’s guns, and the Hornady guys ran every 9/ 40/ 45 round in the line.
All of this was done in accordance to FBI Protocol as best I could tell (range, calibrated gel, denim, etc) and the Critical Duty out performed everything on the line (which was mostly Gold Dots and Federal JHP’s) to the bullet if I remember correctly . I left impressed with it for sure.
I’ll see if I can get the chart that our range master made during those test and post it up here for all to see.
American rifleman has Hornady “Ballistics Scientests” (episode 248) orignal air date 6/20/12. They say that no other round up till now has met FBI protocol.
They also say their C duty expands when it hits the barrier thus an fully expanded bullet hits the gel.
“They perform better than anybody elses products.”
When discussing glass. “It will not under penetrate like alot of the bonded bullets will.”