Improvements in handgun ammunition

The search for the most effective police handgun cartridge is not a new one. For years, firearms experts attempted to determine the caliber, velocity, and bullet type best suited to the wide range of law enforcement needs. Many different recommendations surfaced over the years, each touted as the answer to law enforcement's prayers. Yet, only the most foolhardy would attempt to name the winner for the title of best police handgun cartridge from among the many contenders.

The inability to decide on the best available cartridge resulted, in large part, from a lack of empirical research on handgun cartridge effectiveness. In the first stage of quality research, researchers must decide how to measure the item being studied. In this case, the actual characteristics of an effective police handgun cartridge had never been determined, so no yardstick with which to measure cartridge effectiveness existed until recently.

Cartridge Effectiveness

In 1989, the FBI's Firearms Training Unit released a report that provided law enforcement with the first meaningful operational definition of cartridge effectiveness.(1) This report represented the first major attempt to apply the scientific method to evaluate handgun cartridges. Other research predated this report;(2) however, the earlier studies generally lacked the rigor contained in the 1989 report and could be described better as preliminary research or informed opinion than as quality empirical research.

The issues identified in the FBI's report subsequently were translated into testing procedures.(3) These procedures required a cartridge to perform well, even after penetrating various substances that might be found in a law enforcement shooting situation, such as plasterboard, windshield glass, car door metal, and other commonly encountered barriers. Not surprisingly, the report on this controversial subject received a rather hostile reception in some quarters. Some experts continue to assert that only field analysis of actual shooting incidents will provide an accurate answer to the question of cartridge effectiveness.

Although debate continues on the merits of field versus laboratory study procedures, laboratory procedures have at least one distinct advantage - ammunition manufacturers can duplicate the test procedures in their own laboratories for the purposes of product development and improvement. While the relative merits of the FBI's testing procedures may be debated, it generally must be conceded that the testing procedures provide a useable yardstick for ammunition manufacturers. The obvious question, then, is: What have manufacturers done with this available yardstick for measuring police handgun cartridge effectiveness?

Table 1

The trend found in the .45 and 10mm calibers also is present in the 9mm Auto. A comparison of the average wounding value of the 9mm from 1989 to 1992 shows an almost 20-percent increase (W=1.32 to W=1.56). While the change is not as significant as that of the .45 and 10mm, it still clearly indicates cartridge improvement.

The 9mm tests do not show as much improvement as the others primarily because of the presence of the 9mm 147 grain HydraShok bullet in the 1989 tests. This cartridge was dramatically superior to the other cartridges and biased the 1989 test average upward. The 147 grain HydraShok continued to test well in subsequent years, but slight changes in the cartridge and significant improvements in other 9mm cartridges edged it out of the top three ranking for the 1992 tests, as shown in table 3.

Conclusion

The evidence from all three cartridges reveals the significant improvements in handgun cartridges over the past 3 years. The best ammunition available today performs considerably better than the best ammunition available in 1989. The credit for these improvements should be attributed to two main factors. First, the work of the FBI's Firearms Training Unit set the stage for the evolution of better-performing handgun cartridges by developing a useable testing procedure. In fact, one of the cartridges improved by this program had been in service for almost 90 years with only minimal refinements to its capabilities. Only when a workable standard was established did the manufacturer significantly improve its quality.

Second, credit should be given to ammunition manufacturers. A number of manufacturers, including some not referenced in this article, responded to the challenge presented by the FBI's testing procedures and produced a higher quality product. As a result of the combined efforts of the manufacturers and the FBI, law enforcement officers today have significantly better quality ammunition available to them than they did just a few years ago.

Endnotes

1 Urey W. Patrick, Handgun Wounding Factors and Effectiveness (Quantico, VA: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Firearms Training Unit, 1989).

2 For other research predating the FBI report, see W. J. Burchey and D. E. Frank, Police Handgun Ammunition Incapacitation Effects (Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice Report 100-83, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1984) vol. 1; and R. C. Dobbyn, W. J. Burchey, and L. D. Shubin, An Evaluation of Police Handgun Ammunition: Summary Report (Washington, DC: Law Enforcement Standards Program, Report 0101.01, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975).

3 1989 Ammunition Tests (Quantico, VA: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Firearms Training Unit, 1990).

4 1992 Ammunition Tests (Quantico, VA: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Firearms Training Unit, 1993), vol. 4.

5 For additional information on wounding value, refer to the introductory section of any of the FBI's Ammunition Tests reports.

COPYRIGHT 1995 Federal Bureau of Investigation
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