As previously posted, the new Remington Golden Saber Black Belt ammo was announced at the 2013 SHOT Show. Since the original article, I have obtained additional information on the ammunition.
The initial calibers the Black Belt ammunuition will be loaded for are 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .357 SIG and .380 ACP. This pretty much covers all of the popular self defense and law enforcement calibers on the market. Several of these calibers have multiple loads available (more on those below.)
The Black Belt is named for the distinct black Mechani-Lokt belt used by Remington to lock the jacket and core together. This is a mechanical process that gives the bullet an hourglass shape. The Mechani-Lokt pulls the jacket into the lead core much like a tight corset would pull in a woman’s waist for a similar hourglass figure.
This band prevents jacket separation which is a much demonized issue. In the theory espoused by many, if the jacket and bullet stay together, stopping power is increased. While I don’t think this factor alone means much, there is no doubt a heavy bias by many in the law enforcement and self defense communities toward “bonded” bullets. So, if you are in the market of selling ammunition, you have to come up with a process of preventing jacket separation.
Like the original Golden Saber bullets, the Black Belt bullets use a brass jacket, not a copper jacket. Also, the nose of the hollow point has spiral cuts, which Remington states creates “…reliable and predictable expansion through clogging barriers such as wall board and heavy clothing.”
The cases are nickel-plated, which is supposed to reduce corrosion. The ammunition uses a reduced flash propellant and an optimized primer that is also supposed to help reduce muzzle flash.
The Remington Golden Saber Black Belt ammo will be available in both 25 and 50 round packages.
Surviving the Street: Guide to Concealed Carry of a Firearm
Essential information on concealed carry. This book has just the basics - not a lot of fluff to get bogged down in. Easy to read, Surviving the Street introduces the reader to the important information you need as an armed citizen.
The author presents frank information about self defense in a way that is easy to understand and use.
“In Okinawa, belt mean no need rope to hold up pants.”–Mr. Miyagi
Interesting concept, but the expansion is unimpressive and why does Remington need overpressure to get standard performance found in many Eoropean plinking rounds like Geco and Fiocchi (124 gr / 1180 fps)?
Hi Marc,
I haven’t seen any expansion tests on the Black Belt (yet), but if you have a link, please share. I’d like to take a look at them.
I know that Remington follows SAAMI specs, but don’t know if Geco or Fiocchi do. They might follow CIP standards, which if I recall correctly have a marginally lower pressure rating for 9mm, but are proofed to 130% above that rating. I don’t know if under CIP they can run the lot pressures to that 130% max and still be considered “ok.”
If so, the 130% would take the pressure for non +P to roughly 44,000 PSI, whereas the SAAMI standard for standard pressure is about 35k and +P is about 38.5k. Big differences.
Of course, Remington’s powder choice makes a huge difference in pressure and velocity. To achieve their desired flash reduction, a specific powder was used, which may build pressure more rapidly as compared to bullet velocity.
Or the burn rate of the Remington powder may make for a more accurate round in the 9mm load. Or…well, the possibilities are pretty open.
If speed is the deciding factor for someone, I still like the Federal PBLE 115gr JHP +P+ load zipping along at 1300+ FPS. It runs great in my Glock 19 and is relatively cheap compared to some of the exotic loads.
Just my 2 cents…
-Richard
I judged the expansion purely by the posted image and the apparent similarity to standard Golden Saber expansion, so I might be mistaken about that.
But I can answer your question about CIP pressure standards: The proofing pressure is for proofing only, the maximum pressure is not to be exceeded in any case for commercial ammo. There’s a formula which also includes the pressure deviation to ensure the pressure of a given lot is within limits, if you’re interested I could look it up and post it.
Well that looks like one serious karate-chop bullet. Was there something wrong with the original Golden Saber?
Yep – it didn’t have a black band!
Well, the original Golden Saber wasn’t bonded and jacket separation could result. The bonded GS is probably more expensive to produce. I’m guessing this does the same thing as the bonded, but at a cheaper cost.
[...] this looks interesting. Rather than jumping on the bonded bullet bandwagon, Remington simply bands the brass jacket to the [...]
Hey Richard, it looks like the Black Belt has the same bullet head exposed as the original, but with the black belt showing as well. Do you know if Remington trimmed down the casing length, or is this round slightly longer? We currently use the old Golden Saber so it would be interesting to know.
By the way, we’ve had good results with the older Golden Saber. We’ve occasionally recovered expanded bullets from the berm and have found good expansion and mass retention. Our “soft tissue” tests have only come from gel shoots though.