Author: Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson is an American author, editor and entrepreneur.

A former police officer and trainer, he left public service and founded Tac6 Media, LLC.

Richard is a prolific writer with hundreds of articles related to firearms and law enforcement published by Harris Publications, Athlon Outdoors, NRA, Police & Security News, The Firearm Blog, Human Events and more.

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Ammunition

Hornady Critical Defense Ammunition: Purpose Built for Concealed Carry Guns

Hornady Manufacturing recently announced a new line of personal protection ammunition: Critical Defense. The Critical Defense line of ammo is specially designed for small, compact firearms frequently carried concealed for self-defense.

The Critical Defense ammunition features a hollow point bullet the same style of “Flex Tip” polymer tip that Hornady uses in the LEVERevolution line of ammunition. The tip prevents the hollowpoint from being plugged with clothing and helps ensure expansion. Because of the Flex Tip technology, Hornady claims to achieve “100% reliable expansion every single time.” Subsequent gel testing by independent parties seems to support this claim.

Hornady Critical Defense 357 Magnum Review

The new Hornady ammo is not designed to meet the FBI test protocols used by some law enforcement agencies when choosing ammunition. Rather, Critical Defense ammunition is designed to operate in small, concealed carry guns against clothed attackers–not through steel and glass as required by the FBI testing. For ammo that meets FBI protocols, scroll down this page for information on the company’s new Critical Duty line of ammo.

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Ammunition

.327 Federal Magnum A Viable Self Defense Caliber?

Ever since Ruger and Federal introduced the .327 Federal Magnum in November of 2007, I have been intrigued by the potential of this caliber. Granted, any new firearm caliber has a serious uphill battle to be accepted by the general shooting public. But, the .32 has been around and used for self-defense since the 1800s. Let’s be honest…the .32 has never been known as a “man-stopper,” but is has had a small portion of the firearms market. Could the .327 Federal Magnum make the .32 a serious self-defense caliber?

After Ruger’s introduction of the SP101 chambered for the new cartridge, Charter Arms released the Patriot series of revolvers chambered for the .327 Federal Magnum. In the Jan/Feb 2009 issue of American Handgunner, John Taffin tested the Patriot and gave his opinions on the gun and caliber. Out of the 2.2″ barrel on the Patriot, the 115 grain Speer Gold Dot was smoking along at about 1230 fps for more than 385 foot-pounds of energy. The milder-recoiling 85 grain Federal JHP was in the 1220s with more than 280 ft-lbs of energy.

Those are respectable numbers for a self-defense firearm, especially when you consider they are coming out of a 2.2″ barrel. In a short carbine, I imagine the .327 could be a fantastic small game gun.

To my knowledge, no one has been forced to use a .327 Federal Magnum in a self-defense shooting. Without a stack of positive results from “the street,” I’m hesitant to recommend this caliber. However, if you prefer a .32 caliber firearm, the .327 is a vast improvement over the .32 H&R Magnum and its predecessors. With speeds in the 1200s, the bullet will expand after striking, unlike the bullets out of the weaker .32’s.

Update – Speer added another Gold Dot load for this cartridge. The new load uses a 100-grain bullet that is rated at a blistering 1,500 fps. This is exceptionally fast. I would imagine that this load in a lever-action rifle would be incredible. It should be more than adequate to provide for home defense and could even be a decent combination for taking small to medium size game.

Another Update – Ruger no longer makes the SP101 with a 3″ barrel for this cartridge. They do make the gun with a 4.2″ barrel for it now. While you get the benefit of additional velocity, I wonder how much harder it is to conceal the gun. In an IWB, it should not be a problem. However, in an outside the waistband rig, the extra barrel length may be visible from under a short jacket.

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Ammunition

Wolf Ammo Ban Does Not Exist!

wolf ammo 223 spamcan

During the past few days, there has been a firestorm of questions and panic on the Internet forums regarding the US government banning all Wolf ammo from being imported into the United States. A lot of the information thrown out there is incorrect. To make it perfectly clear:

The US government ban on Rosoboronexport does not apply to the consumer importation of Wolf-branded ammunition.

Here is what is going on…

On August 4, 2006, the U.S. Department of State announced sanctions against Rosoboronexport, because the Russian government, who controls Rosoboronexport, violated the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000. In December 2006, the ban was confirmed and extended two years. The ban prohibited the United States government, not its citizens, from doing business with Rosoboronexport.

On October 23, 2008, the U.S. government announced a new two-year ban that prohibits itself from doing business with Rosoboronexport. This ban relates to Russia selling anti-air missiles to Iran, presumably to defend against air-raids on the Iranian nuclear programs. The new ban is, in effect, simply an extension of the old ban that is set to expire in December 2008. Again, this ban only prohibits agencies of the U.S. government from doing business with Rosoboronexport.

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Categories
Handguns

Kahr P380 Pistol: Kahr’s New .380 ACP Pistol

Kahr P380

Kahr Arms has announced they are shipping a new pistol chambered in .380 ACP: the Kahr P380.

Maintaining the distinctive styling of the larger Kahr pistols, the P380 is a DAO (double action only) pistol that features a black polymer frame with a matte stainless steel slide. The firearm holds six .380 ACP cartridges in the magazine and ships with two magazines. The Kahr P380 has a 2.5″ barrel and a choice of standard or night sights.

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Categories
Ammunition

Federal Nyclad Ammunition in .38 Special to be Reintroduced at 2009 SHOT Show

Federal Premium Ammunition will be re-introducing the Nyclad in .38 Special at the 2009 SHOT Show according to the folks at the Pro Arms Podcast. During a show on “snub nosed” revolvers, one of the participants made the announcement.

The Nyclad line of ammunition was developed several decades ago and became popular as one of Federal’s self-defense lines of cartridges. The .38 Special self-defense load was a 125 grain, standard pressure round that featured a soft-lead bullet with a very deep hollow point. The bullet was coated in a jacket of polymer, similar to nylon, that allowed the bullet to reliably expand all even low velocities.

Many experts feel the 125 grain Nyclad hollow point was the best standard pressure cartridge loaded for the .38 Special. It offered excellent expansion with a relatively light recoil in even the lightest of revolver frames. My own informal testing seemed good out of a model 642 Smith and Wesson (1 7/8″ barrel), and Evan Marshall’s research tended to show good results in the street.

Until Federal confirms or denies this information, it is merely a juicy rumor at this point. I have seen a lot of people snap up the remaining old-stock of Nyclad whenever it has shown up at AmmoMan and other places. I suspect it will sell very well if re-introduced.

Update

Update: Federal did re-introduce the Nyclad. Scroll down for additional information from the SHOT Show.

The re-introduced Nyclad is a .38 Special load that uses a 125 grain hollow point bullet. The load is rated at 830 fps, which is in line with the original Nyclad load. Federal designed this load for reliable expansion at low velocity. While it would not be my first choice for personal protection, it is a great choice for anyone who carries a .38 and needs a low recoil load due to injury or infirmity.

Check out this video showing how well this load performs in gel through the denim test.

Report from the SHOT Show

Federal Premium Ammunition re-introduced the Nyclad in .38 Special at the 2009 SHOT Show. Available only in .38 Special, the Nyclad round is a standard-pressure, self-defense load with a nylon clad 125 grain soft lead hollow point. The nylon coating allows the bullet to reliably expand at low velocities, unlike traditional copper jacketed hollow points which normally require faster velocities in the .355-.357 bullet size range.

The .38 Special loading pushes the 125 grain hollow point at 830 fps for a muzzle energy of 191 ft-lbs. While this may not seem like a real “manstopper,” keep in mind that the Nyclad proved to be excellent in its class. For a firearm not designed to handle +P pressures, or for someone that is especially recoil sensitive (such as someone who is arthritic), this is a mild recoiling cartridge that will reliably expand.

The Nyclad line of ammunition was developed several decades ago and made its way into one of Federal’s self defense lines of cartridges. The original .38 Special self defense load was a 125 grain, standard pressure round that featured a soft-lead bullet with a very deep hollow point. It appears that the new Nyclad ammunition will be a close copy of the original.

Many experts feel the 125 grain Nyclad hollow point was the best standard pressure cartridge loaded for the .38 Special. It offered excellent expansion with a relatively light recoil in even the lightest of revolver frames.