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Post by Woody Williams on Jul 4, 2014 11:33:42 GMT -5
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Post by parson on Jul 4, 2014 12:49:59 GMT -5
Indianapolis thugs must not be too tough. They're always killing one another with 9mm pistols.
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Post by dbd870 on Jul 4, 2014 18:12:08 GMT -5
Waste of taxpayer $$$$. What they have is fine, ball ammo is ball ammo. Wars are not won or lost due to what handgun an army has.
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Post by Woody Williams on Jul 6, 2014 13:12:07 GMT -5
I found this on the web
"It's all been done . . . before. All the Army has to do is talk to the Air Force -- the 124gr FMJ-FP as Hornady calls it was developed in the early 80s at the request of the USAF for a 9mm FMJ projectile with enhanced wounding performance and yet retaining full functionality of the traditional parabolic FMJ.
Back in the day (early 1980s) there was a push on to improve the terminal ballistic performance of US Military handgun ammo. This was undertaken primarily for 45ACP, but as the US Military was on the cusp of adopting the 9mm NATO as the handgun cartridge of the future, work was also done on 9mm bullets as well.
The efforts centered around the theory that pointy bullets penetrate, and flat-front bullets tend to dissipate energy more and potentially stay within the enemy. Bullets that penetrate were thought to transfer less energy, and bullets that did not penetrate through the body were thought to be more effective because all energy was transferred to the body, thus (theoretically) causing the most damage, and thus (theoretically) being more effective than round-nosed (45ACP) bullets or parabolic-nosed (9mm) bullets.
In addition to bullet profile, the study centered on boosting the bullet mass of the 9mm projectile. Again, increasing mass was thought to make a given projectile more effective.
Consideration was also given to functionality, because any bullet MUST be 100% reliable in feeding and functioning in a potential number of weapons in inventory. While the flat point was believed to increase energy transfer and reduce tendency to penetrate, the flat point also helped bullet designers to stuff a greater bullet mass into the same envelope defined by the available powder volume and the inside front wall of the magazine. Given the constraints for the OAL of the projectile, the trapezoidal, truncated cone sides of the bullet profile were found to function reliably.
This work was primarily undertaken for the Defense Dept by the Air Force, who worked in conjunction with Hornady on the bullet designs. The outcome was the then so-called "Air Force Bullet," a 230 gr FMJ-FP (Full Metal Jacket - Flat Point) in 45ACP flavor, and a 124 gr FMJ-FP in 9mm incarnation. Both bullets became "Da Bomb" for reloaders in the mid to late 80s. Personally, I standardized on it for both 45ACP and 9mm, and I have a few dozen full boxes of both types in component storage even now. I used to know the Hornady stock number by heart, but that was 25 yrs ago.
The ironic thing was when the US Military finally adopted the M9 pistol and 9MM cartridge, it stayed with NATO-spec 9mm ammo, keeping the 80 yr old parabolic bullet profile that worked so well in the Luger pistol, for which that profile was a requirement. At least it was so in the USMCR in 1986 when I got out. It is sooooo like the US Gubmint to spend taxpayer dollars on a multiyear study of something and then not put the investment to use.
Perhaps the Air Force did adopt the bullet for their use, but I have no direct knowledge of that."
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