Ruger is at it again

[cattleskinner]

Don't get me wrong, I love my Ruger handguns, but there seems to be an awful lot of copying going on there. I was at the gun shop yesterday and noticed they had these in stock....
http://www.ruger.com/micros/ammo/index.html?r=y

While they seem to be innovative, there is a striking resemblance to these....

http://www.lehighdefense.com/products/380-auto-90gr-xtreme-penetrator-ammunition?variant=1066236304

I guess there is nothing new under the sun:violin:

[dragon813gt]

They may have bought the company out. Happens all the time so it wouldn't surprise me. I'm not sold on these type of bullets so it's not like care.

[jmort]

From what I have seen, this design performs beyond expectations. If they sold the bullets as components, I would buy some and try them out. In the fullness of time, I would even buy the ammunition if it works as advertised for carry and home defense. Nothing wrong with Ruger doing this or even copying others. Like their copy of the 1911, its a real good "copy." Don't like Ruger, there are a lot of other choices. I don't believe Ruger created this, but rather, bought the technology, probably from Polycase. Probably a win-win. "Bigger" news than then new plastic tip Honady came out with.


http://www.ruger.com/micros/ammo/img/polycase-mark.png

[Maximumbob54]

I'm waiting for someone to figure out how to copy the stuff they are made from and work out a home molding process. Then I will get interested.

[Electric88]

They may have bought the company out. Happens all the time so it wouldn't surprise me. I'm not sold on these type of bullets so it's not like care.

I think it's just a copy. Lehigh has been doing some interesting stuff (worthy of being copied). I just ordered a handful of solid brass bullets for the 50 Beowulf from them. They are reported to be able to slam through engine blocks with ease. I figure if a Mack truck attacks, I'll be in good shape :D

[Maximumbob54]

The Polycase and Lehigh bullets are nothing alike but in odd shape. Lehigh are still all metal bullets while Polycase is using some sort of polymer with copper particles mixed in to injection mold bullets. If one is ripping the other off then every hollow point bullet out there is a rip off of whatever the first one was.

[Hickok]

My concern with these rounds is how to get the revolver/pistol to shoot to point of aim. Being very light projectiles with low recoil, the rear sight would have abnormally tall. Just thinking......

[376Steyr]

My concern with these rounds is how to get the revolver/pistol to shoot to point of aim. Being very light projectiles with low recoil, the rear sight would have abnormally tall. Just thinking......

You are undoubtedly correct that these will hit way low at 25 yards compared to traditional loads; however, I think their intended use is for encounters measured in inches, not feet.

[9.3X62AL]

More entrants into The Magic Bullet Contest. "Nothing new under the sun" was a succinct summation, this is another re-fry of the Super Vel 1970s "revolution" in which uber-light bullets were propelled to very high velocities to achieve.......well, gunshot wounds. No GSW ever did any recipient any good whatsoever, and I speak from personal and career first-hand experience. We need to remember the history of defensive handgun bullet development, and be cognizant of how we have as a shooting community gone from pillar to post in a search for the best possible combination of diameter--velocity--weight--expansion characteristics--ad nauseum to only once again arrive at the Super Vel V.2.0. I think what all of this activity says most clearly is that very few people are happy with handgun ammo offerings no matter what direction they take. Rest assured there is a profit motive driving a lot of this R&D, though it gets clad in a mantle of concern over defensive effectiveness. Next time that Mantle gets trumpeted in the gunrags or online, keep in mind the level of concern shown to its customer base by the ammomakers and component hawkers during The Great Unobtainium Event still under way at this writing in many areas of the country. Oh, yeah--they are a caring bunch, all right.

The best and most gainful boost to defensive potential is to HIT THE TARGET and HIT IT WELL. Bullets into the background are sound and fury resolving nothing and likely complicating an already nasty circumstance. 2 rounds right in the middle of where they are biggest, followed by 1-2 into the Brain Housing Group if possible. Re-administer as needed. Mozambique properly applied WORKS.

I don't write this to demean these bullet developments, but over-emphasis upon the arrow while ignoring the tribesman launching same is at best divided attention.

[Love Life]

Al- I thought your preferred the Speer 147 gr GD loading for 9mm?

On a serious note, you are dead nuts correct that only hits count. While I do like the fact that in the ballistic test nearly all the bullets tumbled (I like bullets that flop end over end in the target), you still have to hit the target.

[Electric88]

You are undoubtedly correct that these will hit way low at 25 yards compared to traditional loads; however, I think their intended use is for encounters measured in inches, not feet.

I would agree with this statement. A buddy of mine gave me some Civil Liberty hollowpoints in 45acp that he could no longer use. For anyone who hasn't seen them, they are a deep wicked hollowpoint, but they are really light. I think they are somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 grains, which is a far cry from a 230 grain bullet, or even a 185 gr bullet. I would think that the same is true for them though, that they are for up close and personal and not any sort of range.

[9.3X62AL]

Al- I thought your preferred the Speer 147 gr GD loading for 9mm?

Grasshopper.......don't bullyrag an old man like that. It ain't right. :-)

[dragon813gt]

Lead bans are contributing to these "new" developments. The more they spread the more prevalent these will become. Can't blame the manufacturers for developing these products.

[376Steyr]

There is a write up on the PolyCase ammo in the latest American Rifleman. Supposedly it is an outgrowth of technology for military, non-reloadable ammo. Apparently it functions okay in autoloaders and makes interesting holes in blocks of Jell-O. I didn't see any comparison as far as point of impact versus traditional ammo.

[Mytmousemalibu]

I would agree with this statement. A buddy of mine gave me some Civil Liberty hollowpoints in 45acp that he could no longer use. For anyone who hasn't seen them, they are a deep wicked hollowpoint, but they are really light. I think they are somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 grains, which is a far cry from a 230 grain bullet, or even a 185 gr bullet. I would think that the same is true for them though, that they are for up close and personal and not any sort of range.

The Liberty Civil Defense rounds are known for being able to penatrate some body armor, not surprisingly given the velocity.

My edc is loaded full of the latest Lehigh design, the Extreme Defense 9mm+P. Reliable solid copper bullets, nothing to fail, plug up, or anything else.

[tcbnick]

Remember oldpara and his Phillip head boolits

[jmort]

"Remember oldpara and his Phillip head boolits"

That was the first thing I thought of, the "Phillips Head" cast bullet. Unlike the others, the Ruger bullets has a twist/propeller action to it, it is not just 90 degree fins.

[Mytmousemalibu]

I would love to have a mold that cast a copy of the Lehigh Extreme Defense bullets. That's cheap practice and with a hard alloy and powder coated, it would be just as potent but with more weight/less velocity. The Lehigh's in the 9mm are 90gr. That design is a "Phillips" like bullet and was impressed with the performance in the review I have seen.

[9.3X62AL]

Lead bans are contributing to these "new" developments. The more they spread the more prevalent these will become. Can't blame the manufacturers for developing these products.

Point well-taken, Dragon. I'm unpacking my garage stuff/reloading debris currently from our recent move, and ran across some Barnes bullets I have yet to load in 22 and 6mm calibers. These are meant for varmints when the day comes that such things are required to blow rats up with. Pricey varminting, for certain. The game bullets (TSX and others) do good work on deer and elk, so I give them (grudgingly) some props for effectiveness.

[Markbo]

Once there are some actual shootings and autopies I will pay attention. Until then it is just the latest whiz bang beats all product that I wont choose over what I already have chosen.