DRT ammo experiences?

[TacticalPatriot86]

I am wondering what ya'lls experiences have been with this ammo? Thought about using it for some yotes and other ground critters, just thought I would get some more input before I purchased some. Thanks all

 

[TacticalPatriot86]

Nobody has used this ammo?

 

[the1kidd03]

I'm not a ballistics "expert" in the sense I get paid to research it, but I do have a fair amount of technical experience which applies. After looking through dozens of ballistics tests on this ammo and other popular brands and considering that information against FBI research and Ayoob's, if there is a round in production today that I'd be willing to put my life on, it would be the DRT.

I don't know what it is about their design, but the round's performance is incredibly uniform and consistant round after round. It doesn't penetrate too deep before expanding and it expands rapidly. Part of that is likely from the relatively high speed, with less mass which is similar to Ayoob's research indicating what is more likely to disrupt the CNS.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...0-fps-hydrostatic-shock-caliber-momentum.html

... I've had one confirmed use of the new DRT ammo in 9mm, and it was a nasty but shallow arm wound that fractured the ulna but immediately stopped. It showed signs of fragmentation as soon as it broke the skin. It was definitely not a stop. Ribs are stronger, and the skull is extremely hard. (Some harder than others, witness Tat7...) They are also curved and designed (or evolved, as you prefer) to deflect damage away from the organs that are behind them. Bullets that hit straight on a flat surface of bone have a better chance of getting through, but the ribs do a surprisingly good job of routing stuff away from your giblets.

 

[the1kidd03]

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...0-fps-hydrostatic-shock-caliber-momentum.html

Thanks for the quote. I've been quite impressed with the results in gel testing, however that doesn't include the bone structure prior to soft tissue. So far, there hasn't been a lot of documented cases of DRT being made public that I could find so it's nice to see some 1st hand experience. The ablity to penetrate bone was my concern with the round due to the lighter mass and rapid expansion. It would be great if there wasn't such a barrier, but that's not real life. If you were to look at Ayoob's old research overall, it seemed that this combination of lighter, faster round has a higher likelihood of disrupting the CNS and that is exactly what DRT is. However, that doesn't account for penetrating bones to reach vitals which is where the heavier loads would be needed.

On a similar topic, I was extremely unimpressed with a couple of .38 shootings I witnessed. Particularly the one last year involving the dog in a neighborhood. The shot turned out to be fired from basically point blank range, directly into the spine of the neck, and completely failed to sever it. The dog was a little dazed, but otherwise could stand, walk, etc. and was alive. Granted, I don't know what sort of ammunition was fired, but my combined experience with the caliber has lead to me swearing it off all together. I'm sure a more suitable round might have had considerably different results though. I wish i could go back in time and find out what ammo was used in those instances.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

On a similar topic, I was extremely unimpressed with a couple of .38 shootings I witnessed.

.38 runs the gamut when it comes to ammo. There are low recoil cream puff rounds and there are smoking hot rounds. The problem I run into is that the lab work can't distinguish between a .357 and a .38, and since revolvers keep their brass, I often can't know which caused a particular wound. To complicate it, even when we recover a gun if its a .357 that doesn't mean it was loaded with .357 at the time of the shooting. I've had at least one recovered with a mix of .38 and .357 in the chamber, since that's what Fred Felon could scavenge. It can be tough to keep good statistics given the relatively low number of revolver shootings we get these days and the inability to know how to categorize each one.

I'm ok with .38, but recommend 130-158gr and bonded ammo so it retains weight.