Steel Match (Hornady trial 2)

          This is the second part of my trial and review of Hornady ammunition. This time I decided to try out an economically pleasing brand they have called “Steel Match”. These bullets are encased in a steel shell as opposed to brass. The down side of this is that they cannot be reloaded, however, if you don’t reload your own ammunition anyway and you’re looking to save some money than this is for you.

                I fired nearly forty rounds of these 180 grain steel match hollow points before taking a few moments to evaluate their performance. I found them to be a very smooth shooting round and again, true to Hornady form, pretty accurate for a factory load bullet.  I did however encounter one small problem shooting these from one of the guns we had. The Ruger P944 .40 auto seemed to have a little difficulty ejecting some of these cartridges. About one in every five failed to be pulled out with this guns extractor pin. In the interest of fairness we decided to shoot the last of them through a different model .40 caliber handgun and had no problems.  This is probably because the Ruger’s extractor is a fairly thick sort of spring steel and just didn’t match up well against the steel cased cartridges. I would definitely recommend this to anyone with a polymer type or lightweight handgun such as Glock, H&K, Sig Sauer, High Point, or the like, but the heavier steel constructed firearms may have a problem cycling this ammo. You can find these bullets at Hornady’s website here.

Winner

We have a winner! Stacy, the owner of the blog Mom in training was the lucky winner of the persnal defense stun gun. Congrats to Stacy and thanks to everyone who entered. I am sure I will do another one at some point since it seemed pretty popular. In the meantime if anyone is interested in buying one of these stun guns they can email me and I will provide the details on how to do that for them.

Last chance!

     Hey everyone, just a reminder that the stun gun give away is ending today (I will officially count all entries before midnight tonight 4-15-11) so get yours in if you havent. Good luck to everyone who has entered and thanks for following. It has been brought to my attention that since the stun gun is a rather unique give away I should do it again sometime so everyone may have some more chances coming sometime as well. I think I followed everyone back that added me and left comments, if I forgot anyone please let me know and I will make sure i do. Have a great day and once again...Good luck!

Hornady Critical Defense

                  As I shared in my last post I have a firearm for home protection, and since self-defense is kind of the theme this week I thought I’d share some results I had recently with some defense ammunition I was given the opportunity to test out manufactured by Hornady. Hornady’s reputation in self-defense ammunition is second to no one. They have state-of-the-art equipment and high-tech underground testing facilities where the ammo is continuously checked for quality and reliability. They have one of the widest varieties of ammunition consisting of over three hundred different types of bullets and they put a lot of research into what works and what doesn’t so their bullets perform the way they are supposed to every time.  The first box I got to try out were the Hornady Critical Defense FTX hollow points pictured below.

   

          These rounds come in boxes of twenty and have a red rubber insert in the cavity of the hollow point to aid with the expansion of the round. This forces the bullet to open quicker and more evenly than many other brands of hollow point ammunition, limiting penetration and maximizing energy deposit.  The silver casing ensures high visibility in low light situations and also adds to the already asthetically pleasing round.
          One of the biggest problems facing many brands of hollow point bullet is penetration. Either the round opens too quickly and has trouble penetrating thick materials like leather or denim, or they penetrate too much and dont open at all. I found these Hornady FTX bullets to perform very well in this category. I tested the ammunition out on trap targets that had a double layer of denim over the front to simulate this type of obstacle and found that the insert Hornady places in these rounds does a very good job of preventing the cavity of the hollow point from getting clogged with material, thus preventing it from doing its job. Pictured below are three bullets. The first two on the left are a leading brand of hollow point ammunition and the one on the right is a Hornady Critical Defense FTX round. Its easy to see which one did its job better.

The first two rounds got clogged with the denim and were not able to fully open the way they are designed to do. The rubber insert of the Hornady FTX round (which i removed to better demonstrate how well it expanded) prevented this from happening. I also found this ammunition to be incredibly accurate for a factory load bullet, hitting the same spot on the target time after time. I would absolutely recommend the Hornady Critical Defense FTX round to anyone who wants a reliable, accurate self defense ammunition.

I did it at home.

                         “Don’t try this at home!” Haven’t we all heard that from time to time? Every day we are all reminded that the things we witness on television are for “trained professionals only” but do we ever listen?  I think it’s a safe bet that most of us have all tried something at home that we were warned not to at some point because no matter what they say on TV we all feel like we are trained pro’s. At Crazy dog T-shirts I found a shirt that tells everyone I’m not afraid to do it at home and possibly suffer the consequences. The “did it at home” T-shirt is one of the shirts offered in the funny section of Crazy dog T-shirts web site. They also have many other funny T-shirts as well as offensive T-shirts for those whose sense of humor may be a little bold. The communication is amazing with Crazy dog. They really put customer satisfaction first. I was actually surprised at how comfortable these cotton T-shirts were right out of the package.  They also have a wide variety of sweatshirts and hoodies available at very reasonable prices. Now with the help of Crazy dog’s funny T-shirt section everyone will know that I did it at home, even if I shouldn’t have.

Zombies among us

                                    Do you have a zombie survival plan? If the world was taken over by hordes of the undead would you know what to do? Would you know what weapons to gather? Where to go?  If you are a big fan of horror than you love zombies and if you love zombies than Costume Squad has something for you. They even have categories dedicated to things like zombie t-shirts, horror t-shirts, and Halloween costumes, but you don’t have to be a big fan of scary movies to find products you like at Costume Squad. They have a little something for everyone, including costumes from some of your favorite movies and clearance items for that last minute Halloween party you didn’t have time to prepare for. Whether you like to dress up, dress down, or anything in between you will be able to find something you like here. They even have costumes for your dog. Now tell me you don’t think the taco bell Chihuahua would look great in an Elvis costume. Can’t make up your mind?  That’s ok too, just visit their best sellers section for all the most popular choices and go from there.  The quality is top notch and the communication is great! Give it a shot, you won’t be disappointed. You can find the zombie survival plan T-shirt that I got in the zombie T-shirt section of costume squad’s website.

Fantasy football champion.

                                Every year I play fantasy football. I know it may be a little corny but it’s addicting and it seems like I get a little better every year. This past season I thought for sure I was going to become the fantasy football league champion but alas, it was not meant to be. So instead I have to bestow that honor on my friend. At Nachomamatees I found a t-shirt that will do that perfectly. The FFL t-shirt is brilliantly designed and states loud and clear that you are the best fantasy football coach in the world, well at least in your league. Nachomamatees has a section of shirts for anyone who likes winning, whether its fantasy football or not. Are you the kind of person that doesn’t buy anything unless you can get it really cheap? They have daily deals for $6.99 on all kinds of t-shirts. Funny, vintage, St. Patrick’s Day, they even have Chuck Norris t-shirts.  They offer free exchanges, global shipping, and their customer service is great. They also except pay pal as well as all major credit and debit cards, making it really easy to find something you like and get it delivered in the shortest time possible.  I found my fantasy football league champion shirt in the funny T-shirts section.

Be prepared

                 I was reading articles recently from various news agencies online and I came to the conclusion that no matter how far downhill this world travels there are things that happen every day that still shock me. One piece was about an elderly couple that was beaten and robbed over eighteen dollars. The woman’s injuries were eventually enough to do her in and the suspects left without as much as a trace to their identities. A second article described a woman who was physically assaulted and left in a coma after a dispute over a parking spot with a much larger man. 

                The two stories share a common bond. Criminals will do whatever they have to do to better their own situation and it doesn’t matter who you are or how innocent you may be. They prey on those who make the easiest targets such as the elderly and people much smaller than they are. They will use any advantage they can find to control and take advantage of their victims. Leverage is the only thing that matters in these types of situations and if you don’t have as much as they do you are in trouble.

                I have always been an advocate of self-defense measures, especially within the home or car. When I read these stories the only thing I can think is “If these people were better prepared, could they have escaped? Could they have fought back?” I own a firearm, which I keep locked in my home for protection, but guns aren’t for everyone and some people are understandably nervous about having them around, but there are many other less-lethal means of defending yourself and your loved ones available that many people don’t get to hear much about.

                A while back I had found a perfect gift for those who may be a little leery of carrying a gun for self-defense but would like to do something to be prepared in case they ever need to protect themselves or their family. It is a hand held 3.8 million volt stun gun with a built-in LED flashlight and carrying case. These miniature stun guns fit perfectly in a purse or strap to a belt and don’t look much different than a cell phone. They deliver a shock that can render a person temporarily disabled or unconscious, giving you precious time to fight back or escape an attack. They can be left in a glove compartment and if nothing else you would always have a bright flashlight around.

                They were reasonably priced so I bought a shipment of them and began giving them away to friends and family as gifts and they proved to be quite popular. Now I will be giving one of these self-defense stun guns away right here on my blog. If you are already following me just leave a comment to this post saying you want to be entered for a chance to win. If you are not following me just start following and post a comment telling me you are interested. One person will be randomly selected from the comments to receive a brand new stun gun for free. I will even pick up the shipping!

                So good luck! I look forward to meeting some new followers. The winner will be selected in 2 weeks on April 15th.