Picture(s) A Day – 28 June 09

By Parrothead Jeff, on 29 June 2009

Y’all noticed anything around here lately? Yup, I’ve been a bit heavy on guns and planes. I acknowledge it. Hey, it’s my place on the internet, right

Yes, Kath, I will be changing up the content before too long

28 June 2009 - 7.62x39 Ammunition

Tonight’s subject is defensive ammunition. I got the idea for this post when I was loading up some of the 7.62×39 (AK-47) ammo I bought yesterday and noticed something different about the rounds in one of the boxes. Somebody somewhere goofed up and I happened to benefit from that mistake.

On the left is standard “ball” ammunition. It’s got a solid nose and a full metal jacket. This is the more common type of ammunition because it’s (usually) cheaper and made in larger quantities. Full metal jacket (FMJ) ammo is actually required to be used by military units in combat by the Geneva Convention because the wounds from soft point or jacketed hollow point (JHP) ammunition were considered to be too horrendous. The Geneva Convention also outlawed the use of spike type bayonets and mandated blade type bayonets for similar reasons, but that’s a post for some other time.

On the right is the ammunition I acquired by accident. You can see that it’s JHP ammo. Why do I say this was a benefit? Well, soldiers in a time of war might be limited by the Geneva Convention, but I most certainly am not!

My primary weapon for home defense is my 9mm pistol, but my primary backup is my AK-47. I may have to resort to the AK-47 as a primary weapon for some odd reason – you just never know. I hope and pray that I never have to use any of my guns for defense. If that fails, I hope the sight of my C9 is enough to cause the bad guy to have second thoughts. Likewise, I would much rather any bad guy to run away than make me have to fire in self defense if they see the AK-47.

If intimidation fails and the bad guy stupidly disregards the sight of an AK-47 with a 30 round magazine and a fixed bayonet as a trivial matter, I want to make sure every round counts. I would much rather use the JHP ammo for this because aside from the increased effectiveness, you also get less possiblity of overpenetration. I want to stop the bad guy, not see how many walls the bullet can go through after it’s gone though its target.

Both types of ammunition in this picture is Wolf “Military Classic” which works nicely in my AK-47. Yes, it’s very “dirty” ammunition and will fill your gun with a large quantity of powder residue and fouling. This might be a problem with something like an AR-15, but as I’ve said before the AK-47 is incredibly reliable. Bury it in sand, pour water over it, even run over it with a Hummer. An AK-47 will still work. Powder residue and fouling won’t even cause a hiccup

So, yeah, tha’t pretty cool for me

28 June 2009 - 9mm and .22 Magnum defensive ammunition

After getting the picture of the 7.62×39 ammo, I figured I should probably include some examples of my defensive handgun ammuntion.

From left to right we have a Speer “Gold Dot” 9mm 124 grain (grains are a measure of weight) +P (high pressure) JHP round, a Winchester “Supreme” .22 Magnum 34 grain JHP round, and a round of Cor-Bon “Pow’RBall” 9mm 100 grain +P ammo. Each has its own purpose.

The Gold Dot ammo is my preferred ammunition. Good ballistics, good penetration, not much in the way of over-penetration, and it gets the job done nicely. For some reason, it doesn’t feed all that well in the C9 for the first two rounds in the 10 round magazine. That said, it works nicely as the round in the chamber as well as the other eight rounds in the 10 rounder.

Continuing for the moment with the 9mm ammo, the Cor-Bon Pow’RBall ammo has a couple of very important features. See that plastic ball in the hollow point cavity? It’s there for a couple of reasons – those important features. Because of that plastic ball, it feeds just like FMJ ammo. Because of that, it’s my choice for those first two rounds that will feed from that 10 round magazine in the C9. It just feeds reliably which gives me a warm fuzzy feeling

Aside from making sure the round feeds properly, that ball makes sure the round expands. One possible problem with the normal type of JHP ammo out there is that the cavity can clog with clothing as it makes its way to a bad guy. A clogged cavity is a bad thing because the round won’t expand properly. The Pow’RBall makes sure this can’t happen.

All that said, I could happily use either of these rounds for defenive purposes. They’re both great rounds.

On to the .22 Magnum ammo. One of the reasons I purchased these rounds is that even though my Heritage Rough Rider is a great gun, even .22 magnum isn’t anywhere near what I’d consider powerful enough for use as a primary defensive round and it can use all the help it can get. Most .22 ammo, even if it’s .22 Magnum, is just a lump of lead. It might be copper plated, but I want an actual copper jacket if I can get it. This round is the best option I could find for use as a defensive round in the Rough Rider. It’s nowhere near as good as the AK-47 or the C9 for defensive purposes, but it sure beats hand to hand combat!

I realize that this is not a happy, happy, joy, joy, world full of rainbows, gleeful, carefree, everything is wonderful subject. It is, however, something I’ve had to think about quite a bit. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I hope and pray that I never have to use any of my guns in defense of my life or the life of another. If that situation ever comes to pass, I want to be prepared to do it right.

One other note about this post – I love my new camera To get these pictures, I set my Canon Powershot A1000 IS in long exposure mode with a 2.5 second exposure time, set it in macro (up close) mode, and set the timer for 10 seconds so I didn’t have to worry about shaking the camera. The “stage” I used for these pictures was my 20 gallon aquarium that now houses my corn snake. The screen top really worked well with a black T-shirt as a dropcloth/backdrop. The lens was only a couple of inches from the focal point for both of these pictures. I could never have gotten these pictures with my cell phone