165gr .40S&W Ranger SXT's / Ranger T's

[Brendank]

Did anyone manage to get 165gr Ranger SXT's /Ranger T's a while back when they were still readily available?
I have only come across the 180gr flavour of which I have a very limited supply.

Would love to test the 165gr version, would be my preferred flavour in .40S&W.
Any thoughts on it?

[Brendank]

Anyone?

[Teufel Hund]

Hi Brendank

I had a box of .40S&W 165gr Ranger SXT's, I got them when I bought my H&K USP Compact in 2000. Ater testing them in whet packs as well as a pig carcass, I decided not to use them for carry ammo, I shot the rest of them out during a training course. Expansion and penetration were not what I expected, some wouldnt even expand at all, same happened with the 180gr Rangers.
My personal favorite carry ammo for .40S&W is Winchester 155gr Slvertip, it has the highest listed energy of all the HP ammo I could lay my hands on. Test results were also extremely spectacular and pleasing. If I couldnt lay hands on Silvertips I would carry 165gr Golden Sabres which performed second best during my testing.

[Brendank]

Hi Brendank

I had a box of .40S&W 165gr Ranger SXT's, I got them when I bought my H&K USP Compact in 2000. Ater testing them in whet packs as well as a pig carcass, I decided not to use them for carry ammo, I shot the rest of them out during a training course. Expansion and penetration were not what I expected, some wouldnt even expand at all, same happened with the 180gr Rangers.
My personal favorite carry ammo for .40S&W is Winchester 155gr Slvertip, it has the highest listed energy of all the HP ammo I could lay my hands on. Test results were also extremely spectacular and pleasing. If I couldnt lay hands on Silvertips I would carry 165gr Golden Sabres which performed second best during my testing.

DD,
That's interesting... I have never had issues getting the 180gr Ranger SXT's to expand but have interesting seen failures in the 155gr Silvertip to expand...
The 155gr Winchester ST is fairly easy to find.

[Teufel Hund]

Hi Brendank

Here a pic of some .40 bullets after testing. Top row is 180gr Bottom row is 165gr
From left to right Speer Gold dot, Rem GS, Ranger SXT, Fed HS, Win ST 155gr

[BigT]

Did you test anything through barriers? Denim and other barriers are more likely to plug Silvertips than newer designs.

[Teufel Hund]

Hi BigT

Yeah, did shoot some rounds through two layers 1000d cordura, not sure which ones of these were shot through cordura and whether they were shot into the wet packs or the pig, its been 9 years since i tested these rounds, didn't make much notes on my findings back then, found these bullets stashed away in my closet the other day, all that i can say for sure is that the 165gr Ranger was shot into a wet pack which it totally penetrated and came to rest against a Kevlar pack placed behind the wet pack, the bottom Win ST hit some rib bone thus the dramatic expansion/weight loss. I also shot the same rounds through some auto windshields into wet packs, best performer there was a Speer GD cant remember the weight though but the bonded core had a huge advantage over the non bonded bullets. If shooting through a barrier i would definitely pick the new bonded Rem GS above Win ST. Unfortunately I haven't been able to obtain any. As a standard anti personnel round i still rate the Win ST extremely good.

[Brendank]

Hi BigT

Yeah, did shoot some rounds through two layers 1000d cordura, not sure which ones of these were shot through cordura and whether they were shot into the wet packs or the pig, its been 9 years since i tested these rounds, didn't make much notes on my findings back then, found these bullets stashed away in my closet the other day, all that i can say for sure is that the 165gr Ranger was shot into a wet pack which it totally penetrated and came to rest against a Kevlar pack placed behind the wet pack, the bottom Win ST hit some rib bone thus the dramatic expansion/weight loss. I also shot the same rounds through some auto windshields into wet packs, best performer there was a Speer GD cant remember the weight though but the bonded core had a huge advantage over the non bonded bullets. If shooting through a barrier i would definitely pick the new bonded Rem GS above Win ST. Unfortunately I haven't been able to obtain any. As a standard anti personnel round i still rate the Win ST extremely good.

Very interesting findings... in short neither the mid/heavy weight Ranger SXT's functioned well in your H&K.
I wonder if barrel length may not have had something to do with the expansion failures?

Pitty we don't have access to the Bonded Golden Sabers/Federal HST's/Ranger T's/Ranger Bonded JHP's...
That said I have found the 155/165gr Speer Gold Dots to work very well, expanding without fail in all the tests I have conducted, whether water/wetpack, clothed/not.
They are my carry round of choice.

[FTP]

I have some hordinay XTP's im going to shoot into a tellephone directory this sunday, ill take some pictures happy0065

[Porramedic]

Just when I thought that Brendank was Gunsite's resident ammo-whore he now has some competition from the Devil Dog ;D