Out of curiosity, some time back, I ordered some Lehigh 90 gr. all copper "Extreme Penetrator" .355" bullets for my .380 ACP Ruger LCP. I read a few "too good to be true" reviews on them and a couple of You Tube clips. Looked impressive. I finally got around to loading some up the other day and tried them at the local shooting range. Unfortunately, at this public range, I can only test for accuracy and chronograph speed. Not able to do any penetration tests or such. I loaded them per Lehigh's provided specs using 3.2 gr Titegroup and chronoed at an average of 940 FPS from my LCP with very good accuracy. Lehigh's published test data for this load was 950 FPS, so I'm pretty close in the real world. I was not trying so much for accuracy as I was for FPS results, but it was obvious to me that this load was probably more accurate than my shooting was. No issues whatsoever with feeding. Recoil was not an issue.
I did a lot more internet research last night on these and Lehigh's "Extreme Defense" .355" 90 gr 9mm bullets. From various sources getting very similar results as to terminal performance, these bullets really got my attention. I have traditionally leaned toward heavy bullets for "business" use, but these really look impressive for both penetration and damage. Has anyone had any actual experience using these in their own tests or situations? BTW, you can order these direct from the manufacturer. Free shipping with $100 order and no tax. If you want already loaded ammo, Underwood makes pre-fab ammo with these these bullets.
"...why, land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for,... because it is the only thing that lasts."
I'm very curious what the Extreme Penetrator bullets would do in my .357 and .44 magnums. It would really be interesting to shoot a hog or two for real life test results. Ballistic gel tests are good, but a wild hog test would be far better, IMHO.
"...why, land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for,... because it is the only thing that lasts."
I have handloaded Xtreme Penetrators and used factory Lehigh ammo in both calibers. The published handloading data is the same as what I am getting with factory Lehigh ammo. I can't use .380 or 9mm on big game critters here except in self defense, so I have had to use water jugs, meat and gel for my testing. Although I have info on water jugs on YouTube, here are gel tests with meat, bones and blue jean material. I carry factory Lehigh Xtreme Penetrators in my Glock 42 because they appear to be barrier blind and do not overpenetrate if they miss bone. I carry factory Lehigh Xtreme Penetrators in my Sig P365 when I am in the woods. Those have too much penetration for carrying on pavement, and I am happy with premium hollow points for carrying on pavement. I don't really see the point of a monolithic round in 9mm for self defense against people.
Turn the volume down because we have a lot of wind here. 954 fps out of my Glock 42. about 12 inches of penetration if they hit bone and about 14 inches if they didn't.
I have not been tempted to try the Xtreme Defense bullets in light of these results.
1152 fps out of a 3 inch Sig P365. They all missed the bone going in, but the first shot smashed a bone after going through the gel block. The third shot exited so fast that it moved the blue jean material.
For pure penetration, Buffalo Bore hard cast works as well. But, that is off topic.
YMMV. Good luck in your search.
Last edited by Cheyenne; 07/25/21.
"Don't believe everything you see on the Internet" - Abraham Lincoln
I'm going to run the 90 gr. Xtreme Penetrators in my .380s and the Xtreme Defenders in my 9 mm. Both of these are for "business" use. Since the .380 has quite a bit less velocity than the 9mm, the extra penetration should compensate for that. Thanks to all for the input.
"...why, land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for,... because it is the only thing that lasts."
I load the 90gr defenders in Wifes P365 to 1100 fps with Longshot, great shooting/feeding bullets for her, just for S&G's i loaded some up to 1700 fps also with Longshot in my P226 357 Sig, i haven't seen a more angry soft shooting little projectile since i started fooling with handguns, that sombitch is a little meanie!
