Glockin' in the Free World

Took Glock's small-frame big-bore to Marion County Fish & Game for some chrono work in the pistol bays today. I brought the last ten rounds of that Hydra-Shok and a box of Magtech 230gr FMJ that I purchased from Lucky Gunner.

I set the chrono up at nine feet from the muzzle. It was 63°F and 54% humidity at about 720 ft ASL according to weather.com and the map.

Federal's 185gr Low Recoil Hydra-Shok load is... well, I'd be interested to see what the "high recoil" stuff is like. The box flap claims an average muzzle velocity of 1090fps. From the Glock 37's 4.5" barrel, the numbers were as follows:

LO: 1049
HI: 1089
AV: 1075
ES: 39.58
SD: 13.92

First, that's good consistency. Second, that's crowding the numbers for 10mm loadings from non-specialty manufacturers. Sure, boutique houses like Double Tap or Cor-Bon will load a spicy Ten, and Federal loads a hotter Trophy Bonded hunting bullet, but that's zippier than Federal's own 180gr 10mm Hydra-Shok.

The Magtech 230gr FMJ was a lot more pleasant to shoot. It was downright docile, in fact, and it was easy to nail 8" plates with fast, repeated hits at thirteen yards. Numbers for the Brazilian ball ammo were:

LO: 762.1
HI: 847.6
AV: 810.8
ES: 85.49
SD: 24.43

Note that the fastest and slowest rounds of that ten-shot string were separated by nearly 100fps, and that the standard deviation was nearly double that of the Federal Premium stuff. In case you were wondering what the extra money for premium self-defense ammo gets you, other than fancy bullets, there you go.

Compared to the last .45ACP 230gr FMJ I chronoed in a 5" 1911, this stuff only gives up 10fps, and it's running in a half-inch shorter barrel.

Should we run 2,000 rounds through this thing? Well, we're already 140 rounds in since the gun was last cleaned or lubed, with no malfunctions, so we might as well. 1,860 rounds to go...
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