An article about gimmick ammo I wrote. The blog is not mine, but the article is. As always, I'd like to hear your opinions.

QuoteEvery year we see several new "advances" in ammunition. These new products are invariably hailed by their makers as revolutionary. Sometimes the whole company is new. They promise something with ammunition that has never been done but they rarely deliver. You see, ammunition is a mature field. There are occasionally incremental advances in metallurgy or propellants, like the use of bonded bullets and low flash powders that began more than a quarter century ago, but more often, these "advances" provide no actual performance advantage.

Often, the claimed advance amounts to absolute snake oil such as the ARX Inceptor. The bullet is powdered copper in a polymer matrix. It supposedly takes advantage of some hydraulic alchemy to create wounds similar to those created by a rifle. That is not hyperbole, the manufacturer actually claims that pistol ammunition is capable of producing rifle-like wounds. In reality, it functions like a FMJ, at least when it doesn't fragment.

The rest of the article is here, if you're interested.

I would love to see a 10mm 200 grain Golden Sabre round. That black band stuff is a gimmick.

I concur on both counts

I too have without too much research stated that the "Gimmick Ammo" is just that, in my opinion as well.
Why do I say that?  What is a bullet?  What purpose does it serve?

Plain soft lead projectiles are capable of inflicting lethal results and are very cheap to produce.  They can foul the bores of firearms...

Semi jacketed was used to help eliminate fouling with the added benefit of higher velocities.

Jacketed and fully jacketed ammo was made to eliminate lead fouling, especially in rapid fire and automatic or sustained firing due to increasing sustained heating of the barrels.  Here we have FMJ, TMJ, JHP, Bonded, Hollow Point and Expanding and non expanding type projectiles...Here some perform various functions better than others in the intended targets.

Armor piercing ammo was made to defeat certain armor types.

Now we see the market being saturated with the "Gimmick Ammo", some of which has uses, like lead free ammo, fragmenting, non ricocheting, exotic materials and shapes cut on Robot CNC machines...it has served to drive a more expensive price per piece.  Yes some look very futuristic looking and down right purrty!  Some actually work well as designed!  Some cost many times more than jacketed or alloy and not any more effective the cheaper counterparts.

Much of this, I also call "Gimmick Ammo", "Snake Oil", Hyped Up Sales, which in a market of potentially unaware buyers, new buyers, that are easily swayed to pay the price none the wiser!

BTW good article Andrew!   

Thank you. It's always unethical to take advantage of an unaware consumer by making claims that are untrue or a product that meets claims by doing something useless. It is particularly unethical in this field. I view defensive firearms like safety devices. A manufacturer would be sued into oblivion if they marketed a small, pressurized bottle of water for putting out grease fires in the kitchen.

I thought you were going to rip G2RIP ammo.

I was never for gimmick ammo. I actually carry FMJ for defense a lot of times.



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What matters most is putting shots where they need to be. 

Excellent article Raggedyman. Thanks again for articles like this and all your testing. Unlike a lot of other youtube testers, I respect your opinions and use them in choosing ammo.

Good article.  Thanks!

I would like to think the older I get the less likely I will be duped by marketing ploys.... it still gets me from time to time.

Thanks for the encouragement, guys.