View Full Version : Updated(round tested) Magtech .45ACP bonded JHP?
Am getting ready to do an ammo order and saw this pop up at SGAMMO for about $23 a box of 50. Can't find much about it and was wondering if anyone had any experience of thoughts on the ammo. From the looks the bullet almost looks like a Speer Gold Dot at first glance, not saying it is, just from my sleep deprived first look. Now, am currently in the market to pick up a few boxes or a few hundred rounds depending on stock, of JHP for my 1911s. Currently been running Ranger T but haven't seen a good price on them recently and am down to only a few boxes, so this caught my eye and thought I'd tap the brain trust here for thoughts before deciding discretion is the better part of spending money and ordering HST or Speer Gold Dots. If this is GTG though might order a few boxes though.
Testing down on page.
Straight Shooter
10-01-14, 00:23
I have shot this in my Glock awhile back. No problems, and my friends reloaded the brass just fine. Ive shot a good bit of their 230 ball..I like it. Whilst on the subject of Magtech .45 ammo...they advertise a +P 230gr. load at a whopping 1007fps. I emailed them, and the response I got back was it was 100% safe, and within pressure. Im gonna buy a box and chronograph it out of my G21 to see.
Ive seen it for $15.99 per 20. Grant seems to also be liking Magtech lately from my reading here.
I have shot this in my Glock awhile back. No problems, and my friends reloaded the brass just fine. Ive shot a good bit of their 230 ball..I like it. Whilst on the subject of Magtech .45 ammo...they advertise a +P 230gr. load at a whopping 1007fps. I emailed them, and the response I got back was it was 100% safe, and within pressure. Im gonna buy a box and chronograph it out of my G21 to see.
Ive seen it for $15.99 per 20. Grant seems to also be liking Magtech lately from my reading here.
Yeah, Magtech seems to get a good deal of respect, and I want to say that CBC that is manufacturing the MK262 clone is also magtech. May just say to hell with it and grab a few boxes when I put in the order and try it out. For $23 a box of 50 I really ain't going to go wrong when that is what most places locally are carrying ball for unless you catch them on sale.
Straight Shooter
10-01-14, 11:42
True. Grant has some, and PSA has some really good prices. SGAmmo too.
For the price of 45 acp it at least worth a shot. I paid 2 dollars more a box for 9 mm 147 hst, last time I bought a case. Last time I bought 45acp hst or ranger t it was just above 30 dollars per 50, and case were like 650.
Test it in water if you get some, then you know what it does under optimal conditions. If it does not expand in water it is probably not worth buying again.
Redbeardsong
10-01-14, 20:08
The Magtech bonded ammo is good stuff. They developed it to compete with Speer Gold Dot for LE/Duty use. Clyde Armory sells lots of it. Magtech is a brand of CBC (Brazil), along with Sellier & Bellot (Czech) and MEN (Germany). Very good quality ammunition.
Going to do the order tomorrow, will likely grab a couple boxes and will let everyone know once I get time to get to the range. Don't know if I'll be able to do any ballistic testing though. But will give function/accuracy check.
You dont need to do any scientific ballistic testing, just shoot some water filled milk cartons. If you can.
You dont need to do any scientific ballistic testing, just shoot some water filled milk cartons. If you can.
Actually was thinking of a few phone books, but that might work too.
Anyway, have a couple boxes on the way. Once they get here and I get time am going to hit the range. If I do the phone books will compare it to my old carry load of Winchester Ranger T.
Okay, after a failed range trip, bad weather, and work getting in the way finally got to the range with the Magtech .45ACP 230gr Bonded JHP as was able to do some shooting and very nonscientific testing.
First, some pictures of the round next to other rounds I had available to photograph with it.
Left to right, 230gr Remington UMC JHP that I had laying around, 230gr Speer Gold Dot, 230gr Magtech Bonded JHP 230gr, 230gr Winchester Ranger-T, and a 230gr Ball round.
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Same rounds from top down. You will notice that while I thought the round was initially similar to the Speer Gold Dot, the Magtech's hollow point was slight larger.
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Shooting impressions, completely subjective mind you, fired out of my TRP, were that of the three rounds shot today, the Ranger-T was the stoutest of the three. No Surprise there really since I have found Ranger T to be a bit hotter in the standard pressure loading then most ball rounds. And yes, the Ranger T was a standard pressure loading not the +P. The middle of the three was the Federal 230gr Ball fired. And the softest recoiling of the three was the Magtech Bonded 230gr JHP. The recoil, or lack there of, from the Magtech was surprising. Now, I don't currently have a chronograph so I can't speak to how fast everything was running but I feel that the Magtech might be running a little lighter than the other two going by the below results.
Now at the range I only tested the Ranger T and the Magtech round and used the 230gr Ball round as a control. Was firing into phone books at 10 yards off hand and did initially run into some issues, mainly that my calculations of the number of books needed to stop a .45acp round was rather underestimated. The ball loading punched through and through without issue and the Ranger-T loading did the same, though the exit hole was much worse for wear and it would appear that it did achieve expansion going through the books. Of the initial test the only round that was captured was the Magtech round, making it about 3/4 of the way through the phone books. The round is shown below. It appeared to have clogged up while entering the target and achieved only minimal expansion. After added several more layers of cardboard that was pillaged from the trash bin I did manage to capture a 230gr Ball round and a Winchester Ranger T. The ball round didn't expand(No surprise there), and the Ranger-T did achieve expansion, though far from uniform, though that has been my generally experience firing into phone books. After pulling the Ranger T and ball from the books I did fire a couple more rounds of Ranger T and Magtech into the books, but with the pages pretty well shredded and running out of time I didn't capture any more rounds.
Picture of recovered rounds below.
Left to right, 230gr Federal Ball, 230gr Magtech Bonded JHP, and 230gr Winchester Ranger T.
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Conclusion: Well again, not scientific at all, just base observations to see what could be expected from the round and compare it to a round that is proven. Firstly, the Magtech round with it's wider cavity did clot up and not nicely it took a good bit of effort to remove the paper that was trapped in the cavity. I should have taken a picture before I started screwing with it, but I had expected to be able to recover more rounds and have a better than sample of one, and lord did I work to get that sample of one today. Will, next time, take a considerable thicker stack of books or perhaps by then will have a place where I can get away with water jugs or something. A chronograph would be helpful as well, and that is on the list for the upcoming year so.... That said, at the moment I am still going to stick with more proven rounds like the Ranger T that I have currently in my inventory. Again, not bashing the Magtech round, and not writing it off as of yet since I would still like to do some more testing and see others do some testing as well as compare it to other rounds like the Speer Gold Dot shown.
Final thoughts. One last point/thought that I would like to add. Again not picking on Magtech or the round even, but the box that the Magtech round came in is one of the worst I've dealt with. It is rather flimsy and I did end up playing 50 round pick up twice before making it to the range because the ends will open up and let the cartridge holder slide out if you are not paying attention. Just a final thought.
If you'd like to improve your home brew ballistic testing of the Magtech load, take a number of news papers and soak them in a washtub for at least 24 hours in a vertically piled, front to back fashion. They will swell substantially... Then, if you have an apple crate or laundry basket you no longer need, place them in the basket in the same way. Then, at your range, tilt the crate or basket up so you now face the newspaper front to back. 24 inches thickness of soaked newsprint will be sufficient to blow away phone books and give you a much better result and a greater understanding of how the cartridge will perform on flesh type tissue.
My personal experience with this particular load has been Stellar! I bought them from the Palmetto State Armory for $15.99 per box of 20 if I'm not mistaken but compared in price to the more familiar brands, is Remington, Federal, it is much lower in cost.
I have used this load for feral hogs on my Dad's ranch and it performed flawlessly from a somewhat custom Tanfoglio Speed Shop Gold Team Elite I'd purchased in '06. She's a vertically compensated 6 inch barrel and of course, the recoil being reduced, its a pleasure to shoot.
In the hogs, those the weigh in around 100 to 120 lbs have been dropped at up to 35yds with a single well placed shot. Some just behind the shoulder, some through the shoulder and two right behind the ear. The smaller feral hogs, 60 to 80 lbs hit the ground hard as the round dumps its energy... Just beautifully. I'm fairly certain the 6 inch barrel adds approximately 25fps to the 1007 as advertised and unfortunately the Hornady Custom 230 JHP+P has performed no where near the Magtech cartridge as the Hornady boasts only 461ft lbs of energy.
I've been blessed to be large enough to conceal my larger than necessary Tanfoglio and I carry this cartridge daily after having seen it's stopping power on even the largest of hogs in our trap and standing back in measured intervals of 3, 5 and 7 yards.
All in all, until I can afford to purchase a nice 10mm handgun, this cartridge will remain my end all, be all for all my .45acp chambered 1911's and my Tanfoglio. The Colt Combat Commander Custom in a Classic Stainless model feeds it like a champ and the 5inch Kimbers have eaten it up just as well, even the compensated Gold Match.
Get your Magtech 230gr JHP+P and enjoy!
Sincerely and Respectfully yours,
...~Benny
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