Federal 9mm Tactical Bonded 135+P LE9T5

[Irish10]

This round keeps coming up as one of the most recommended 9mm defensive rounds but I can't find any ballistics or other type testing of it. What type of bullet does Federal use in this ? I doubt it's the HST as I think the round was developed before HST hit the market so I'm assuming it's a bonded version of the Hydra Shock. Can anyone confirm this or point me to some test data. I managed to find a few boxes at an Estate Sale and for the price couldn't pass it up.

[Fail-Safe]

It is NOT a bonded HydraShok. I can tell you that much. Its almost like a bonded Hi-Shok. Becuase it used to be so hard for me to get, I never considered using it. I could only find a few boxes at a time. When I did shoot it, I found it to be extremely avvurate out of my old SIGs.

[Irish10]

Thanks, it is a fantastic round. I put two boxes thru my P7M13 yesterday and it was very accurate and soft shooting for a +P round. It's weird as the boxes are just marked 135grn but the cases are all +P stamped. First time I have seen that.

[nihilbilly]

its a bonded hollow point round. the HST i believe isnt bonded(never used).

anyway its on doc's list of g2g rounds, so he might be able to provide some info on testing.

[Entropy]

I've been using it on duty for quite a while. What testing I have seen, it seems to open up pretty reliably, slightly larger than the Gold Dot, and does well in barrier testing.

I believe that Federal designed the bullet from scratch to be thicker around the nose to withstand windshield testing better. The one thing that really tears up the 9mm is the windshield test, because it sheds so much of the bullet around the thinner nose. I've found it to be very accurate as well. Ballistics wise, its more like shooting a standard pressure 147gr load.

[BC98]

Ballistic data on this page:

http://le.atk.com/general/federalproducts/pistol/tacticalbonded.aspx

[DocGKR]

The Federal 135 gr Tactical works very well as noted below--it is one of the best 9 mm loads available.

9mm Fed 135 gr +P JHP (LE9T5) from 4" S&W 5906, 5 shot ave:
Bare: vel=1070 fps, pen=16.0", RD=0.58", RL=0.36", RW=126.6 gr
Denim: vel=1067 fps, pen=16.3", RD=0.55", RL=0.45", RW=134.0 gr

[Wayne Dobbs]

Doc,

Do you have the windshield test numbers for this round?

[DocGKR]

It was an older test that I don't have access to here at home, but I recall it going about 12" of penetration, expansion around 0.50", and it lost about 25 gr weight or so. Next time we shoot gel, I'll pop one through a windshield for you.

[rezin23]

How does this compare to the 124+p gold dot load?