Yet another crop of supposedly high-tech, über-deadly bullets is appearing on the market, claiming to offer revolutionary results (usually at extraordinarily high prices). They include:
- The 'Multiple Impact Bullet', claiming to open out into a multi-projectile buzz-saw after firing, to ensure a hit (stupidly, ridiculously over-the-top marketing video here);
- The 'G2 Research R.I.P.' round, with a technically baffling description that appears to be all smoke and mirrors and very little intelligible science (marketing video here);
- Yet another ultra-light-weight, ultra-high-velocity round, 'Liberty Civil Defense' ammunition, that produces visually spectacular effects in target material. (See their YouTube channel for lots of videos, if you want to.)
As far as I'm concerned, Shakespeare's famous quotation about being "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" describes them all perfectly. I don't need to test them or see anyone else's tests of them. We've been here before in oh, so many different incarnations . . . Remember the hype about the so-called 'blended metal technology' used by RBCD Performance Plus ammunition? That was a charade from beginning to end, and was ruthlessly (and brilliantly) exposed some time ago. AR15.com has an excellent primer exposing most of the exotic ammo brands that have popped up, making extravagant claims, and then subsided into obscurity after being debunked. Go read it for yourself. I'm willing to bet that the products named above will prove no more substantial in their assertions.
The reason is very simple. All the major ammunition firms - Federal, Hornady, Speer, Winchester and the like - and, for that matter, the best smaller firms - Barnes, Black Hills, Buffalo Bore, Corbon, etc. - spend millions of dollars every year between them on ammunition research, development and testing. Their products are used by professionals such as law enforcement personnel, game rangers, etc., as well as private citizens who hunt, defend themselves and train with it. They sell literally billions of rounds every year. With that sort of market dominance, and that kind of revenue at stake, do you really think they aren't constantly looking for any technological edge they can get? If any one of them comes up with a world-beating product, it'll have a clear run at the market while everyone else races to catch up. Any one of the top companies in the field would give their left . . . well, you know what I mean . . . to be able to do that. The reason they can't is that all their competitors are trying to do the same. They're all improving their offerings incrementally, all the time, and 'keeping up with the Joneses' in the process.
These small, come-out-of-nowhere companies arrive with a big splash, putting out videos with dramatic footage and (usually) hard rock or heavy metal soundtracks portraying their allegedly 'world-beating' products . . . yet every one of them fades away after a while, leaving nothing behind. Why? Because it's nothing but hype from beginning to end. They're trying to sell snake oil. The fundamentals of good ammo performance are well-known - there's nothing secret or esoteric about them. All the major manufacturers adhere to those fundamentals in order to produce good ammunition. It's used by all major law enforcement agencies and top military outfits. What makes you think some upstart company that's come out of nowhere can suddenly overturn all that established science, technology and engineering, and do substantially better?
If products like these were so great, you can bet your boots that police forces, Special Forces units and others who bet their lives on their bullets every day would be beating a path to their manufacturers' doors. Indeed, many of these over-hyped products are alleged (by their makers) to be in service with such forces . . . but when it comes to actually identifying them and verifying their claims, they tend to clam up. They plead the excuse of 'non-disclosure agreements' or 'confidentiality clauses'. Uh-huh. If you believe that, there's a bridge in Brooklyn, NYC I'd like to sell you. Cash only, please, and in small bills.
Don't believe the hype. Find out what the major law enforcement agencies are betting their lives on every day, and use that ammunition to defend your own life. You won't find anything much better than that. Believe it.
Peter
