Speer Lawman 9mm

Recently BulkAmmo.com kindly sent me a box of Speer Lawman 9x19mm 115gr. TMJ to try out, which is just a small sample of what they have available for bulk 9mm ammo.

The ammo is your typical 9mm ball, utilizing a 115gr. Total Metal Jacket, rather than the traditional Full Metal Jacket typically found in most 9x19mm.  FMJ, contrary to the name, actually leaves the lead at the base of the bullet exposed, whereas TMJ fully encapsulates the lead core.  Speer loads the Lawman with a lead-free barium or antimony primer, making the Lawman, as intended by the manufacturer, an ideal training round for indoor training alternative to their Gold Dot defensive ammo.  The rounds are brass cased and boxer primed, so they are reloadable.

The ammo is nicely packaged in the standard cardboard box and a plastic tray.  The rounds were nice and clean, with no corrosion or oxidation showing.

I don't have access to an indoor range, something I constantly lament this time of year, so today I braved the snow and cold to get some range time and see how the stuff shoots.  It was about 18 or so degrees, completely over-cast and lightly snowing.  Yay.

I warmed up the M&P with a couple boxes of TulAmmo, starting at 25 yards off the bench, and quickly realized that my current lack of practice, my apparent inability to put the rear sight back precisely where it had been when I installed the Apex parts, and the inconsistency of the cheap Russian fodder was going to give me a pretty poor baseline to compare accuracy.  So I moved the target in to about 5 yards.  As anybody who's tried Dot Torture, this can still be a challenge for a pistol.  Also, did I mention it was a bit chilly?

The Lawman chambered smoothly in the M&P, and felt ever so slightly snappier than the TulAmmo (note to self... you really need to get one of those chrono deallies...) I'm not sure if it was going faster, or if the case material may have made a difference in felt recoil.  However the Lawman also shot much closer to point of aim, and the groups were about half the size as I was getting with the Russian steel cased stuff.  I'm a bit embarrassed to post this photo, but here is a typical group from the Speer Lawman fired out of the M&P.

Definitely a better rifleman...............

All rounds cycled with out an issue, and all felt very consistent.  The empties showed no more extra wear than any other rounds I've tried in this gun, and the firing pin had no issues with the primers.

All rounds fired at the first strike, whereas the TulAmmo did have one failure to fire (It did fire on the second strike.)  In fairness to the cheap Russian steel, I did fire about three times as much TulAmmo as I did Speer today, however I have had other issues with the TulAmmo in the past.

Overall, the Speer performed well, and is a great training cartridge, especially for indoor use.

Cold Pic of the Day

18 Degrees and Snowing

So I'm about to head to the range.  Contemplating grabbing the snowshoes to aid in setting up the targets.  Wish me luck!

Surefire Extended AR Mag Video

To round out the YouTube/Big Mag theme for the day, Surefire just put out a pretty good looking video showing several of the benefits of their 60 and 100 round extended AR magazines.



I'm still not too enamored by the John Holmes-esque 100 rounder, and the "ambush" section shows why.  The guy they show prone lucked out and has his gun set up with an offset MRD, so he can cant the rifle to clear the mag in the prone and still accurately place rounds on target.  However, I doubt the Army or Corps are going to shell out the money for a whole new mount and sight system, simply to use the mag.

They also could have included a third section in there with the competition use for these.  That's a pretty big chunk of the market they shouldn't ignore with this product.

I would still love to get my hands on a 60 rounder though, maybe in a few years when (hah) the price starts to look more realistic.

Well, technically X+2...

...if they jack one into the chamber and top off the mag, but Tam brings up a damn fine criticism of mag bans.

I also can't help but wonder what difference it makes that two of the victims were high profile federal officials.  A similar number of gang-bangers get shot in Chicago or something and I doubt there would be anywhere near the public outcry, even if a 9 year old girl was hit in the crossfire.

ETA:  Uncle also brings up another bit of absurdity in regards to "high-capacity" magazines.  In that case, the Army should Colt.  You know how many soldiers are killed or wounded by automatic weapons fire every year?

I... Want...