Barrier Blind 308 Caliber Defense Bullets

Barrier blind bullets are designed to hit an obstacle where a portion either mushrooms or fragments leaving a portion of the bullet free to continue past the barrier in a relatively straight line to the intended target. These bullets excel at close to medium ranges, where for most of us any hostilities would happen.

Ball ammunition, the type the majority of us have in the highest abundance, will either fragment when it encounters a barrier (like a windshield) or deflect it's direction.

Bullets designed for hunting will fall somewhere in the middle of the two in this type of performance, with bonded or partition types (Nosler and Swift) doing the best of this group. Not all bullets in this group, however, will necessarily feed well in military style 7.62x51 rifles.

Due to hunting season and panic buying, hunting bullets and ammunition are difficult to find, and 7.62 ball ammunition is selling at greatly inflated prices.

If you "roll your own" and have the remaining components, here are two bullets that are designed for military and law enforcement barrier blind performance that are flying under the radar and available right now.

Mk 319 130gr SOST OTM:
This bullet was designed for the Federal Mk 319 SOST close quarters combat round. While Federal didn't make a sale they wanted on this the first go-round it's making a comeback. New production bullets are now available again and at bargain prices for a premium OTM bullet. This is also a very good bullet for 300 BO and at subsonic speeds the bonded petals mushroom and stay attached as opposed to detaching at higher speeds.

.308 130 grain SOST MK319 OTM bullets *New Production* | RMR Bullets 26.5 to 29 Cents per bullet


Nosler Bonded Performance 30 caliber 168gr
The Bonded Performance series was Nosler's answer to the Federal Trophy Bonded Bear Claw. The "protected tip" versions designed for law enforcement and self defense applications, so the construction is optimized for people as opposed to bears. This bullet is designed to expand quickly and retain almost 100% of it's mass while it continues to drive forward.

It's protected (flat) tip and solid base construction is also designed for barrier blind performance. Don't let the tip fool you, this bullet is designed to reliably feed in a semi-automatic. Below is a picture of the 30 Cal bullet next to a cutaway of the 224 cal 64 grain version to show that construction.


Even at closeout prices (the entire line has been discontinued) it's still $1.30 per bullet. Considering the cost differential between ball/range and premium defense ammunition this is not out of line.
https://www.brownells.com/reloading...-point-50-box-sku105001652-105122-202132.aspx

 

be careful if using .30 cal bullets in other rifles/chamberings, what performs a certain way in .308 Winchester may not preform the same in .30/06 or .300 Mag, I found this out the hard way, while the speed gaps don't sound all the large, there is usually enough to make a difference! The ONLY bullet I have found that will cross over to ALL .30 cal that can handle it's weight is the old Mil. Black Tips in the 165ish gr! These will slam through a lot of stuff that others cannot,, but care must be taken as 1) they can start fires by sparking and 2) they can bounce off hard stuff at angles! We tested them against windshields using am M-1 Garand in .30/06 and they would penetrate at all angles up to about 50deg, the Garand also closely approximated what we would likely see in the 7.62X51 loading for that bullet, so it checked that box! Things got really fun when we loaded these in .300 Win Mag, we were expecting them to do some what better, but were not expecting to see them slamming through some of the stuff they did, and as the speed increased, so did the penetration capabilities, but...........After about 3200 FPS, they will shed their jacket on impact ( Like a Sabot) and the penetrator tip will keep on trucking, but looses energy much quicker! These bullets will turn barriers into cover, and they will stop a charging F-250 Diesel in it's tracks!

 

WAHAHAHAHAHA and here I thought I was the only guy to try this! Me and some friends tried this years back. You are 100% correct. Mine peeled the jacket(was found on the ground in front of steel target) but seemed to dump it's remaining energy fast. 5/8" A36 didn't phase it @100yrds.

 

I found 223, mainly M193 went just about straight through a windshield.
Only slightly deflected by the angle of the windshield.
Obviously 22 isn't the ideal bore diameter stopping a vehicle threat, but it will kill.

No "controlled chaos" bullets?

 

Couldn't find them the last time I looked (like almost everything else that's desirable these days). Also, note that brass bullets are unlawful to shoot from a pistol, including AR and AK pistols. One more reason to SBR.

 

Controlled chaos is one of the few midway has in stock.

 

ATF Bans All Brass Ammo "Which Can be Used in a Pistol" - The Truth About Guns

EDIT: That's an old story - I recently read one dated this year that gave references. The rationale per the BATFE was that it qualified as armor piercing and thus illegal to be used in a pistol.

 

But solid copper bullets in 0.429" is fine.

 

From 18 USC sec. 921(a)(17):"(B)"
(B) The term "armor piercing ammunition" means-

(i) a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence of traces of other substances) from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium; or

(ii) a full jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber designed and intended for use in a handgun and whose jacket has a weight of more than 25 percent of the total weight of the projectile.

 

This is nothing but pissing in the wind, as every "Hot Core" type of bullet that isn't FMJ is in some way effected by the above ATF ban!
Further more, there is NO Armor piecing ammo that DOSN'T Have ether a Tungston core, or other super dense metal/alloy, and brass, copper, Beryllium, or Bronze can not/will not pierce armor, even at high rifle velocities!

 

I think it's the 25% or greater non-lead weight that would exempt the FMJ's. IMO considering the intent of the 2A AP ammo should be 100% legal. If .mil can have it then we, as the militia, should not only be allowed it should be encouraged.

 

Uh, we ARE talking BATFE... only they could take the agency dedicated to drinkin', smokin', shootin', and blowin' stuff up and pervert it into the no fun zone.

 

This all comes from the "Green Tip" bullshit from a few years ago!

 

So something is amiss!


Pure Brass here?

 

The code is so complex and convoluted that it can be interpreted multiple ways depending on who is interpreting it. IMO 18 USC should simply say "See Second Amendment of the US Constitution. Keep your friggin' mitts off the Citizen's right to defend themselves, their loved ones, their friends, neighbors and country from a$$hats who want to do them harm. I means it."

 

Honey badger works all the way down to 380 ACP.
Real nice in the 38 spl in a +p.

 

Now if you happened to have a 9mm folding stock "pistol" with a 35 round magazine and a box or two of +p+ you'd have a pretty effective personal defense weapon.

 

All the cool bullets don't stay legal