Hello,
I'm looking to see if any of you have opinions about the EPFMJ federal ammunition that Ammoman has.
I read his article here www.ammoman.com/40_EP_DESC.htmat his website and ordered some.  
I did some informal tests in wet phone books with 9mm and .40cal. (yes I know its not scientific and no I'm not preparing for the upcoming onslaught from bellsouth)
I found that they expanded consistantly every time.
I was thinking of making this my primary defensive ammo for home and urban carry situations. It seems it would bridge the gap between frangible and full power hollowpoint loads.
Do any of you have any experence with this ammo or know of concerns /reasons why I should look for another load.

my concern would be too little penetration if I had to shoot thru something.

Yeah, thats my concern for frangible ammo but from what the article says is that the EPFMJ round was developed for penetrating barriers  and then 12" of flesh.(if I'm reading it right)

"        Over three years ago, the Research Group of Federal, under the leadership of Dave Longren, Bruce Warren and Larry Head, began a serious analysis of the performance of all hollowpoint bullets of every manufacturer, including Federal's Tactical and Hydra Shok. The validity of the FBI test protocol had long been established and with the assistance of the Law Enforcement and Military Sales division of Federal, which gathered actual shootings information from agencies, the need for a more consistent "through barrier" projectile became apparent. In a joint program with Tom Burczynski, of Experimental Research, Inc., Federal focused its efforts on the FBI events that included heavy clothing, plywood and wallboard. They knew that the hollowpoint had to be capped or covered, and yet achieve the expansion characteristics that the LE community demanded from current bullets. The solution became the new Expanding Full Metal Jacket (EFMJ) projectile that Federal introduced at the IALEFI and IACP conferences in the late fall of 1999. "

"All production and preproductions samples met the FBI minimum penetration criteria of 12 inches in the mediums tested. "

That round seems to be the perfect choice for those who live in states that don't allow their citizens to use hollow point ammo.  Well, until they get around to banning it as well.



    Vulcan94

The Federal EFMJ is often frowned upon because it doesn't consistently expand as well as the above mentioned loads. In the test results I have seen, some calibers using the EFMJ have a failure rate of 20% or more when it comes to expansion. In fact, Tatjana posted a thread relating to this in which pictures were also shown. I think she got those from ammolab.com. Also, even when the bullet expands properly, it doesn't have the sharp, jagged edges like the Gold Dot and Ranger. Smooth edges often push tissue out of the way, but not doing as much damage to it as other bullets with the "talon" like edges. With the sharp edges, this flesh is collected and cut as the bullet passes through. This can lead to a generally more severe wound and promote more bleeding. The EFMJ is certainly an interesting load. But it appears that it needs some tweaking to become as effective as some of the other designs. Based on what I have seen and what the experts recommend, I would favor the Ranger or Gold Dot over the EFMJ at this time. -Charging Handle

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