Silvertip vs BPLE: Battle of the Legacy 9mm Loads

Another good thing about the 9BPLE is that it's still relatively cheap to obtain compared to more modern defense ammo.

Very informative test on those bullets. Thanks for testing them.

Nice video Sir

Thanks for the video! My imagination or Hrfunk and 1ShotTv are somehow related?

Silvertip is a good close in round. It would create a large wound channel without the civil lawsuit event after the fact of over penetration.

If you do it again try the Hydra-Shock vs HST..🤯

There’s a book that does the forensic study of that shootout including actual photographs of Platt and Matix after the shootout. Drawings show the Silvertip penetrated Platt’s right arm and when it exited,the arm, it was tumbling as it entered the side of Platt’s chest coming to rest just short of the heart. At that time only SWAT trained agents could carry a semiautomatic.

Ahhh,, I would not won’t to carry that 9bple or the silver tip,

Good evening, HRFUNK and family. Great video. This was so cool. I love bullet ballistics. I don't know about you. I'm having my glass of makers mark 46 now. 🍻 cheers to you

I'd say the Black Talon (from a non-LEO standpoint) was more vilified (at least in the media) than the Silvertip.

I carry the 9bple in my 3” barrel carry pistol. I believe those fast burning powders. It’s loaded with makes it do well in a short barrel.

A very interesting test! I also carried the 115 grain Winchester Silvertip back in the mid-1980s off-duty. We were still carrying the S&W Model 66 loaded with CCI .38+P SJHP on-duty at that time. Thanks for getting yourself soaked for us. It wasn't even a warm day to help you dry off.

actually HR the bullet went through Platt's arm first then entered him and stopped just an inch before his heart. so really not the fault of the bullet.

Excellent!

Great Video!! Very concise and. Informative!! I Will definitely be up grading my carry ammo and recommending this video to other people for considering concealed carry ammo.!!
Thanks again!!!

Pretty pistol. Too bad its only a 9mm.

I had a model 39 years ago and it was really ammo sensitive especially hollow points.

I have been carrying Speer 124gr, Gold Dots for a very long time. Based on your great testing, I see no reason to change. I do like the SIG V-Crowns too.

Very extensive testing great result I am however unable to judge these older rounds since Back in the Day I always shot the Cheaper Range ammo FMJ..with the price of ammo these days I carry with FMJ in all my Handguns except my Snubbie Revolver...Enjoy your presentation and testing ...Semper Fi

That model 39 is beautiful!

❤ informative

just as we can not tell what are target might be in our defensive shooting we can not tell which bullet we should be carrying at the time of our defensive shooting. carry good ammo that is used by law enforcement and aim small and miss small . Thanks again for a very informative video!

The BPLE will likely work well in the majority of circumstances. Granted that +P+ bullet is approaching the power of a light 110gr .357 Mag load. The Gold Dot looks pretty good too and I'm guessing that is standard pressure.

I'm interested in seeing more of that nickel S&W 39 and also where are you shooting , buildings and road behind ???

Good video.

The 9BPLE or CorBon 115gr are my go to loads for the 9mm. Both make similar wound cavities in the FBI gel,

The early Silvertip ammo had aluminum jackets with a grease groove. It was found that un heat the grease would melt into the powder and slow down the bullet. They were changed with a silver plated jacket. I heard that only the 32 ACP retained the aluminum jacket.

That M39 is drop dead gorgeous! I didn't know the Gen 1 39 was made with a stainless frame; is it possible to polish an alloy frame to that luster?

In my Security Career, we carried where I worked, Corbon 125 grain +P+ which were just below a 357 Magnum, 124 grain Federal Hydro shocks +P+ and Ranger 124 grain SXTs +P, and finally before I retired the Speer Gold Dot. 124 grain.
I carried those BPLE loads for a long time in my personal defense pistols. They seemed to be a bit on the spicy side, I guess I was right LOL. A great video brotherman " Semper Fi!"
I still carry a Gen III S&W, a 910. I love that thing.

Good vid

Good job/ friend carried M39 many yrs and after he retired. I carried M59 & 5903 long time. Used WW 115gr Silertips ( shot sick racoon 2x in chest he didn't expire until associate shot it w 12ga 00) carried Fed 124 / 147 HST most of time. met Ed Mirles once - great American 🇺🇲

hey, i still have some Black Talon ammo

Interesting chief. Thanks for sharing 🇺🇸

It would be interesting to see how the silver tip would do from a subcompact too.

Good stuff. The ammo testing rabbit hole can get quite confusing when barrel lengths and clothing barriers get added in. I wish the 9BPLE was a bit more available. That thing seems to perform like that across many different testing mediums. This video took a ton of effort. Thanks for the hard work Howard.

Where did you get that water jug terminal ballistics test form ?

One option would be that you could stack your magazine with different cartridges that very in penetration from least to most. The idea being if the first round with least penetration doesn't stop them, and they attain some type of cover or concealment you could better use the more penetrating rounds. Then again you could just go with the best penetration to start with and hope for no collateral damage 😂. Once again HR great video...

Back in the 80's the Silvertip was the round to carry. I used it in .45 ACP and .357 Magnum.
Now being older and wiser I carry Federal 9mm HST 124gr +P.
The Silvertip was not the cause of the negative results in the Great Miami Shootout of 1986. The cause was the Bureau's overestimating their abilities and underestimating the bad guys abilities...

Nice! Would've liked to see Federal HST in there, IMO the best defensive ammo in 9mm and 45acp. At least, I hope so, 'cause that's what I carry.

Very nice pistol! I've got a Illinois State Police OG 39.Great pistol even in today's striker fired world!

HR, well done as always. I expected greater discrepancies. However, with the actual result of this type of ammunition, I guess it doesn’t matter which one a person chooses. If I was anal, I would use Sig ammo in a Sig handgun 😃

I remember carrying Silvertip ammo on duty a lot back in the day. Both 9mm and .357 Mag. I really liked the look of the .357 rounds with the silver tips in nickel cases. Made me feel like the Lone Ranger. I don’t have any remembered experience with the federal. I almost landed a S&W model 59 in that nickel finish but couldn’t meet his price and he wouldn’t deal because he knew how bad I wanted it. A sergeant with a neighbor agency carried the model 39 in the nickel, which stoked my desire for the 59.

I think we all know what was responsible for the failure in that incident, and it was the 9mm or the Silver Tip. I cane to see the Smith 39.

I frequently carry a 3rd gen S&W & I load it with 9BPLE. When Illinois let us carry legally I did a lot of testing & it was the most accurate in both my S&W & some older pistols. Back in the pre internet days (late 80s early 90s) I found that older pistols designed to shoot ball ammo would not reliably feed most 9mm hollow points that were available at the time, the Winchester Silvertip being particularly unreliable. The Federal 9BP (the standard pressure load) was the only hollow point I could find that reliably fed in a Walther or Browning. The disintegration of the bullet in the 9BPLE is what I have seen shooting coyotes with a 9mm carbine, instant blood loss from multiple holes on the back side.

Hi Chief! Nice ammo test and a beautiful pistol! I wish you would have had some 124g Remington Golden Sabers to test. I bought some of those a few years back because they weren't as expensive as the gold dots and other carry ammo.

Just discovered your channel from the beretta m9 vs cz75 video, youre doing good work with all of these demonstrations

Great video! Thank you. Semper Fi.

"Lots of pieces the doctor will have to get out." That's a bit of a myth made famous by Hollywood. If they don't have a real specific reason, they Don't remove the bullet or the pieces. Removing it does way more damage in most cases.

The evil Black Talon!

I carried Sig V-Crown 124 JHP as my EDC ammo for about 18 months, until I was unable to find it in 50 round boxes near me. So I swapped to HST 124 JHP because I can get 50 rounds boxes of that. I'd take either round for duty and home defense/EDC ammo

Just curious what is your opinion on the standard pressure 115 grain 9BP and the 147 grain 9MS