Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Lehigh extreme penetrators

I think some of you guys are still misunderstanding these bullets. They don't expand, but they cause damage like an expanding bullet, without wasting any energy on deforming the bullet itself. This is not a bullet that zips through like an FMJ or slow hard cast flat nose.

I want the benefits of an expanding bullet too, but that doesn't mean I need the bullet to actually expand; the effect is what matters, right?

I'm not sure where 1100-1200 fps comes in, unless you're wanting weak loads. My 90gr ED 9mm loads are running 1525 fps from a G19, and Underwood sells them loaded to 1550 fps. The whole reason to use a lighter bullet is for high velocity, to cause more damage like an expanding bullet. If you're not going to push them fast, just use a hard cast flat nose and call it done; this one isn't your cup of tea.

As a side note, high velocity hard cast bullets can perform similarly to these Lehigh bullets, although not quite as impressive. I've been casting and loading the new Lee 95gr FN 9mm bullet (drops at 102gr for me) at 1500 fps; it doesn't do as much damage as the 90gr Lehigh but still a lot more than 147gr hard cast flat nose, or any FMJ, and still penetrates deeper than any of the popular 9mm expanding jacketed bullets. This one pictured was fired into water jugs at 1500 fps; it exploded the first few jugs and penetrated 5 IIRC, while my 124gr Gold Dot bullets are always stopped in the 3rd jug. You can see the nose bucked up just a bit, but it's undamaged otherwise. That's the 90gr Extreme Defender bullet in the background.