Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Lehigh Defense Xtreme and Others

Anyone here use any of the new breed of mono/fluted/screwdriver tip looking bullets on game? If so, what was your experience?

They are popping up all over the place and seem to offer a viable alternative to a JHP that is barrier blind and gives good penetration. My thought are they may make a good ‘woods’ load, especially for something like a 9mm. I’m just looking for any experiences with them in terms of accuracy, functions, and performance. Thanks.

I can tell you that I have loaded them for two different .380 ACP pistols - a Taurus and a Ruger, one 9mm - a Beretta, and one .45 ACP - a Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0 Compact. I have found them very accurate to 15 yard targets (farthest tested), and with zero feeding issues. I have not had any opportunity to test them on anything other than paper targets. Having said that, there are numerous You Tube videos of tests of both the Lehigh Defense Xtreme Defense and Xtreme Penetrator bullets. Load data is on Lehigh's website. I load the Xtreme Penetrator bullet for my .380's and Xtreme Defense for my 9mm and .45 ACP. Also, Underwood offers loaded ammo with these bullets. Buffalo Bore may as well, but I am not sure about that. If you actually shoot a critter with one of these, please post your results. I would like to know if they actually work as well as they do in ballistic gel.

I carry the Lehigh Penetrator or mono WFN in the .480 Ruger and 45-70 while in bear country in the Canada border areas. The bears always run away when I ask to see their ID.

Have NOT shot any game with them, yet.

WFN Lehigh in .44 magnums.

Lehigh Extreme Defense .380, 9mm and .45ACP carry in urban settings, southern regions.

Driven fast, they churn up ballistic gel real pretty; but I have to wonder how they'd do against heavy boned animals.

They are a gimmick, similar to the "Judge" and "Governor" revolvers. WFN hardcast penetrates better and makes a bigger wound channel. They evidently sell well to the unknowing.

https://general-cartridge.com/2019/06/09/underwood-xtreme-penetrators-clear-ballistics-gel/

And for contrast, here is hardcast:
https://general-cartridge.com/2019/06/11/underwood-9mm-40-sw-hard-cast-in-clear-ballistics-gel/

Nice try...

I've got more cast than you've EVER dreamed about, let alone shot.

Give your ol'lady back her laptop and change your name to d a.

I have killed a whitetail buck with .357 extreme penetrators and a black bear with .44 hardcast. Both did the job, but i wasnt exactly impressed by either type of bullet. The lehigh penetrator is good enough to go through a whitetail out of a sidearm and get caught on the offside hide, but i expected a better wound channel from how the bullets are advertised. Im going to try swift a frames now. Ive stocked up a whole mess of them to load for 357, 44 mag, 460 s&w, and 444 marlin.

Sorry about running over your dogma with my truth....

Good relevant info- thank you.

Blah, blah blah...step away from the bong, deliberate d a.

Thanks for the feedback. They look like they would perform similar to HC in some respects (non-deforming, deep/straight tracking) but also different (lighter/faster, unique nose profile). I dismissed them at first as a gimmick but see that lots of manufacturers are jumping on the bandwagon. That doesn’t mean they work, just that they sell. That being said, it looks like the heavier versions would be a good substitute for HC for woods use.

I think these have a niche. For those that want to carry mouse gun calibers like 32 ACP where JHP's do not perform well in penetration. Also for people who still believe in the 45 calibre bullet is superior to 9mm that want to carry 45 Super. The problem being these companies are loading 45 Super with JHPs designed to perform at 45 ACP velocity. Resulting in the over expansion and under penetration into gel. As was shown in Military Arms Channel's videotape "10mm vs 45 Super". Since these do not expand too much velocity is never an issue and actually a benefit to the fluid transfer design.

I've scoured the interwebs for realworld proof of the effectiveness of these fluid transfer bullets. Here are a few I have found.

https://gunstreamer.com/watch/lehig...gr-xtreme-defense-3_pYTHqqHMxkZ4zzl.html

https://blackdirtdiaries.com/2020/10/20/stop-it-with-stopping-power/

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...for-defensive-handgun-ammo.844285/page-3

Black Rifle Review said "I own and operate a Feral Hog Eradication Business the majority of the Hogs I have killed in all the years I've been doing it the Majority of the Hogs are Killed over a Bait pile from a 25' Ladder Stand at 60 yards and they are shot once in the Head with the .22LR CCI Velocitor 40 grain copper plated hollow point fired from a 10/22 . Some are caught in my Boar Buster Traps and I also have used the Ruger PC 9 Carbine with just ball ammo and have killed several of them with just one shot and this ammo +P 90 Grain Lehigh Xtreme shut that pig down at with one shot just behind his shoulder he went down kicked several times and expired . so the ammo is No BS . I also have killed Large Hogs with an XDM PISTOL 9MM & 45 several times. When they are caught in foot snare traps or the Boar Buster coral trap they are are dispatched with a .22LR either from a pistol or rifle and it kills them Just as dead as the one you shot with the 6.8 & 270.The Wound channel this bullet made after field dressing and butchering the Hog .I examined the damage to the meat and it did destroy some meat like no other 9mm pistol bullet I've ever seen . And yes when I hit the HOG the blood came out like water from a garden hose and there was a lot of blood the bullet hit the bottom of the Hogs Heart and turned it to jelly and it destroyed that Boston butt on the entry side on examination of the Wound Channel it was like I said before like none I have ever seen for a pistol bullet I think it is a wonder bullet and would like to see one of these bullets designs in .308 / 7.62 Nato or .223 / 5.56 MM . Don't knock it until you try it for yourself ."
https://www.xdtalk.com/threads/unde...p-90-grain-lehigh-xtreme-defense.451872/

https://nighthogs.com/LeHigh_Defense.php

I haven't shot anything with them other than paper to make sure they were hitting point of aim. .380acp only.

I am NOT a jello junkie, and I don't think that they will actually do the drastic damage that you see in the ballistics gel tests, BUT, such a bullet would be clearly superior to FMJ, I think. And in something like .380, where hollow points will either expand too quickly and not penetrate, or penetrate and not expand, the Phillips-head-screwdriver-tip bullets seem to have no problem with penetration, even through barriers, and will undoubtedly do more damage than FMJ, so they definitely get my vote for this little pistol.

For other calibers, I am thinking that the advantages over hollowpoints may dwindle.

For the cartridges in question, the bullet isn't going to deform whether copper alloy or hard cast.

What ultra light, weird bullets do, or are designed to do, is give close to bore diameter displacement in a different form along with velocity that doesn't exist with a full weight slug.

Some of you might scoff at me mentioning this, but its in essence a "shoulder" similar to a Brenneke slug that offers as much displacement and penetration as a low velocity, sedately loaded handgun can muster.

Like the Brenneke, it's not a super long range proposition....

But testing shows it doesn't work.

It looks like its better than a FMJ.

I tend to agree, there's better options.

Getting rid of the "dish" would help if it were squared off.