| ESSENTIALS
excellent performance, and the
bullet itself blossomed into a pretty
lead flower. It did not fragment at
all, and the recovered weight of the
bullet was 146.8 grains.
For my own “FBI-ish” testing, I
placed various barriers 18 inches
in front of the block: two layers of
half-inch drywall 3.5 inches apart;
a single sheet of 3/4-inch plywood;
and two pieces of 19-gauge sheet
steel (slightly thicker than FBI
specs) 3.5 inches apart.
From my Glock 19 the G2 provid-
ed 942 fps. In bare gel it penetrated
16.25 inches and expanded wonder-
fully. The recovered bullet showed
100 percent weight retention, and
expansion was 0.63 inch.
The plywood barrier beat up the
G2 a bit, which is typical. While
penetration was 13.5 inches, half
of the nose of the recovered bullet
was peeled open while the other
half was pushed in a bit. Recovered
weight was 100 percent, though,
with the diameter 0.53 inch.
The drywall test was a tough go
for the G2. After punching through
the double layer the G2 bullet pen-
etrated 27.5 inches. The cavity of
the hollowpoint opened slightly, but
there was no real expansion.
You might not think two layers
of drywall is much of a barrier, but
I’ve seen this before with other
ammunition, and I’ve found drywall
often screws up a bullet’s perfor-
mance more than plywood or steel.
When fired through the steel, the
G2 penetrated 13.75 inches, and the
bullet showed a blunted nose, which
happens to just about every bul-
let fired through steel. Recoveredbullet weight was exactly 147 grains,
with a diameter of 0.46 inch.
So in my tests the 9mm G2
performed as advertised and met
FBI standards in bare gel, through
plywood and through sheet steel.
Penetration was more than you’d
want when fired through drywall.
Ammo makers are leaning toward
heavier bullets these days in 9mm
duty ammo because the weight
helps the bullets achieve the depth
necessary to perform well in the
FBI protocol. But unlike early
designs, which often demonstrated
a lack of expansion, modern pro-
jectiles like the Speer G2 provide
much better performance. And now
that Speer is selling the Gold Dot
G2 commercially, you have another
quality option for home defense and
concealed carry.It’s the Winchester 231 equivalent
specially enhanced to eliminate copper fouling as you shoot. It delivers the
same clean-burning consistency and low-fl ash characteristics, while prolonging
the full accuracy potential of you and your fi rearm.