Jacket seperation. is it really a big deal?

[lp04]

Well, Everybody likes a bonded bullet that the jacket will stay on the core of the bullet.

Right now in my 709 I am carrying Magtech golden guardian 115 gr +p. These are notorious for the jacket seperating and pealing off in expansion test.

My question is, Is it really a big deal for the jacket to stay on the core? I know it will give extra weight and help get a little more penetration, and hypathetically speaking it makes rounds like this less effective.

Now lets get out of the hypathec part and go into real world scenario, If the copper jacket peals off, is it realistically going to make the round less effective? Could the jacket actually cause a bigger wound do to it flying off in pieces and possibly cutting into flesh more?

[glenwolde]

I thought the concern was the separated jacket would stay in the barrel as an obstruction. Next shot: BOOOM!!!

[lp04]

I dont see that happening, generally when a jacket seperates it does it on impact as the bullet starts to expand.

[Jake3501]

The attending surgeon has to dig around longer to find all the fragments!

[lp04]

Lets him earn his money then. I would hate to pull fragments out of a dead guy

[44wcf]

I thought the concern was the separated jacket would stay in the barrel as an obstruction. Next shot: BOOOM!!!

never herd of that happening.

[TheOldRedneck]

Jacket separation and staying in the barrel has been written about in rounds like the .454 and .460 S&W. It was also brought up years ago with some 1/2 and 3/4 cup jacket rounds. One writer even raised a concern over gas checks years ago. Some was written off as hype, and some just was not touched by other writers of the day. In the heavy mag rounds I shoot the tougher jacketed bullets or hard cast swc or wnfp with gas checks because they punch deeper. I like the hard cast with gas checks better for those type shots. For a 45 acp I really do not care if the jacket sheds and the bullet turns into a dozen chunks of lead. Give thought to the fact that 2" after you break skin on a human chest or head the bullet is inside the body. From that point being a mass of copper and lead chunks each going through the body doing the meat and greet thing with Mr. Brain ,heart , lungs and/or organs is a ugly mess. We clean our own deer, before the bonded bullet craze started having a core and jacket come apart was not the issue. It was shot placement, and bonded or not it is still what matters most about bullet performance. You can have a 9mm super bullet or 45, they both depend on placement for max stopping power.

[MOONDAWG]

Never read any complaints from shot bad guys in the press.

So I'd say it doesn't matter...muchadoaboutnothin.....

[glenwolde]

never herd of that happening.

Yeah, now that I've poked around the internet a bit I realize I was confusing it with something else. A number of years ago (decades) there was some controversy about barrel obstructions using 158gr. jacket bullets in the .38 spl. only. A lot of load manuals started dropping the lighter loads, and at one point 158 gr. jacketed bullets weren't recommended for the .38 spl. That seems to no longer be the case. At the time the thinking was lighter loads with jacketed bullets in a slightly tight barrel could cause the bullet to fail to exit. There were indeed a few case of this happening. As I recall everybody started coming out with 140 gr. loads / bullets.

When I read the OP that's where I went in my time-addled brain. Disregard my comment.

[texastaurusguy]

The more a bullet stays together, the more likely it will do what it's supposed to do - penetrate sufficiently and expand reliably. Bonded bullets were a response to this, in addition to situations where you might have to go through a windshield....jacket separation very likely would mean the bullet pieces bouncing or ricocheting off of the glass.