MAKAROV

[RANGER RICK]

Well I finally got my grips from marschalgrips from Budapest, Hungary .
They are made out of Zebra wood .
They fit like a glove and look pretty good .
Have all sorts of bullets coming to do some load testing from jacketed to cast .
This is a fay cry from testing my Hand cannons to this small 9mm .
The bullets that are shown witht the pistol came with it .
They are steel core ,not sure about that .
I am going to unload one and then cut it in half to see for myself

RR

[RANGER RICK]

Well I did the test today .
I used a ammo hammer to get the lead tip out and catch the powder.
The bullet weighed 95 Grains and had 3.8 grains of powder , green powder to boot ??
Here are two pictures of the bullet.
I cut it in half and pulled the lead out and there was a steel cap on top of the lead .
I had a business card magnet and the jacket stuck right to it .
What do you think .

RR

[Mikey]

Rick - well, they aren't steel core but steel tipped is a bit different.  I seriously doubt you would get any expansion out of those jacketed slugs. 

Question(s) is/are:  why do the Chinese use a steel tip, or reinforcing in the apex of the ball?  Is this a Russian design or Chinese?  Why a steel insert/reinforcer instead of thicker brass - cost can't be that much different?  Would this help with bullet penetration - maybe, especially with heavier combat clothing and equipment (answer your own question Mikey?). 

Nice grips!  Mikey.