In bare gelatin, the Hornady Critical Defense .380 load showed excellent penetration for its power level and perfect expansion.

We don't all carry big guns. If you spend any time at all packing after getting your carry permit, you quickly learn that packing a big gun can be a literal pain in the back.

If you've followed the progress of bullet design to any extent, you'll have some recollection of the FBI tests. Beginning in the mid-late 1980s, the FBI turned itself into the bullet-testing arm of law enforcement. Basically, the FBI added barrier penetration-- light and heavy clothing, sheet metal, auto glass and marine plywood--to the International Wound Ballistics Association bullet-testing ballistic gelatin protocol.

The FBI also insisted on deep penetration; anything less than a foot was deemed insufficient--for law enforcement needs, that is. For the rest of us, the need to shoot through auto glass, sheet metal and plywood are probably not as great. However, there is one aspect of the FBI test that is of importance: performance through clothing. An attacker in the winter might well be wearing multiple layers of clothing, layers that can clog a hollowpoint and decrease or prevent its expansion.

The design aspects of hollowpoint construction that aid bullet performance through metal, glass and wood often work against performance in heavy clothing. A bullet that holds together after passing through auto glass may well fail to expand after passing through a down vest and multiple layers of denim. Also, to generate the performance the FBI requires, ammunition manufacturers have to load their ammunition to the top of its performance specs.

That can be tough to deal with in lightweight carry guns that are comfortable to have around all day. In some calibers, it can't be done at all. The .38 Special is a "threshold" caliber, where you may or may not be able to generate the performance the FBI needs. The .380? Forget about it--at least in any conventional load.

Hornady considered what most of us really carry and designed a line of ammunition for those guns often on our belts and the performance we'll most likely need: reliability, accuracy, relatively low recoil and full expansion in gelatin after clothing.

Hornady specifically designed the Critical Defense line for .380, 9mm, .38 Special and .357 Magnum, the calibers we're more likely to be carrying. The bullet is intended to perform well in gelatin--clothing or no--but auto glass, metal and plywood performance are not as good. That's the price you pay for an easy-to-shoot load that works well in the non-law enforcement world.

I had a chance to shoot with the Hornady ballisticians and later test some gelatin for myself. The cases are nickel-plated for reliable feeding, and the bullet shape--a flat-pointed cone--also aids in feeding. The hollowpoint is plugged with a small blob of polymer.