Splashback. It’s one of the risks associated with tactical training that requires close-range shooting.
Collateral damage. It’s one of the risks associated with shooting defensively when you live in an apartment or don’t know what’s on the other side of that wall.
Well, get ready to cross those two concerns off your list as the frangible ammunition niche is expanding, with Allegiance Ammunition offering an array of such rounds, including varieties for hunting and use with a suppressor.
The starting technology behind Allegiance’s frangible ammunition is based on the powder metal core, made partly of tungsten, breaking up upon contact with pressurized fluid. But the company has taken that further, making modifications to allow for fragmentation when hitting other surfaces as well. The theory here is that even if the bullet were to go through a wall, it would be in pieces and its energy would be more widely dispersed, so someone on the other side of the wall would sustain a less-serious injury. One key point to keep in mind one specific brand within the product line is not appropriate for all purposes.
If you’ve never seen frangible ammunition in practice, take a look at some of the videos.
For home-defense purposes, the company markets the OneStrike line of ammunition in several calibers, including the 9 mm Luger and a 55-grain .223 Rem. The round is based on a High Energy Transfer (H.E.T.) frangible core that fragments once it's exposed to pressurized fluid. But what happens if the bullet hits something else? Well, when it comes into contact with steel targets, it basically disintegrates, so no worries about stray pieces of lead ricocheting back at you. In terms of training, this allows you to simulate personal-defense situations without risk of inadvertently being struck by hot lead.
While it disintegrates when hitting steel, you have to be aware that it doesn’t break up completely when it hits softer item. In terms of home defense, for example, if you were to use a Modern Sporting Rifle and you missed your target, the round would penetrate a wall and exit the other side, but the energy would have dissipated and the bullet would have partially broken up so there would be a less-severe injury if a bystander were on the other side of the wall.
OneStrike is also geared toward those in the protection business. If you must shoot at a target in a crowd, the round is designed to fragment inside the target, not passing through and risking injury to bystanders.
PowerStrike offers more of a punch. If you were out hiking in the backwoods and encountered an animal, this round will put the beast down. It’s available in .380 ACP, 9 mm and three weights of .223 Rem. With the heaviest bullet (110 grain), the rifle round can be an effective hunting option, penetrating hide and bone before breaking up when it hits a more fluid part of the animal’s body.
And if you want to hunt with a suppressor, Allegiance offers SilentStrike. This round is touted as the first .223 Rem. subsonic ammunition that will run flawlessly in either an AR-15 on semi-automatic or its military/law enforcement counterpart on full automatic. The challenge here was to devise a jacketed lead-free compressed powder metal core that would have enough density that the gas operation of the rifle still works. And the result is a frangible round that requires no modifications to the rifle. Your factory spring and buffer will function fine with it.
MSRP varies by round, starting at about $24 for a 20-round box.
