Recently a company, G2RAMMO, has introduced a new bullet chambered in 9mm, the R.I.P. The bullet is like nothing on the market today. It just looks like a devastating round. Look at their videos and this thing just looks devastating, to be the wonder round that we have all been waiting for. The specifications for the ammo from the company are:

* 16″ Penetration
* Up to 6″ diameter spread
* 96 gr projectile
* 2″ grouping at 25 yrds
* 1265 FPS / 490 Muzzle Energy
* 9 Separate Wound Channels
* Precision Machined
* Solid Copper / Lead Free
* Defeats all known barriers such as sheet metal, sheet rock, windshields, plywood, heavy winter clothing

Sounds amazing doesn’t it?

Then I got to thinking. The data just doesn’t make sense to me. If you look at all the impacts in their videos they appear to be nothing more than camera angles showing what appear to be massive wound channels in ballistic gelatin. The water balloon shot is meaningless. You can do that with a .22LR. In fact only one shot really shows anything resembling a huge wound channel. In that one or two second glimpse I noticed that they are using a custom formulation for ballistic gel. The gel used by the industry and the FBI is yellowish in color. Then I noticed that the “petals” of the round break off like buck shot and only penetrate about 5″. The core continues on, but doesn’t expand. This seems to me to be the worst of both worlds. From what I can see you would be better off with Glaser Safety Bullet ammo (which actually is good). I will however wait for independent ballistics testing to see if my observations are accurate or if I need to relearn some things about ballistics and physics. In the end though I am willing to bet that these will be the next “Black Talons”, a hyped up round that doesn’t do anything but build up a lot of hype, makes them a lot of money, and causes holophobes to wet their pants and demand that these be outlawed.

In and of its self I could leave this as it is. But that is not the point. The main thrust that I am getting at can be summed up two sayings; “A fool and his money are soon parted” or “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Look folks the firearms industry is full of “snake oil” salesmen. The RIP ammo or a latest lubricant with “nano particles” could be the greatest thing since sliced break. However just because someone says they have invented the greatest X in the history of the industry doesn’t mean it’s true. Demand independent evaluation of their claims. Any evaluation should be based on objective fact, not subjective opinion. Until you have that reserve judgment. Don’t rush to be out on the bandwagon. You will more often than not wind up spending money unnecessarily at best and creating a dangerous situation leading to injury or death at worst. Like Public Enemy said once “Don’t Believe The Hype.” Listen to Reagan “Trust but Verify.”