Beretta 21A vs S&M 380 BG

[nybuckboy]

Just for the hell of it I decided to see how the Beretta 21A (22LR) pistol to S&W Bodygaurd 380 compared for penetration. I used CCI Velocitor 40gr 22LR hollow point and PMC 95 gr .380 ammo.

First I shot both through a 2X6 at 20 feet and they both penetrated completely through. Then I screwed together 2 2X6 and shot from about 20 feet. Neither penetrated through both. I unscrewed the pieces. The 380 did penetrate into the second piece but the 22LR only formed a slight dent.

At point range about 2ft once again neither penetrated both pieces. Kind of surprised me at this.

Screwed a 1 inch thick piece of particle board and tried the experiment again. At 20 feet, the 380 penetrated both completely but the 22LR did not. It only penetrated enough to create dents in the particle board and protruded about half way out of the 2X6. I easily dug the 2 22's lead out with my pocket knife.

Perhaps the 22LR being hollow points may have been a detriment to penetration. I thought the added velocity may have offset the penetration. Thoughts?

 

[Almost_Blameless]

That velocitor round does come in solid point, i think... it would be interesting to see what that solid point might do in the same test...

Here's some ballistics to add to your test results and may help explain what happened in your test...

the beretta 21a will be throwing the 40gr from the 2.5inch Barrel at 895fps giving out 71.1 fpe

the s&w bg with 2.75 inch barrel should push a 95gr (bonded winchester pdx) at around 855 (ruger lcp with 2.75" bbl) giving out 154.2 fpe

BBTI - Ballistics by the Inch :: Home

Foot Pound Calculations

HOWEVER...shooting bullets into boards doesn't actually tell much as for terminal performance in say, ballistic gelatin....

follow this link to see 22 gelatin performance from the beretta 21a... Terminal Performance of Quik-Shok, CCI Stinger and Remington Viper .22 LR Ammunition follow the page down to about halfway...

this next link shows data and photos for .380 testing... its impressive ... 380 ammo ballistic gel test

I'd guess that the 22lr is always going to be lagging behind in comparison to the 380.....

 

[nybuckboy]

I'm sure at 15 ft away 4 or 5 rounds form the velocitors into the chest of an intruder would still do the job. I'm not sure that velocitors do come in hp. Thanks I will look into the links you gave me.

 

[Almost_Blameless]

Yeah, I don't usually carry the 21a as a primary, but I do carry it ... I will normally have a Kahr CM9, but there are times when the little Beretta comes with me.
I trust it to do what it must in a pinch... others may disagree.

There's a lot of grief given to the 21a because it doesn't use an extractor...but I've never had a failure to extract, nor a failure to fire where the dead/dud round had to be manually extracted...

As you pointed out, at 15' or closer, it should be enough to do its job.

By the way, Stingers actually don't move fast enough to expand very well coming out of a 2.5" barrel, and without expansion, they dig in a bit deeper than some other rounds....this is outlined in one of the links I put out there.... food for thought...

 

[nybuckboy]

By the way, Stingers actually don't move fast enough to expand very well coming out of a 2.5" barrel, and without expansion, they dig in a bit deeper than some other rounds....this is outlined in one of the links I put out there.... food for thought...

Would you agree that the velocitors probably would not expand well, thus penetrating deeper as well?

 

[Almost_Blameless]

just off the top of my head....yeah, especially with the heavier weight of the velocitors ...i'd have to guess they'd go considerably deeper.....

i'd like to (probably will this week sometime) try a milk-jug-test on both the Stingers and Velocitors with the 21a just to see ....i'll let ya know how it works out...

 

[nybuckboy]

Yeah blameless... let me know how it goes.