The ammo I got is definitely sintered copper.
Took it to the range today, and went through about 50 rounds of the stuff, through three different guns to try and gauge felt recoil. It fed and fired just fine through my R9, a Steyr S9, and a Kel-tec Sub2000 carbine. In each case the loads of the Speer 90 grain frangible felt 'hotter' than 115 grain WWB, which I was using as comparison.
First was a comparison of penetration through wood. The frangible did a little better than the WWB, going straight through a 6"x6" treated post, then through two layers of 2"x6" pine, coming to a stop in a third 2x6 a little deeper (just starting to push out the back of the final layer).
Second was to fire the frangible into a solid steel plate. I set the plate up so that a piece of wood was directly below it, in order that I might see if the round powdered as I thought it might. It did - leaving a fine dust of copper particles embedded in the wood.
I'm still thinking that it might be interesting to test this stuff into gelatin (got a line on some from a buddy, may give that a go later this year), see how deeply it penetrates compared to more traditional self-defense rounds.
I've also done a bit of further research into this kind of bullet, and would point anyone interested to the following sites:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6694888.html http://www.miragetechnologies.net/SPEER%20Lawman%20RHT%20Ammunition.htm http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/frangible+bullet http://www.ammoandarms.com/sinterfire_bullets.htmI've also seen some information indicating that these types of rounds might be more effective against body armour, since the round 'sheds' the outer layer cleanly while maintaining structural coherence when it encounters kevlar fibers. I don't know how much you can trust that, since I wasn't willing to dig too deeply into the sources for that info.
So, it looks like I have "green" ammo safe for lead-free ranges, possibly something useful for defeating kevlar. In other words, put the stuff away for when I need it...
7