This is a test of two legendary rounds, the 9mm Winchester 127-grain +P+ Ranger-T, and the famous “Illinois State Police load”, the Federal 9BPLE 115-grain +P+. These are pretty much the rounds that made 9mm not suck; the 9BPLE in particular is really the first 9mm load that earned a good reputation as being an effective 9mm round for law enforcement use. However, these are old, old designs, dating back to the ’80’s. That’s before the modern standards were put in place, and before three-inch barrel pistols were prevalent. These loads . . .
developed great reputations as manstoppers (when fired from police weapons), especially since 9mm was considered a rather poor manstopper at the time. But how do these rounds perform on the modern standard gel test? How do they perform from a pocket pistol? And is it worth it to go to an older +P+ (which is nonstandard ammo), considering the plentiful modern ammo designs on the market today?