Retired U.S. Army Airborne Ranger Paul Lemke founded the company now known as Inceptor Ammunition in 2012. Lemke’s goal was to create innovative frangible ammunition with a twist to differentiate their products from the then-current industry offerings.
The majority of frangible ammunition companies today use a sintered copper-tin combination in their bullets, but Inceptors are different. Theirs are made with a proprietary copper-polymer compound. The use of polymer as a binding agent is certainly unique and may well give the bullets something more thanks to its toughness and viscoelasticity.
According to Lemke, “Combining [our production] capabilities and know-how with the inherent advantages of injection molding has resulted in ammunition that is true revolutionary in a 140-year-old industry that has seen relatively little innovation in materials, design and manufacturing processes.”
That ammunition is offered in a variety of calibers including their new .223 Remington 35 grain ARX and 10mm 90 grain ARX. Other options include the usual ammunition suspects from 9mm 65 grain ARX to .45 ACP 118 grain ARX. There’s also a +P option for 9mm fans. (And, of course, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .380 ACP, and so on.)
Over the years I’ve used various calibers of Inceptor on paper, steel, and a variety of game and varmints. Last winter I dropped a mature Whitetail doe using their 10mm and used the same caliber on a badger. Feral hogs have also been fair game, right on up to a 225-pound boar with awesome cutters.
On paper, using the Ruger SR1911 10mm with a rest, I had a best five-shot group of 1.66” at 25 yards; with the Gen 5 GLOCK 17, Inceptor’s 65-grain 9mm rounds tore ragged single-hole five-shot groups shooting off-hand between 7 and 10 yards. Suffice to say, Inceptor’s line has become well worth the attention.
So, why am I here now? Because frangible ammunition is perhaps the least-understood and most ignored slice of the ammunition market. Ballistics have come a ridiculously long way over the years; the frangibles of today are not the frangibles of the past.
Bullets that fragment on impact with objects harder than themselves? That’s my idea of awesome. Don’t believe it? I’ve fired frangibles at AR500 steel plates from 18” away (not saying you should try that, but if you do, please be sure you’re wearing eyes and ears). That’s not an exercise I would ever repeat with standard FMJs or HPs.
It’s not only for steel and does far more than group well on paper. Inceptor is made for hunting and, yes, self-defense. In fact, the double-stack .45 ACP sitting beside me right at this moment is loaded with Inceptor Ammunition. It’s grown on me and earned its place through a lot of shots fired down-range.
Good enough for your EDC gun?