August 19th, 2020
12:12 runtime
Selecting self-defense ammunition can be a difficult task.
There are lots of brands available, and its hard to separate the good stuff from the gimmicks.
I love to see innovation and progress when it comes to defensive ammunition.
Black Hills’ HoneyBadger is a different defensive round. It is a machined, solid copper slug featuring a fluted design that helps it to perform very consistently.
The 9mm HoneyBadger 100-gr.
+P round is evidence of this fact.
Fluted bullets do not use the samedesign of traditional hollowpoint ammunition.
The Hellcat and the HoneyBadger seem like a perfect match. The round is a 1,200 fps soft shooter that performs both well on the timer and in gel.
Instead, the projectiles are CNC machined from a whole piece of copper.
The energy then damages the surrounding tissue without the projectile actually touching it.
My testing focused on the shootability, accuracy and terminal ballistics of the HoneyBadger when paired with the Hellcat.
When shot into Clear Ballistics gel, the HoneyBadger penetrated consistently to almost 15″, retaining 100% of its mass.
Throughout the testing, I was also able to look at the reliability of the Hellcat/HoneyBadger combination.
I wasnt at all disappointed in what I discovered.
When I compared the 9mm 100-gr.
Traditional hollow points (left) use the fluid in tissue to expand the round and crush additional tissue. The fluted HoneyBadger (right) redirects that same fluid for effect.
+P HoneyBadger to standard pressure 124-gr.
ammunition, it was easy to shoot, was very accurate and had impressive terminal performance.
FMJ and then strap on the Mantis X10 Elite to actually compare the recoil impulse.
The Mantis X10 Elite helped to quantify the fast recovery and quick follow-up shots of the HoneyBadger ammo.
My final average was 4.29 seconds with the 124s and 4.05 seconds with the soft-shooting HoneyBadger.
This works out to almost a full quarter of a second.
In gunfight terms, that is an eternity.
It wasn’t hard to keep the micro compact Hellcat shooting fast and flat with the HoneyBadger, even though it’s a high-pressure +P round.
Speaking of soft shooting, the Mantis X10 Elite helped to explainwhythe HoneyBadger was so easy to shoot quickly.
The Mantis X10 Elite has a mode that analyzes the recoil of your pistol.
When I compared the numbers of the HoneyBadger ammo to the 124-gr.
You can see the long and broad wound channel the HoneyBadger created in the Clear Ballistics gel.
All of these attributes lead to a faster recovery time and quicker follow-up shots.
The HoneyBadger and the Hellcat make a very shootable combination.
As a result, I dont hang a lot of weight on accuracy testing in this HoneyBadger ammo review.
I was pleased as I was easily able to make headshots at 15 yards with these fluted bullets.
A slight adjustment of my aiming point would have yielded easy 100% hits on target.
None of this is surprising to me as Black Hills is known for its accurate loads.
The HoneyBadger ammunition falls right in line.
I looked at the terminal ballistics in two ways velocity and performance in Clear Ballistics FBI Block gelatin.
When it came to the velocity I was impressed with the tight range of the velocities.
I fired five rounds and all hovered right around the 1,200 feet per second range.
comparison load had a spread of 30 fps.
Black Hills clearly knows how to achieve consistent results.
I shot five rounds into a single Clear Ballistics 16x6x6 block.
The primary wound cavity was consistent as well.
I would not want to imply conclusive results.
I do, however, think we can start to understand how a bullet performs with Clear Ballistics products.
Regardless, I was impressed with the performance of the round.
HoneyBadger Load Options
Black Hills Ammunition HoneyBadger line encompasses more than just a single load in 9mm.
In fact, the company offers two loads in 9mm and coverage for nine different calibers at this time.
HoneyBadger loads include:
I imagine the .44 Magnum and .45-70 could both make great hunting rounds.
Im particularly interested in the .38 Special and .44 Special loads.
These rounds could also render the traditional.45 ACP vs 9mm argumentmoot.
Final Thoughts
Im going to be keeping an eye on the Black Hills HoneyBadger 100-gr.
Black Hills Ammunition HoneyBadger certainly meets all of the quality expectations that I have for superior ammo.
Sounds like I have my next testing session just about planned out.
