The ammunition was provided to the author by Federal without charge for the purposes of review.
There was a time when you had to make compromises with your EDC (every day carry) pistol.
If it was easy to carry, it was difficult to shoot.
Federal’s new Hellcat Punch loading is designed to maximize performance from the 9mm Hellcat family of pistols. Hellcat shown topped off with aShield SMSc red dot. Images: Yamil Sued
Furthermore, its compact size ensured it would chamber a small, underpowered round barely acceptable for self-defense use.
That all changed with the development of modern, micro-sized EDC pistols.
Now, you could have a small pistol in a capable chambering.
The author ran the Federal load through a Hellcat and a Hellcat Pro to see how it performed. Both pistols shown topped with Shield SMSc red dot optics.
Springfield Armory took that concept one step beyond with the introduction of the Hellcat family of 9mm pistols.
[Be sure to catch our articleWhat Is the Best Caliber for Self-Defense?]
A threaded barrel version of this model also became available.
The Federal Hellcat Punch ammo is a 124-gr. round designed to function perfectly in Hellcat pistols, as well as maximize downrange performance.
It was rarely created specifically for micro-sized pistols.
And then Federal came to the rescue.
Building upon decades of experience making cutting-edge defensive ammunition, the company released the Punch series of handgun ammunition.
Federal’s Hellcat Punch jacketed hollow point loading features bullets with a skived jacket and a soft lead core. Note the expanded bullet from the author’s testing.
What you get is a specialized round designed specifically for EDC use.
And now, Federal is offering the next level of specialization in the Punch line the Punch Hellcat 124-gr.
9mm jacketed hollow point (JHP).
The author tested the load through Clear Ballistics Gel, with the round showing both impressive penetration and expansion.
[Dont miss our article9mm vs. .45 ACP The Ultimate Caliber Conundrum.]
Federal printed very interesting data on the new Punch 9mm Hellcat ammunition boxes.
It features two sets of data one for the Hellcat and one for the Hellcat Pro.
The author found that the Federal Hellcat Punch ammo featured consistent and impressive expansion in gel during his testing.
The data for the Hellcat Pro with the 3.7 barrel is 1,120 fps with a 345 ft-lbs.
I was curious if the printed data was correct, or overly optimistic.
Well, theres only one way to find out to test it in both guns.
For the test, I measured velocity using the Labradar Chronograph.
For the penetration test, I used Clear Ballistics Gel.
The bare gel was placed 10 feet in front of the muzzle of the pistol.
I shot for accuracy from the Ransom Multi-Cal Steady Rest.
I tested accuracy at 10 yards.
The Results
Our first test was with the chronograph.
As per our previous tests, the Labradar worked perfectly.
The Hellcat gave us an average muzzle velocity of 1,094 fps with 330 ft-lbs.
of energy, giving me results with 24 fps higher velocity and 15 ft-lbs.
higher muzzle energy than what was marked on the box.
Moving on to the Hellcat Pro, I got an average muzzle velocity of 1,122 fps with 347 ft-lbs.
higher than the data provided on the box.
Our gel penetration test gave us a couple of interesting results.
In our initial test, the Hellcat penetrated around 17.5 and the Hellcat Pro penetrated to 14.25.
The second Hellcat round fired, I got 17.25 of penetration in the gel.
This one penetrated just shy of 17.5.
I then fired one more round that went right behind our second Hellcat Pro round.
When I inspected our gel, the two projectiles were touching each other.
I then fired a couple more rounds, with both pistols rounds penetrating around 17-17.5.
[Consider also reading our9mm vs. 10mm comparison here.]
All our projectiles expanded perfectly, even with the two bullets that impacted each other.
The permanent wound channels on the gel show that the bullets started expanding after 1-2 after impacting the gel.
I then moved on to accuracy testing phase of the project.
I first tested the Hellcat, and my results for a three-round group at 10 yards was .75.
This is quite good for such a compact pistol.
The Hellcat Pro gave us a .85 three-round group at 10 yards.
Again, quite good accuracy for such a compact pistol.
Conclusion
As for my overall impressions, I was very pleased with the Federal Punch Hellcat ammo.
My velocity test was impressive to say the least.
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