Ammunition used for big game hunting or wilderness defense will have different requirements than what we might use for concealed carry. Even if the firearm in question is put to the former tasks. Where an even mix of expansion and penetration is important for hollow point ammunition, big game requires bullets where expansion is controlled. For defense against large animals, any expansion or deflection in bone is detrimental. Consider the 10mm Auto. Several makers produce a 200-grain hard cast bear round for the 10. In this overview, we will look at one that lives up to the box: the Doubletap 10mm 200-grain Hardcast Solid load.
10mm excels as a self-defense cartridge, but it has enough power to be regarded as a hunting or bear defense round. To that latter end, nonexpanding rounds are the name of the game, and hard cast ammunition is the traditional choice.
What’s In the Box?
The Doubletap 200 grain Solid is constructed with high-quality Starline brass and uses a hardcast 200 grain bullet with an enormous 80 % meplat flat point. The lead alloy has a 21 Brinell hardness, and each bullet is gas-checked. This virtually eliminates leading and deformation at velocities where standard lead bullets would melt or flatten.
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Each round has a healthy roll crimp to prevent walkout of the projectile under recoil. That crimp, along with lacquer over the primer, also helps to keep moisture out under harsh conditions.
Doubletap advertises the 200-grain solid at a respectable 1,275 feet per second out of a five-inch test barrel. The rounds ship in boxes of twenty at an MSRP of $25.50.
Velocity and Reliability
Advertised velocities and foot pounds of energy are often equal parts wish casting and unrealistic test conditions. But Doubletap got it right on the box. Out of my 4.6-inch barreled Glock 20, the 200 grain load produces a five shot average velocity of 1,239 feet per second.
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Recoil out of the lightweight Glock is substantial but not particularly sharp, especially compared to Doubletap’s 230 grain hard cast load. Subjectively, it is slightly more than the Federal Syntech 200 grain load previously tested.
With Glock pistols, there is some worry about using cast bullets due to the polygonal rifling. The worry is that barrel leading will create unsafe pressure conditions and cause catastrophic malfunctions. These conditions certainly occurred early on with competitive shooters using lead bullets in 9mm Glock pistols, but these are not hard cast alloys.
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After a few boxes of these rounds downrange, there was no leading of the test pistol. I was more worried about the wide flat point bullet causing failures to feed from the magazine into the chamber. This might be a valid concern, but it was not an issue here.
Board Test
To test straight line penetration, I shot the Doubletap 200 grain load into two half-dozen stacks of 1/2 inch thick pine boards. The shots were taken at ten feet, and the boards were free-standing on a platform so as not to adulterate the results. Each test was repeated once more.
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In both attempts, the Doubletap round center punched a neat hole in the first board and sailed through the first six boards without doing much damage. At board eight, the rounds began to yaw. Both rounds stopped in the eleventh board, and both had enough energy to dent the twelfth.
The rounds were recovered intact with no weight loss. Both were embedded with their noses at a forty-degree angle of deflection. In our previous test, the Federal Syntech gave slightly less penetration, but there was more yawing in this medium.
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The Bottom Line
Hard cast lead is an old school choice but an effective one when deep penetration is a requirement rather than an option. The Doubletap 200 grain Solid offers penetration in spades with little deviation and virtually no weight loss. All are important factors when vital organs are encased in thick bone and penetration needs to be measured in feet rather than inches.
