Magtech 92gr SCHP Review

So about 1.5 months ago, the lovely Heidi from Luckygunner.com sent me 40rds of Magtech 92gr SCHP 9mm rounds to test out. Unfortunately yet as usual, it took me forever to get to a range but believe me, it isn't for lack of trying!

 Since I still don't have access to a chronograph and I don't have a place where I could go all nerdy and make one using a phone or voice recorder, so I tried to to spice up this review with some videos. Also, since I currently don't have a 9mm handgun at the moment, I used a friend's S&W 5906, a very heavy (38.3oz) all-stainless DA/SA 9mm, so my perceptions of recoil will be a bit more subdued than the average 9mm shooter. I also shot this ammo in a less regimented manner than the last review and utilized On Target v1.0 to calculate my group sizes.

 I started this ammo review with shooting a phone book in the middle of the desert, just outside of the Front Sight Training Academy in Pahrump. Since I couldn't get a range at Front Sight to test out this ammo (you would think they could free a range up for me for a few minutes but alas, that is not the case) I just pulled off the road after exiting Front Sight, put up a phone book from my hotel and plugged two rounds into it.

Entrance

Exit

Now, I know that the 9mm was going to cruise through this dry, wispy Nevada phonebook (even with the abnormally large and hilatious escort service section)with little effort, but I didn't have anything else to create the depth needed to catch the bullets for a definitive penetration test so I figured a photo of the exit holes would suffice to demonstrate the effective exansive abilities of the Magtech's 92gr solid copper hollow point bullet, even when cruising through such a short depth of media.

After I got home from Front Sight, I went to the local range to test the remaining 38rds of ammo for accuracy, recoil and reliability. I started at 7 yards and went to 10, 15 and 20yds. Below are photos of the targets with yardage designations and group sizes without corrections and encompassing all outliers.

7yd, 2.764"

10yd, 10.871"

15yd, 13.414"

20yd, 13.015"

As you can see, even after my Four Day Defensive Handgun Course at Front Sight, I am still having issues with shooting low and to the left, especially on the first double action pull. Looks like some more quality time with the FNP-40 (my handgun of choice, among other guns) is in order.

 As is the case with most 9mm ammunition, these Magtech rounds had a mild recoil but had much more muzzle blast than the few Federal FMJ loads I brought with me to compare. I did some rapid firing at the 10yd line and I found the gun to be quite controllable while maintaining moderately tight group sizes.

Based on my moderately informal testing, I would recommend this ammo for anyone that needs a zippy round with less mass but greater overall weight retention for self-defense and even small game hunting usage.

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