.380 ACP Dynamic Research Technologies 85-grain HP

Dynamic Research Technologies (DRT) ammunition is a new approach to bullet technology that uses compressed metal particle cores. When the bullet gets inside something and comes into contact with liquefied material, it literally un-compresses and shreds tissues. This load was tested in a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380. Two of the four bullets showed no un-compression (expansion), one showed partial disruption and one complete upset. It would appear the impact velocities were just on the edge of what this bullet needs to work. The round that worked as advertised created a decent wound cavity after impacting at 1,200 fps. The two that failed to disrupt at all impacted the block at 1,148 and 1,171 fps. The bullet that partially expanded was traveling at 1,175 upon impact. If DRT wants these bullets to work in short-barreled .380s, it needs to up the velocity. At any rate, with enough velocity this bullet does destroy tissue on par with other good .380 loads. For what it's worth, this same load was tested from the same handgun and fired into PermaGel at a media event—it worked perfectly.