Remington’s Black Belt Bullet (Guns & Ammo Teaser)

A few months back, back when winter would not leave us, I spent several days testing a new handgun bullet from Remington. The bullet or ammunition is called Black Belt and it is an appropriate name since the bullet has a Black Belt around it. My tests exposed the bullet to a reasonably intense evaluation and the full report can be read in what will be my first contribution to Guns & Ammo magazine (August Issue.) The Black Belt is a defensive handgun bullet that delivers bonded bullet performance at non-bonded prices. This video will give you a glimpse of what you will see in the article.

Additionally, this post deserves two sidebars. The first deals with terminal performance testing bullets and 10% ordnance gelatin. I’ve had some readers criticize my use of gel blocks that do not meet FBI requirements. I’ve also had them question whether the gel blocks I use have been calculated. It seems there has been so much written about 10% ordnance gelatin that it, and the FBI’s test protocol, have become the last word with regard a bullet’s terminal performance and wound analysis. The reason I do not use FBI size blocks is because I do not work for the FBI and the reason I do not calibrate my blocks with a BB gun is because I do not work with the FBI. I also do not do the calibration exercise because after dealing with this nasty crap for so long, I don’t need too; my wife does not calibrate the cakes she bakes for the same reason.

I’d also like to point out that I do not believe 10% ordnance gelatin is the best medium for testing the terminal performance of a bullet. It is however the industry’s de facto standard and it is also the easiest medium to look into. However, a lifetime of shooting living things and looking at the wounds and recovered bullets has taught me that gelatin rarely replicates real world. All that said, 10% ordnance gelatin does provide a consistent and repeatable test medium that folks can look into to make their speculative assumptions about the mythical notion of stopping power.

The second aside deals with Guns & Ammo magazine. About this time last year I was riding around South Africa in a land rover with Eric Poole. Poole took over as editor of Guns & Ammo after Dick disappointed his readers and the previous editor was fired. During that time in Africa Eric and I mourned the loss of a good friend and I learned that the editorship at G&A was something Eric had been working toward since he was a teenager. Eric asked me if I’d write for him if he ever got the job and I agreed. I agreed because I know Eric is one of the most passionate gun scribes / editors in the business and I was confident he could return Guns & Ammo magazine to the glory it experienced when Jeff Cooper was still with G&A and us.

Eric’s invitation helped me realize a teenage dream as well. I remember after my paper route I’d ride my bicycle down to the local guns shop (Local gun shops are now almost extinct.) and pick up the latest copy of Guns & Ammo. The words of Keith, Cooper, Wooters, Boddington and Jordan started me down the path I continue to follow and I’m honored to be a part of a publication that has educated and entertained so many shooters for so long. I know that Poole is working hard at making G&A the best gun magazine on the newsstand and I promise I’ll do the same.

You could say that I started writing and Eric started editing the Black Belt bullet article when we were still kids. The bullet and the article have been a long time coming.