Winchester Demos Improved Ranger Rounds

Winchester’s newest version of its Ranger law enforcement ammo, the Ranger T series, is designed specifically for law enforcement. It won’t overpenetrate the target, but it will do massive damage to the target.

Eyeball inspection of enhanced Ranger T rounds fired into ballistic gelatin on Winchester’s East Alton, Ill., range shows that enhanced is not just a marketing claim. This stuff really opens up. A .45 caliber T series bullet fired into ballistic gelatin looks like two starfish laid on top of each other. As Winchester’s national law enforcement sales manager George Brennan says, “The nine expands like the old .40; the .40 expands like the old .45; and the .45 expands like something we’ve never seen.”

The tale of the tape from Winchester’s recent demo for law enforcement writers reveals that Brennan is not just bragging. Shot into bare gelatin, old SXT 9mm expanded to 0.679 inches, the enhanced T to 0.703 inches. The old .40 expanded to 0.692 inches and the enhanced to 0.838 inches. And the .45 expanded to scary proportions. The old spread to 0.814 and the enhanced to a startling 1.088 inches.

In contrast, the enhanced T series exhibited substantially less penetration than the old SXT. In the bare gelatin test, the old SXT .40 stopped at 14.25 inches, and the enhanced T series stopped at 10.5 inches. That’s sure to catch the attention of chiefs who worry about overpenetration and subsequent liability. The reason for the differential in penetration is quite simple: The enhanced T series’ expansion produces a lot more bullet surface to drag through the target.

The enhanced Ranger “T” series ammunition is now available in 230-grain .45 ACP, 180-grain .40 S&W, and 124-grain 9mm+P.