The Last Round You'll Ever Need - Or Is It?

If you have been on any sort of social networking site in the last week, you more than likely have seen the image above followed by the phrase "The Last Round You'll Ever Need." But is it? I'm not completely sold. First, if you haven't seen it, watch the promo video below. I mean DAMN. The narrator's deep voice, automatic gunfire, ballistics gel moving like Ralphie May in an earthquake; what's not to like? They call it the Radically Invasive Projectile or R.I.P. for short (even has a catchy nickname.) From what I know, these aren't for sale yet, but the consistent postings list a $2 per round price tag. That's $40/box of 20 rounds (about $13 more than the Speer Gold Dots I carry.)

The video uses a series of shots into ballistics gel to show the rounds "impressive power." I have never used ballistics gel, so I won't pretend to know anything about it. What I do now is that no matter what round you put through at it, it will deform, wiggle and dance like the inside of a lava lamp. So discredit all of that, especially the machine gun fire. Also, I know that the most important thing regarding ballistics tests is penetration and permanent wound cavity. I recommend doing your own research, but the FBI states the recommended penetration is 12" or more. As you can see in the picture below, from their site, those little metal shards that break off barely reach 5 or 6 inches.


Also look at the all of the wound cavities. They are very thin. Sure it makes a nice impressive temporary cavity as seen in the videos, but once the gel stops moving there is really very little real damage. Only the middle piece made it past that 12" mark. Also I want to note that in the video the shots were all done into straight gel. There were no barriers like denim in front of it to give it a realistic idea of what penetration would be.

The last thing I want to leave you with, is this: What about all those shards? What if you hit off center and they exit the body? Or it hits a barrier first? Watch this video from G2 showing the round entering. See the SEVERAL pieces that exit the gel? This seems to me like its basically shrapnel flying in every which direction. Sure it looks cool, but is is practical or safe? God forbid I have to use it in a home defense situation, it nicks drywall before it hits the baddie and a one of those pieces flying off to hit one of my kids. I like the idea of knowing what I am aiming at and knowing whats beyond it. I feel like these rounds will be a little unpredictable, and I don't like that.

Personally, I think its gimmicky and nothing more than a fun way to destroy stuff. As for me and my family, I will continue to protect them with 124gr Speer Gold Dots.