Hornady TAP and XD40 SubCompact

[nemesis_318]

Anyone know of any studies that show if Hornady TAP will have sufficient velocity out of the sub-compact 3" barrel XD to sufficiently expand upon impact?

[vafish]

From what I've seen the TAP's expansion isn't that impressive out of a service length barrel.

I wouldn't use them in a 3" barrel unless nothing else was available.

[The Knight Of Light]

TAP uses the XTP Hollow point and that was originally designed for hunting applications. It has a very good penetration, with not much expansion, although in testing it retained its weight very well. Out of a SC pistol it might not give you the expansion you would want from such a small barrel.
However… It does mater what weight of bullet you are using. The CorBon 135 +p uses the 135gr XTP bullet going at around 1200-1300 FPS. This makes the small bullet into a kind of a pistol caliber varmint round. That is to say it explodes in a way, breaking up upon impact and fragmenting very well.
In Massad Ayoob’s Book Combat Handgunnery he says a coroner asked what was used in a particular shooting. When told the type and size of projectile, the ME stated the round blew up inside the assailant.
These rounds have been shown to really move out of short barreled pistols, but you must remember, ammunition that was designed for a service style pistol(4in barrel or more) may not and in fact will not perform the same from a shorter barreled pistol. Although lighter bullet weights have been shown in testing to perform much better from shorter guns .Keep that in mind when choosing ammo.