Can a Ruger LC9s shoot the NOVX ARK or RNP ammo?

[AtlantaMike]

Read a lot about this ammo and it appears to have the best VELOCITY: 1710 and the best FT-LBS: 422 of any of the similar ammo made by other companies. I really like the idea of the STAINLESS STEEL/ALUMINUM casing FLUTED PROJECTILE I ARX® ONLY. From everything I have read about this ammo, I would like to have it as I carry my 9 mm for protection. It appears to have some very serious stopping power. I see Ruger carries a similar ammo, but it does not have the as high a Velocity and less FT-LBS than the NOVX. So if anyone has any info as to how this ammo would work in my LC9s, it would be much appreciated.

 

[hittman]

Welcome to the forum.

I'd say consult your owners manual and call Ruger.

 

[blume357]

I'm probably being picky, but the one thing that concerns me is the stainless steel case and aluminum primer base... those two metals when against each other will cause galvanic action and the aluminum will deteriorate....

I'm too old school... copper jacketed lead has been making acceptable holes through bad guys for a long time just fine. I'll bet anyone a beer that it cost less to make these cartridges and they probably charge 3-4 times more for them.

 

[s4s4u]

serious stopping power

:roll: we are talking 9mm, right.......?

 

[rammerjammer]

Don't get caught up in finding a magic wonder bullet.

Pick a hollow point from a reputable manufacturer like Federal, Speer, Hornady, Winchester etc and call it a day.

 

[gc70]

Don't get lost chasing velocity and energy numbers. The formula for a bullet's energy is based on the weight of the projectile and the square of its velocity. Therefore, lighter bullets can be pushed to higher velocities, resulting in larger energy numbers. If that was all that mattered about ammunition performance, all bullets would be ultra-light and super-fast. The fact that most bullets cluster around the middle of the weight range for their respective calibers should tell you a lot.

The NOVX-ARX rounds do present an interestingly different approach to achieving an energy dump from a defensive round. The gelatin tests of those rounds certainly look promising. The light weight of the bullets results in less felt recoil. The composite construction of the bullets also appears to somewhat frangible in nature, which can be positive with respect to ricochets or over-penetration.

 

[AtlantaMike]

Yep we are talking 9 mm and if you look at the NOVX website, http://www.novxammo.com/ and look at the test they made with clay, the ammo is very impressive. Nothing like I have ever seen with another 9mm round.

 

[gc70]

Other than the casing, the NOVX ammo is the same as Inceptor ammo (marketed for a while as Ruger ARX).

The NOVX 9mm+P is a whopping 15fps faster and has 7ft-lbs more energy than the Inceptor ARX 9mm+P. Therefore, take a look at some of the numerous YouTube videos of ARX testing over the past five years.

I am not overly impressed by the ARX bullet’s "hydraulic displacement effect" in ammo of 9mm or larger. In those calibers, I would generally prefer a proven hollow-point round. However, the ARX does provide an interesting alternative in .380 pistols in which hollow-point expansion is often uncertain.

 

[grobin]

Midway has it for $34 per 26. They have Liberty for $30 per 25. Liberty Civil Defense ammunition has a muzzle velocity of 2,000fps and muzzle energy of 444ft lbs with a 50gr bullet. It's fragmenting, but can over penetrate although due to fragmentation it's not much of an issue even inside. I've used it on a couple of skunks in the basement, it fragmented and did some minor damage. I got better results on a large coon, still a bit of over penetration but no damage

The NOVX should be similar but it is likely not reloadable!

 

[SR1911SHOOTER]

Ruger produced this under license for a while, then stopped. I carry the
ammo in my carry guns, Main and backup. All of my guns shoot this ammo
and I have had no failures. It is also +p ammo.
Could care less about the SS casings, I do not reload.
I also do not care about the science, I care about what it does in my gun.
I believe in it totally.
Blackie

 

[5of7]

Read a lot about this ammo and it appears to have the best VELOCITY: 1710 and the best FT-LBS: 422 of any of the similar ammo made by other companies. I really like the idea of the STAINLESS STEEL/ALUMINUM casing FLUTED PROJECTILE I ARX® ONLY. From everything I have read about this ammo, I would like to have it as I carry my 9 mm for protection. It appears to have some very serious stopping power. I see Ruger carries a similar ammo, but it does not have the as high a Velocity and less FT-LBS than the NOVX. So if anyone has any info as to how this ammo would work in my LC9s, it would be much appreciated.

My manual for the LC9s says it is not rated for +P ammo. If this ammo is listed as +P, then no.

 

[woodsy]

My manual for the LC9s says it is not rated for +P ammo. If this ammo is listed as +P, then no.

Read your manual again. It IS rated for +P ammo, but is not recommended.

 

[22/45 Fan]

Read your manual again. It IS rated for +P ammo, but is not recommended.

I believe the LC9, like the Security 9, is rated to shoot +P ammunition but Ruger cautions against a steady diet of it which will accelerate wear. So, you can test your +P carry ammo to assure it cycles properly and carry it for protection but practice with standard pressure ammo.

BTW, neither Ruger nor almost any other maker approves the use of +P+ ammo since there is no SAAMI standard for it and you have no idea what its pressure really is.

 

[grobin]

The S&W Bodyguard 38 is rated for +P and prefers it. I gave it to my brother for Christmas.

 

[5of7]

My manual for the LC9s says it is not rated for +P ammo. If this ammo is listed as +P, then no.

Read your manual again. It IS rated for +P ammo, but is not recommended.

I did, and you are correct. I mis-remembered the admonition. 8)

 

[Conservative]

To each his own.

I prefer Federal 147 grain HST - JHP.

I DON'T want super fast bullets as over penetration is one of my concerns.

900 and change fps is plenty good enough for me.

Plus, the recoil is a bit less with 147 grain vs. 115.

 

[SR1911SHOOTER]

Don't get caught up in finding a magic wonder bullet.

Pick a hollow point from a reputable manufacturer like Federal, Speer, Hornady, Winchester etc and call it a day.

Jammer,
I would say that Ruger is a reputable manufacturer. I shoot ARX in my Ruger LC9s
and carry it also. I bought a box and shot the whole box at the range and had
no problems with it.
Blackie

 

[CoyoteHunter_]

To each his own.

I prefer Federal 147 grain HST - JHP.

I DON'T want super fast bullets as over-penetration is one of my concerns.

900 and change fps is plenty good enough for me.

Plus, the recoil is a bit less with 147 grain vs. 115.

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The first thing you want to make sure of is the bullet feeding properly from the magazine. I own the Ruger LC9S Pro semi-automatic 9 mm pistol and have found that bullets like the Hornady Critical Duty and Critical Defense don't feed right from a full 7 round Ruger Magazine. The nose of these FlexLock Bullets is smaller than the FMJ type bullets. And when you stack 7 of these FlexLock bullets on top of each other in the magazine the top one tends to nose down into the magazine. This causes the top bullet to hit the bottom of the feed ramp and jam up instead of feeding into the chamber. Now I've found that some other hollow point bullets tend to do the same thing and fail to feed into the chamber. Maybe it's just my gun or maybe it's all the Ruger LC9S and LC9S Pros that do this. But if the bullet won't chamber into the gun it won't fire and you won't have to worry about recoil at all. All you will feel is the firing pin clicking on an empty chamber on the second shot. First shot if you don't carry one in the chamber as I do. I can get at least one shot off before the gun jams. So that's why I carry FMJ bullets in my little Ruger LC9S Pro. It's also why I changed my personal carry gun to a Walther PPQ M2 Sub Compact 9 mm semiauto pistol which has a better feed ramp that actually will chamber hollow point type bullets and the FlexLock type bullets.
Recoil is greater with heavier bullets. It's just physics. As the mass going out is greater, then the reaction is greater. It's Newton's law. A force is opposed by an equal and opposite force. That is what I've read. But I'm not sure if the total of the speed plus the extra weight is greater unless your bullets are not only heavy but using extra power then for sure the gun is going to kick back more.

Now I tested my Ruger with the FlexLock type bullets by working the slide by hand to see how these bullets would feed. They will jam into the bottom of the feed ramp almost every time. Now maybe they will feed better when the slide is forced back after a bullet is fired. These type of bullets are expensive and I don't practice with them to save money. I practice with Blazer Brass FMJ 115 gr bullets instead. And I know how these FMJ 115 gr. Blazer Brass bullets feed and shoot.