Black Hills HoneyBadger Ammo Review: Buzzsaw Defense

Black Hills Ammunition makes some very efficient ammo. They not only sell to civilian shooters, but they also have government contracts to provide military ammo. 

Here’s a quote from Google about the company…

Black Hills Ammunition has a significant connection to the U.S. military, providing match-grade 5.56mm ammunition for the Service Rifle Teams and specialty rounds, like the MK262 Mod 1, to Special Operations Forces (SOCOM) and other military branches. The company developed the high-performance MK262 load in collaboration with military units, and its reputation for quality has led to widespread use by various branches and ongoing contracts for ammunition supply. 

So we see that they are a respected provider of top-rung ammo. OK, moving on…

I am blessed that they are supporting my reviews with ammo provided by them. I have received ammo in many calibers, both JHP and FMJ. But… I was not prepared for the deluge of HoneyBadger (not a typo – there’s no space between the words) ammo I received from them after I requested a sample to write about… they were most generous, and their providence is greatly appreciated. Look for Black Hills ammo in my future reviews.

Anyway, I wanted to look at a few calibers in some detail. But first… why HoneyBadger? Was ist das HoneyBadger?

I’d heard of that critter, related to a weasel, but found out just how ferocious it could be. Here’s a quote from Wikipedia about Mr. HB:

The Honey Badger is famous for its strength, ferocity, and toughness. It is known to savagely and fearlessly attack almost any other species when escape is impossible, reportedly even repelling much larger predators such as lion and hyena.

If you want more scientific info about this critter, go here. 

This ammo is pretty ferocious as well, as I found out. So I see why they named it that.

If you will, please allow me one more quote – this time from the Black Hills HoneyBadger website.

When you live in a place like the Black Hills of South Dakota, you admire certain qualities in a wild and woolly critter like the Honey Badger. Qualities like fearlessness. A certain disregard for obstacles. A spirit of perseverance. And a nose for finding good honey.

We admired those critters enough that we named our line of innovative defense ammunition after them. Introducing the HoneyBadger™. Solid copper, non-deforming, non-fragmenting projectiles with wide, sharp flutes. Ballistic broadheads that cut through barriers that cause hollow points to fail. An overall increase in depth and width

of wound cavities. In that moment, when you need the best to defend your family’s life or your own, we think you’ll appreciate a certain quality the HoneyBadger™ possesses for the least complicated reason in the world. It works.  

Calibers

I received HoneyBadger ammo in the following calibers… this is everything that they make:

• .380
• 9mm
• 9mm Subsonic
• .40 S&W
• 10mm
• .45 ACP
• .38 Spl
• .357 Magnum
• .44 Spl
• 44 Magnum
• … and, one rifle caliber: .45-70

HoneyBadger ammo has a reputation for being very effective self-defense ammo. The secret, in my opinion, is the bullet, coupled with high velocity. Made totally of copper to Black Hills’ specifications by Lehigh Defense, it is known for creating deep penetration and a large wound channel. These bullets tend to punch through things like layers of clothing that can clog hollow points. It has flutes… it looks almost like a Phillips screwdriver of sorts, except that some bullets have three flutes and others have four… and these are what provide the “oomph” to cut through.

The bullet’s rotation from the rifling, coupled with the four-fluted “star” bullet nose and high velocity, creates a buzzsaw effect as it cuts through the target. This is what forms the wound channel and aids penetration. If you’ve seen videos of these bullets hitting gel or other soft targets, the results are impressive to say the least. Many concealed carriers carry them for good reason. See below for a more technical explanation.

This was not my first rodeo with this type of bullet. A few years ago, I reviewed Nov-X ammo on another site. I was totally impressed with its terminal performance. HoneyBadger ammo exhibits similar performance… it’s all but explosive on a solid target. 

Here’s an image I found on shootingtimes.com. It shows seven cartridges beside pulled bullets:

The final parts of the performance equation have to do with bullet weight and velocity. All calibers use light-for-caliber bullets pushed to higher-than-normal velocities. Here’s how it works, as I discovered during my research for this article. I’ll paraphrase it…

HoneyBadger bullets are described as fluid-transfer monolithic… they are machined from solid copper. During penetration, the flutes force hydraulic energy inward. As that energy gets restricted, its high outward acceleration creates pressure spikes. These spikes disrupt tissue around the bullet’s radius. What you normally get is a wound channel about four times larger than one you’d get from an FMJ bullet. Since it doesn’t rely on expansion, you can get more consistent performance than you do from a JHP bullet, whose tip may clog and not allow the bullet to expand. We end up with a performance that meets or exceeds the FBI’s protocol, in addition to a large wound cavity. 

I got my Athlon Rangecraft Velocity Pro radar chronograph out and did some shooting to see how the loads performed for me. Results are below. I tried to use “real-world” guns. I also replicate the same barrel length as those used in the above tests, although with a few of the calibers, I had to use something different. 

Using the above caliber list again, here are the bullet weights, velocities, and energies recorded by Black Hills and their test equipment. I stuck a column on this table that reflects the velocities I got – for more details, see the second table.

And now, my results… Here are the specific guns I used, with their barrel lengths:

* I did not have an opportunity to clock the .45-70 load; we will default to the factory numbers.

The more I chronographed, the more I saw that actual velocities were not far off from the factory numbers. That’s rare, as I’m sure you know. I threw in a couple of extras… such as the SDR .357 with the short barrel… but I figure more info is better than less info.

One trait common to each of these loads was the BIG “ka-boom” and increased recoil. You could tell that you were playing with elevated pressures, no doubt. It wasn’t exactly unnerving, but it sure will get your attention.

I only had one glitch during the testing, and that was with my stock Tisas 1911A1 .45 ACP. That Phillips-screwdriver-nose bullet would not feed, no matter what I tried, so I resorted to the “plunk” loading method of dropping the cartridge into the chamber with my fingers. This is hard on extractors, so only do this as a last resort.

I did not have ballistic gel to test these loads in, but there are plenty of others out there who have done that. I will be receiving some soon from Clear Ballistics. Look for a future review. 

Where To Buy

The Upshot

After getting all technical in figuring out how this ammo works, the bottom line is that it DOES work. HoneyBadger ammo has been touted as some of the best defensive ammunition available. I will be switching to it in my carry guns as I practice with it and get used to it. I will adjust to the sharper recoil and blast as I practice with it.

Another point… I enjoy hunting, and I wonder how it might perform in the deer woods. I would surmise that it would, by and large, pass through whatever it hit, whether bone or muscle. I would be using either the .44 Magnum in my S&W 1854 lever gun or a .45-70 single-shot. That way, I could wring out every foot-pound of energy available. It’s an interesting proposition,.. It warrants investigation through experimentation.

If you are looking for a good self- or home-defense load, consider the HoneyBadger. It’s been proven, and it’s available. Maybe it’s time to try some.