Yes, the package is correct. Extreme Shock makes a heavyweight load in 7.62x39 for suppressed rifles. Very quiet, very hard-hitting.

That's right, relatively lightweight--compared to tungsten, anyway. If you were to construct duplicate bullets of lead and tungsten, the tungsten bullet would be 72 percent heavier than the lead. Add to that the chemical magic that Extreme Shock has done to prevent its powdered tungsten from re-amalgamating and you have a whole different situation.

I don't pretend to fully grasp the new dynamics, only to note that lab tests and field reports indicate they are definitely on to something.

The basic mechanics work like this: The bullet, in its gilding metal jacket, strikes the target. The jacket decelerates and begins to break up while the core keeps moving forward and begins flowing. The denser core breaks through and out of the jacket, then floods the target. As the tungsten composite is extremely dense, it does not slow down at anything like the rate that lead does. The design of the jacket controls how deep it penetrates before the core separates and then disintegrates.

The target is struck with a high-velocity mass of dense particles, delivering all that energy in a very short time. Oh, one more thing about tungsten: It is very hard. Unlike lead, which is so malleable you can practically shape it with your bare hands, tungsten is harder than hardened steel. The particles of the Extreme Shock bullets do not re-bond with each other, and they are not significantly deformed by striking bone.

At the Extreme Shock plant, I had an opportunity to see how the various designs modify the terminal disintegration rate--and look at an impressive number of dead-critter photos. As did the old-time hunters using a .45-70 as a "medium" caliber to hunt big game, I found the idea of using a .22 Hornet on deer and 9mm or .40 S&W handguns on big boars to be just a bit unsettling. Just like those old-timers shaking their heads at a .30 Krag besting a Sharps in .45-110, I have to scratch my head. But dead is dead.

There is one use that I do grasp immediately. If you are using frangible ammunition indoors, you really have to look into Extreme Shock. The bullets used in other frangible ammo are made by pressing copper/brass/bronze particles into a bullet shape and then loading them into a cartridge case. Using a bonding agent and the natural adherence of the metal, the makers get the bullets to stay together until they hit the steel plate or backstop. Most of the time, anyway.

A couple of weeks before I visited Extreme Shock, I had a police officer in a patrol rifle class have a malfunction with frangible ammo. A bullet had broken in half at the case mouth during feeding. The back half of the bullet stayed in the case neck; the front half of the bullet dropped into the barrel extension of his M-4. Instant stoppage, and one that required tools to clear. I can well imagine what might have happened if the front half had instead gone into the chamber and then the bore. It, or parts of it, could have acted as a bore obstruction and perhaps damaged the barrel.