The Story Behind Lehigh Defense Controlled Chaos

In 2011, Lehigh Defense was approached by a park management agency and asked to design a more environmentally-friendly high-terminal-performance bullet to assist in their animal culling efforts. While previous lead bullets had acceptable terminal performance, the agency wanted to evolve to a more ecologically sound solution.

The mission was challenging, but clear: Lehigh Defense was to create a lead-free “green” bullet that would enter and fell an animal, without exiting. In other words, we needed to design and perfect a new technology using a lead alternative that would travel straight, strike accurately, cause maximum internal damage, and leave no exit wound.

Noting the agency’s previous failed attempts to substitute with other manufacturer’s copper powder matrix bullets (due to lack of terminal performance), we immediately went to the shop and began evaluating new materials, prototyping unique designs, and testing various specifications and configurations. After considerable research and exhaustive range work, we emerged with the .243 Controlled Chaos bullet.

This revolutionary 2-piece lead-free bullet:
– broke at the nose,
– fractured into progressively larger particles at a predetermined depth,
– with the smaller pieces creating a massive initial wound cavity,
– and the larger particles penetrating deeper into other organs,
– distributing shot placement at or near the central nervous system, and
– delivering the terminal performance necessary to bring down larger game,
– all in an environmentally-friendly lead-free bullet.

In addition, through careful engineering, our .243 Controlled Chaos bullet fragments were all contained within their target, never exiting to become a pass-through threat that could endanger unintended nearby targets.

Needless to say, the agency was incredibly pleased with our efforts and the bullet continues to perform as requested to this day. But the story doesn’t end there…

Recognizing the incredible potential of this new technology for hunting applications, we returned to the shop and worked to create a Controlled Chaos bullet that would deliver the same terminal performance, but produce a small off-side hole to provide a blood trail for tracking (should one be needed).

The result of this second round of engineering and testing is the 1-piece Controlled Chaos bullet, which:
– impacts and fragments into lethal particles at a predetermined depth,
– creates a massive temporary cavity with multiple wounds,
– distributes shot placement at or near the central nervous system,
– conveys a base that continues to penetrate and ultimately exit the target once the nose fractures off, and
– delivers the terminal performance necessary to bring down larger game
– all in an environmentally-friendly lead-free bullet.

From a complex challenge to produce an environmentally-friendly, lead-free evolution to the development of the ultimate hunting bullet, Controlled Chaos has been a learning experience and a definite move forward for both Lehigh Defense and the firearms industry.

To learn more about our Controlled Chaos technology, or any of our high performance bullets and ammunition, visit LehighDefense.com.

To see the Controlled Chaos in action, check out this YouTube video: