bullet recovery

[redbirddog]

So tomorrow I have a full day off of work that I plan on doing some serious shooting. One task I have set forward is to test out many new loads in progress.

Besides Chrony testing the loads I would like to measure some penetration and expansion of some pistol and defense loads. So instead of ballistic gel what else can I round up tonight to fire into. I have many empty jugs which I can fill, with sand and water. Any one out there with experience that can recommend anything?

 

[ben hunchak]

For testing bullets, I use (in the nice weather) a large"bone box"....it is a large wooden box filled with frozen, large beef bones, we get from the butcher, we keep replacing the damaged/thawed bones and use the old ones for bear baiting. We don't measure penetration as that is not consistant, but we do look at the retreived bullet and are always surprised at the results, some expensive bullets are reduced to pieces.

 

[Boomer]

I was put on to wet drill mud by Richard at Wildcat Bullets. When mixed to the correct consistency the stuff holds it's shape allowing you to measure wound cavities. When bullet testing, I believe the presence of water is extremely important. Bullets which depend on being hydraulically expanded tend to produce realistic results. Drill mud does not wear out, and if it starts to dry just add a little more water. It is slimy to handle, but when I test bullets I fill 5 gallon plastic oil pails, then shoot at them in a line.

I wanted to test the 380 gr Rhino against 270 and 300 grain X bullets in a close range shooting comparison. I not only was able to recover the bullets, I got a good index of penetration, and a wound cavity to measure.

 

[gushulak]

Just line up one gallon milk jugs filled with water and fire away. Most modern JHP's will penetrate about 2-4 jugs from 15feet away. You will get wet. Does a great job with JHP's, they expand nicely!

 

[dnepr]

I use old newspapers in plastic shopping bags, I stack about 2" if papers in each plastic bag . I dampen the paper before shooting .I stack these up tight with a plastic jug full of water behind as a backer just incase the bullet goes through the paper. I do this as a sort of torture test, If the bullet doesn't hold up in this media I don't hunt with it. as a comparison my main hunting bullet penetrates 13" of paper and I have seen that bullet punch through over 2 foot of deer and keep on going .I also have had a couple dramatic failures , that were dismissed as hunting bullets.

 

[Splatter]

If you are asking for a medium that comes close to simulating flesh, in a semi-repeatable way, I think Gelatin is the only way to go. If you think you need to simulate bone, use some hard material that you can get more of that is fairly consistant in density and hardness. Kiln dried maple would probably work.

 

[762nato]

I read about a product that uses wax in a sono tube, has a low melting point. I will try to find it.

Andy