Moose in a bucket: Update with pictures and video.

pharaoh2

pharaoh2

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Well it's looking like I'm finally going to get to try out my Tikka in .338 Federal. I've worked up 25 shots of 215 grain Sierra's, in front of various charges of IMR 3031. I also have a box of factory loaded 200 grain Fusion ammo. While I plan on testing the accuracy, I am also interested in seeing what this Fusion bullet will hold up to. Enter my moose in a bucket.

I started out soaking several phone books until they were saturated.
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Then I cut appox a 6x8 inch hole in the bottom of a 5 gallon pail. Inside the pail, I placed a soaked and wrung out Chamois cloth. This is as close to skin as I could think of. On top of the Chamois, I placed 4 hardwood strips, and packed soaked paper between each one. I know it's not perfect, but I figure these should represent ribs alright.
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I then packed several books into the bucket and the last in is also wrapped in a Chamois. If the bullet manages to make it through, the Chamois is there to act as skin and show (hopefully) the exit like a hide will.
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I don't know how well this is going to work, but it's somthing to do anyways. :D
 
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Wow, that's absolutely awesome. Hey when I get to be your age and have free time on my hands.......oh wait, I'm there already, just not so much free time. :D Anywhooo....great to see your dedication Pharaoh, please let us know how it works out. :wave:
 
My bullet trap worked exactly as I had hoped and the bullet performed absolutly perfect!

I brought my .243 Rem 700 and .338 Federal Tikka out and played with some handloads. Man can this Tikka shoot! First off, in a rifle that light with a hockey puck for a recoil pad, she boots! But with one load using 39.5 grains of IMR 3031 behind a Sierra 215 grain Boat Tail Spitzer, it put three (3) shots into an honest 0.207 of an inch! One bloody hole! That's better than I normally can shoot, so I'm proud of that one.

On my way to the range, I spotted a huge herd of deer about a mile or so off the road and had to get a shot.
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I started by sighting in the Tikka at 100 yards. It took me awhile, as I kept buggering up. Eventually it printed where I wanted it. The factory loaded 200 grain Federal Fusion bullets didn't shoot as well as I hoped, but good enough for my test.
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Here's the video of the shot. I placed the camara slightly behind and off to the side. Impact at 38 seconds.


The bullet entered a bit high and left.
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Upon entering, it literally grazed the wooden "rib" as it passed through the chamois skin.
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Here you can see the mark where the bullet passed by. As in a real life hunting scenereo, hitting a rib or passing between is a luck of the draw thing. It was no different here, though I confess I had hoped the bullet would have struck one.
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And here are some shots of the carnage. I'll skip posting them all, but you can see the wound channel near the start, halfway through and then at the end.


Half way in, I put another layer of chamois to act as the diaphram if you will.
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I recovered the bullet 2 inches to the right of the bucket. I am confident that the bullet expelled it's energy in the bucket, and the chamois at the end acted the same as skin would have. I screwed the chamois to the last phonebook from the backside to hold it tight upon impact. I'm certain if you slowed the video down, you would see the chamois stretching the same as skin would as it is pulled from the flesh.

Here is the recovered bullet. It is perfectly expanded, and looks like it came through very well. Maximum diameter is now 0.925. That's very good expansion I would say. :)
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Hope you enjoyed. :wave:
 
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Awesome, Pharoah2!! From your concept to the final pics showing the results this is a fantastic post. Nice to see how a bullet performs and I'd bet that your simulation is very close to real life performance. Well done.
 
Wild! Thanks, your report is very interesting! If you try it again and want to hit a rib, put a circular board in the mix instead of the ribs, then you'd be guaranteed to have to go through a "rib".

Cheers
Jay
P.S. Nice rifle by the way!
 
I should also add I'm surprised just how the .338 Federal is affected by a single grain of powder. My first batch of loads consisted of 36.5 grains of powder. The 215 grain bullets grouped around 5 inches low. My second batch was at 37.5 grains, and moved up to 4.5 inches low. Next was 38.5 grains, and was only 2.75 inches low. The rifles favorite, 39.5 shows exactly 0.820 inches low on my micrometer. The group opened up at 40.5 grains. 2 shots were dead on bulls eye. 1 shot fell an inch, and the other 2 dropped another 2, but I'm sure it was my fault. The first 3 are in a nice 1 inch group, and I called the last 2. But it's easy to see the progress of the groups climbing up the targets. Whereas all 5 targets I have for my .243 in a 95 grain ballistic tip all printed pretty well the same horizontally, with no noticable change in height, and with the same 1 grain increments. Weird, huh?
 
factory 200 gr fusions chrony'd @ 2670 fps avg in my 22.5" Sako barrel, I'd assume the Tikka would be about the same

when doing a ladder test for velocity with the 215 gr sierra over h4895, I was getting about 1-2" of point of impact lift with every grain of powder I went up
 
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