penetration testing questions?

[hansol]

Hey guys,

A couple quick questions:

Is wet newspaper a decent medium for testing penetration of bullets? I don't have access to ballistics gel or cattle that I can slaughter, so need a different medium for testing.

Secondly, if one load "out-penetrates" another load in the wet newspaper test, does that mean that it will perform similiarly in the real world with regards to out-penetrating said load?

Cheers, and hope everyone's weekend is going well. -Cameron

 

[303carbine]

Too many variables to say for sure. Barnes bullets hold together better than any lead core bullet that I have tested into wet or dry paper. Even fmj bullets don't hold together when shot into a hard test medium such as dry phone books as where the Barnes X bullet did.

 

[MattW]

I'd wait around for an old cow or horse to die and then test on that

 

[hansol]

Well I'm looking to test some harcast round ball loads shotgun loads against a 375, 30-30, 30-06, etc, so just need something that gives decent "projections" into real-world results.

Or maybe this is unrealistic?

 

[Boomer]

Go to a drilling outfit and buy a few bags of drill mud (bentonite) then mix with water until the goo forms a thick slurry. It should be made stiff enough to hold its shape after the bullet has penetrated. Penetration of bullets from powerful rifles runs 30"-40" depending on the style of the bullet, so take that into consideration when building your box. Not only do you have a good repeatable index of penetration, you also have a decent idea of the wound volume, something that shooting into wet newspaper lacks.

 

[bcsteve]

I've tested bullets in wet newspaper extensively and although it does not duplicate what a bullet will do in an animal, it's a good media to compare one bullet to another. Do a search for my 6.5 bullet test to see my results with wet newspaper.