Ballistic gelatin test- .22WMR

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Glock19Fan

New member
I did a gelatin test with a spare block of gelatin I had. I didnt calibrate it, but blocks from the same batch were ideal. Gel was shot within 5 minutes after being removed from the fridge.

The block was shot with a Marlin 25MN at a distance of 5 feet to show the maximum performance possible from these rounds. Temperature was 76 degrees today.

I shot two rounds today for comparison. The first was Hornadys NTX, a lead free 25 grain ballistic tip. The second was another round from Hornady, the 45 grain Critical Defense.

After shooting, I cut up the blocks to help get a better picture, becuase my cameras quality isnt that great. Here is what I got.

21nmp3r.jpg

The Critical Defense is on top, NTX on the bottom.

The NTX definatly moved the gelatin much more than the CD, and as you can see from the picture, it was much more explosive. Penetration was 7.75 inches, and the bullet was almost completely disintegrated. Digging through the path, I noticed that the inner core of the bullet was made of a compressed powdered metal, similar to frangible bullets made in larger calibers. Becuase of this, the only parts of the bullet that I could recover were pieces of jacket. Everything else was just a fine powder, with a few clumps along the way. Maximum temporary cavity was 3 inches.

The Critical Defense was actually very impressive. Despite just a 1700 FPS advirtised velocity, it hit with authority. Throughout the path in gel were lead fragments, and the bullet still managed to penetrate to just over 9 inches. The rubber tip was found about an inch behind the bullet, which to my suprise was perfectly mushroomed, much like a high powered rifle soft point bullet. This suprised me considering the bullet was designed to work at much lower velocities, and generally when you push bullets too fast (in this instance almost 600 FPS faster) they fragment and underpenetrate. The maximum temporary cavity was 2 inches.

I havent got a change to do any accuracy testing on either one, and I hope to run these through a chrony in the future, but IMO, if the CD is accurate enough, it would be a great all purpose bullet, especially considering the heavy weight and reliable expansion down range.

I also plan on doing the same test out to 50 yards soon.

Again, nothing professional, mostly just a fun day at the range. I hope everyone enjoyed!
 
Pics are great. Good stuff

Do you have a box of Speer's Gold Dot short barrel .22WMR?
Ive been curious how it stacks up against Horanady's CD load.

Even more curious how the CD compares to the Gold Dot out of a pistol....you should load up that rough rider for another test;)
 
Thanks for going thru this!
Hey, could gelatin blocks be flavored and the untouched portions be eaten!?
 
I should have some gold dots coming in the mail anytime time. They were supposed to be here today but I will update ASAP. I was thinking about testing these out of my revolver but I was trying to find someone in my area that had a pistol with a shorter barrel, since that is what it was initially designed for.

And I wouldnt recommend eating it but I guess its possible. :D
 
Also, here is a test I did yesterday that I never posted here but here it is for those interested.

I decided to test some rounds in ballistic gelatin today, and post the results on this website. I have done this kind of testing many times in the past, but I am still not a professional.

A few things first- The block I used was not calibrated. However, another block from the same batch was, and it came up a little heavy (basically, the penetration depths are a little more shallow than you would normally expect). Also, I didnt not chrony the shots.

The rifle I used was a Marlin 25MN. Distance was 10 feet. A single shot was fired into each side of the block, to prevent the damage from overlapping eachother. Temperature was 88 degrees. The block was used within 5 minutes of being removed from the refridgerator.

I tested 2 rounds today, the Remington Premier 33 grain polymer tip, and the CCI MaxiMag 40 grain JHP.

First shot- Remington
14lcau.jpg

Penetration depth was 6.25 inches, with a maximum temporary cavity of just over 2.5 inches. Near total fragmentation.

Here is another view of the shot.
ipoy6t.jpg


Second shot- CCI
snpk09.jpg

Penetratin depth was 9 inches, with a maximum temporary cavity at 2 inches. This round also had a lot of fragmentation, almost as much as the Remington, but retained more weight so the penetration depth was a little deeper. The recovered bullet was also slightly larger.

Another view of the shot.
15pinmd.jpg

The bullet started to curve during the last few inches of penetration, and almost exited the side of the block. This is why the bullet looks so large in the picture.

And here is a view of the whole gel block. Remington on the left and CCI on the right.

6sexy8.jpg


Final notes- Becuase these bullets were fired from a long barreled rifle and near point blank range, these results show the best case performance possible for these rounds. As barrel length is reduced, and ranges become longer, the performance will decrease. I just wanted to do an even comparison to see what can be expected from each bullet.

Hope everyone enjoys!
 
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