How to make ballistic gel?

S

SC4006

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Does anyone know how to make ballistic gel at home using gelatin? I thought it would be interesting to shoot a few .40 S&W's into some out of pure curiosity as to what happens to different types of bullets.
 
That's great -- for airsoft guns and BB guns.

Commercial handgun ammo typically penetrates from 12 to 18 inches in ballistic gelatin. You're going to need a LOT more than two envelopes of Knox to make a block for testing a real firearm.
 
Ballistic Gel is basically useless imo. It just does not react like flesh does and causes a great deal of confidence in rounds that have no business being to stop human attackers.

My 177 pellet gun will consistently penetrate 14 inches, more so then my friends 25acp and 9mil, but will often stick in the opposite side of a squirrel or ground hog. Same thing will happen once in a while with 22lr.

If you really want to see what a particular round will do to human flesh find a dead hog. Living in iowa its quite easy do find very recently dead pigs to use for target practice. Depending on where you live YMMV.
 
Yeah I would have to agree with jason dead hogs are way better than ballistic gel because it is almost the same as human flesh. So if you really want to see if your gun as stopping power use a dead hog.
 
Well I know that using a live hog is better than using a dead one but all I am saying is that if you dont want to go hunting just find a dead hog and use that but I think that live hogs are better than dead.
 
So if you really want to see if your gun as stopping power use a dead hog.
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Right. Because I will buy and drag a 200lb dead animal to my backyard or to the range (and of course they will allow it) And take shots at it. Then drag it back and dissect it. Genius
 
jason_iowa said:
Ballistic Gel is basically useless imo. It just does not react like flesh does and causes a great deal of confidence in rounds that have no business being to stop human attackers.

My 177 pellet gun will consistently penetrate 14 inches, more so then my friends 25acp and 9mil, but will often stick in the opposite side of a squirrel or ground hog. Same thing will happen once in a while with 22lr.

If you really want to see what a particular round will do to human flesh find a dead hog. Living in iowa its quite easy do find very recently dead pigs to use for target practice. Depending on where you live YMMV.
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So all that stuff the FBI is doing is just a big waste of time? I guess all the big ammo makers are wasting their time spending millions of dollars on RD that's based on the standards set by the FBI's feckless testing methods? While ballistic gelatin has its short comings, it's a real stretch to call it useless.
 
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Yes that's exactly what I'm saying. Its a tool that gets used that does not make it useful. Fyi you don't drag the pigs home or to the range you shoot them where they lay and then cut them open. Talk to some hog farmers in the area. I get a couple calls a week from hog farmers, lots of large operations around here.

I use a wooden dowel to measure penetration and slice em open to inspect wound path. Fresher the better.
 
I hate to break it to ya, but not all of us have the option of un-ending cadavers to test our loads on, I would love to, it just isn't an option.
Ballistic gel is not the best, but its better than nothing and far more likely to be used by most people I would guess.
 
IMO a hog is not great b/c you have no control over many variables and the results may not be apparrent. Did the bullet hit a bone, even glancing? What angle was the entry? etc., etc,. I would prefer a test that is consistent. Ballistic gel alone is not a great medium for sure. I have been thinking about this for several months and trying to come up with a way to simulate clothing, skin, sternum, and then flesh (ballistic gel) consistently.

The major problem is the sternum. What is cheap and has characteristics nearly identical to the sternum?

Of course, I am not trying too hard as my wife has a masters in forensics and I haven't even asked her yet.

The real problem is people translating ballistic gel results directly to results on targets.
 
Ballistic Gel is basically useless imo. It just does not react like flesh does and causes a great deal of confidence in rounds that have no business being to stop human attackers.

My 177 pellet gun will consistently penetrate 14 inches, more so then my friends 25acp and 9mil, but will often stick in the opposite side of a squirrel or ground hog. Same thing will happen once in a while with 22lr
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You aren't making it right then, or have some kind of super magnum pellet gun. They use BB guns to calibrate ballistics gel and when it's made properly BBs should penetrate about 3.5".
 
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