Just got my Federal HST JHP's... time to test
- Thread starter Bauer
- Start date
I would think that the papers of a phone book would clog up the HP's, I don't know it for fact, but I suspect it.
If hog season is open wherever you are, you might try testing in one that you've already harvested... I know a couple of folks that test their handloads this way... You could always try testing in water, recovery may be a bit difficult though...
If hog season is open wherever you are, you might try testing in one that you've already harvested... I know a couple of folks that test their handloads this way... You could always try testing in water, recovery may be a bit difficult though...
Well, this guy (warning: the site is in Norwegian, but has some nice pictures) used old newspapers, soaked with water in a tub for ten hours/overnight, to test expansion of various .223 bullets.
It doesn't say how thick the stack he used for testing was (I think it might have been about 12 inches), just that he packed them tightly with some tightening bands/straps.
That test was with rifle bullets, but a variation on it might be useful for pistol calibers.
If you have an old phonebook lying around, it could be worth a try to test on that too.
It doesn't say how thick the stack he used for testing was (I think it might have been about 12 inches), just that he packed them tightly with some tightening bands/straps.
That test was with rifle bullets, but a variation on it might be useful for pistol calibers.
If you have an old phonebook lying around, it could be worth a try to test on that too.
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dabigguns357
New member
I have heard of a lot of people using 6 milk jugs in a row behind each other.I have used them and i like them but i have gone to winchester ranger bonded sxt's.
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I always use my father's swimming pool when I visit him. Makes recovery pretty easy, you can see it through the water on the bottom, and I don't have to clean up milk jugs or anything. I'm away from home this month, and all I have is my iPhone or I would upload some pics of my 9mm HST rounds recovered from the pool. If you have an email address I can send one from my phone, just can't upload to TinyPic.
voyager4520
New member
Oh man you're lucky. I want some of those so bad.
Try soaking phone books in water for like 16-24 hours, some do it longer, then line a few of those up and shoot em. Don't know how many it would take though. I think doing that is supposed to show truer expansion and make fragment less likely or something, never tried it personally.
Try soaking phone books in water for like 16-24 hours, some do it longer, then line a few of those up and shoot em. Don't know how many it would take though. I think doing that is supposed to show truer expansion and make fragment less likely or something, never tried it personally.
Superhouse 15
New member
Test
Get a plain old 5 gallon bucket and stuff it full of old newspaper. Add a few drops of soap and fill it with water. When the water all soaks in, fill it up again. If you pack it tight, you might have to stir it up to make sure the middle gets saturated. Keep adding water until it's all totally saturated, then shoot into it. The bucket makes for a neater package for testing as well as transporting. Shooting into a dry phonebok is not a good simulation, and stacking wet bundles of books or newspapers makes a horrible mess.
Get a plain old 5 gallon bucket and stuff it full of old newspaper. Add a few drops of soap and fill it with water. When the water all soaks in, fill it up again. If you pack it tight, you might have to stir it up to make sure the middle gets saturated. Keep adding water until it's all totally saturated, then shoot into it. The bucket makes for a neater package for testing as well as transporting. Shooting into a dry phonebok is not a good simulation, and stacking wet bundles of books or newspapers makes a horrible mess.
BurkGlocker
New member
Making homemade gelatin is pretty easy and only cost about $25 for the materials, as compared to over $150 for real gelatin. A one pound box of Knox's gelatin and a gallon of water will cost you about $20, and then about $5 for something that you can use for a mold. I used a plastic bread box for a mold and it makes it to the perfect shape and depth for testing. Plus, you can add some tea tree oil, or oil of peppermint to try and keep it preserved. And an added bonus is that you can reuse the gelatin, jsut simply melt it down and repour it into your mold and put it back in the fridge overnight. Here's some of my tested rounds in my gelatin... Please forgive me for the quality.
BurkGlocker
New member
The top pic is of a 115 gr Speer Gold Dot, which expanded to over .940" (its sitting under a quarter), the other two are a 147 gr Federal HST and 147 gr Winchester Ranger SXT, both of which expanded to .750". The SXT was measured over the talons, but the lead measured at .656". Still impresive considering it almost doubled its original diameter. The second pic is the reverse of the bullets above. The third pic is of another 147 gr
HST and 147 gr Ranger SXT, and you can see that the HST expanded more than in the previous pics, but the Ranger SXT didnt flare out the talons like I would've wanted, but still effective. In the fourth pic, the whole top row are 124 gr +P Ranger T-Series through bare gelatin, the one in the middle is the same, but through two layers or heavy denim. It didnt expand in traditional T-series fashion, but it still equally impressive considering the barrier that it went through. I have found though that Rangers have trouble going through 4 layers of denim and end up clogging up and acting like FMJs. The other two in the pic are a 115 gr Win JHP handloaded over 6.2 gr of Unique and another Ranger SXT. The handload was a little hot, and you cant tell, but it did have a core/jacket seperation, but it expanded to .700".
All of them are 9mm out of a Taurus 24/7 Pro.
Whenever I do my testing, I place the gelatin in front of a box full of old newspaper to catch any pass throughs. These arent the only bullets that I have tested, but the only ones that I have uploaded the pics of. One of these days when I can find my camera I will post the rest.
HST and 147 gr Ranger SXT, and you can see that the HST expanded more than in the previous pics, but the Ranger SXT didnt flare out the talons like I would've wanted, but still effective. In the fourth pic, the whole top row are 124 gr +P Ranger T-Series through bare gelatin, the one in the middle is the same, but through two layers or heavy denim. It didnt expand in traditional T-series fashion, but it still equally impressive considering the barrier that it went through. I have found though that Rangers have trouble going through 4 layers of denim and end up clogging up and acting like FMJs. The other two in the pic are a 115 gr Win JHP handloaded over 6.2 gr of Unique and another Ranger SXT. The handload was a little hot, and you cant tell, but it did have a core/jacket seperation, but it expanded to .700".
All of them are 9mm out of a Taurus 24/7 Pro.
Whenever I do my testing, I place the gelatin in front of a box full of old newspaper to catch any pass throughs. These arent the only bullets that I have tested, but the only ones that I have uploaded the pics of. One of these days when I can find my camera I will post the rest.
kayakersteve
New member
For the best looking expansion, try
Shooting at a steep angle in to a pool of water. This doesn't have to be any deeper than 2-3 feet and will work great - No wear marks on the lead:
Shooting at a steep angle in to a pool of water. This doesn't have to be any deeper than 2-3 feet and will work great - No wear marks on the lead:
45ACP 230 grain HST from Sig C3 into water
kayakersteve
New member
If you don't want to use water, try..
Clay. I just happen to have a very large vein of blue clay on my land that works well for expansion testing - It will cause some wear on the lead so the final product is not as nice as shooting into water.
Clay. I just happen to have a very large vein of blue clay on my land that works well for expansion testing - It will cause some wear on the lead so the final product is not as nice as shooting into water.
Here's 45acp 230 grain HST into blue clay:
re: pool testing
Even if you managed to do everything "right" and not make a hole in the pool liner, it seems to me like a bad idea. Would you want to test a dozen rounds in a pool and then invite all your children to spend the day swimming there? It seems inevitable that there will be some dissolved lead in the water. Plus who knows what other chemical pollution?
I prefer my pool water to be free of heavy metals. Even more so if my children are going to swim in it!
Gregg
Even if you managed to do everything "right" and not make a hole in the pool liner, it seems to me like a bad idea. Would you want to test a dozen rounds in a pool and then invite all your children to spend the day swimming there? It seems inevitable that there will be some dissolved lead in the water. Plus who knows what other chemical pollution?
I prefer my pool water to be free of heavy metals. Even more so if my children are going to swim in it!
Gregg
BurkGlocker
New member
I have and still use water to test expansion, especially if I want a perfect mushroom, but I my opinion, it's so much more fulfilling to actually see what the bullets will do; how the bullets track and the wounds that they leave. The HSTs, Ranger T-Series and Gold Dots all leave a very distinctive wound in the gelatin, a nice six-point star pattern through the gelatin, showing more of a cutting/crushing action than a pushing action that conventional JHPs would produce. All modern LEO JHPs seem to be pretty similar in this type of wound pattern, more or less, very effecient designs. You can also notice that the raised six-petal design has significantly more surface area than that of conventional JHPs, therefore causing more damaging and incapacitating wounds.