Phone book ballistics

A

abrahamsmith

New member
I'll be doing some phone book ballistics tests (phone books as targets, not as projectiles!) this weekend.

yeah, yeah, I know, a phone book doesn't at all simulate an animal, etc etc. I just want some comparative examples and some expanded bullets.

how many 3 or 4 inch phone books would you expect expanding pistol and rifle bullets to go through? right now, i have 6 or 7.. I could easily get a dozen more.

not that it's a useful measurement, but i'd be interested in having an equation InchesOfPhoneBook(SectionalDensity, Velocity).
 
I've been doing something like this for the past few years. I cram a bunch of magazines (some gun magazines) in an 8x11 cardboard box, about 8 inches deep, and shoot into it to test penetration and get bullet samples.

If the magazines are packed tightly, most handgun bullets won't go far. Some of my penetration results are as follows:
22 Magnum FMJ, 1" Hollowpoint, .75"
32 Auto FMJ, 2.5"
9mm 124+P, 3.25"
44 SPL 200 SWC, 2"
40 S&W 180 FMJ, 4"
45 ACP 230 FMJ 3.5" 230 HP, 3"
44 Mag 250 HP, 4.5"

12 Gauge 1 oz. Sabot Slugs, 5.5"

Last but not least, .375 H&H Mag 300 Nosler Partitions blew right through 8" and out the other side, blowing shredded paper all over the shooting range.
Good Shooting, CoyDog
 
I recently shot .22 CB shorts against "The Odyssey" novel (500 page paper back) and the bullet blew right through it and out the back (I was about 5 feet away) So then I put another paper back behind the odyssey paper back, and it went through the odyssey and 200 pages into the paper back---pretty impressive for a .22 CB short. It's worth noting, however, that the pages in paper backs are very thin. Anyway, thats just my $.02...
 
The best method, IMHO, is to get a bullet that has expanded in an appropriate medium (I used a 230 gr. Hydra-Shok from a deer), assemble your medium, use that same load (230 H-S) and see what it does. Compare and contrast to get a rough idea of what your medium does to your yardstick load, shoot your test load and extrapolate.

I do like wet sopping paper better than dry paper. Last time I did this I filled a double green yard trash bag with newspapers and filled it with water. After a week or so, tested the 230 gr H-S and found that the sopping newspapers did a pretty good job of matching what the 230 H-S did in a deer.

YMMV!

Giz
 
.22 LR Thunderbolts....

I fired .22 LR thunderbolts from my Marlin point blank, and it went through 900 pages of paper-back-book-pages, as well as the metal backing to a folding chair-that is damn impressive!
Marc
 
I use a box filled with Boston Yellow Pages which are about 3" thick each. I can get as many of these as I want at work. I also put a ham bone in the middle of the second book and then wet the whole thing down. Make sure the bone is dead center so you can hit it on your first shot. Let the water soak in for a while before you shoot.

Tracking the bullet paths after hitting bone is really cool with some loads, very disappointing with others. Speer's .44 mag 270 grain Gold Dot Soft Point is VERY impressive out of my 6.5" 629 DX! (pre sell-out of course)
 
.308 FMJ goes through 12" of dry phone books (taped together) with little/no expansion (duh, right).
Haven't tried it with wet phone books yet.
At the range we have a nice plinking setup with a big pile of what looks to be concrete mix. It's a lot more fun to shoot things laying on that pile when it is soaking wet and muddy 'cause once the bullet goes through the can/book/whatever sitting on it, it makes a HUGE hydrostatic shock hole in the mud and the target tends to go flying. I've lauched big text books 6 feet in the air this way.

(wonder why that mix doesn't set up when it gets wet?)
 
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