Terminal ballistics.

K

knowledge_is_power

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Terminal ballistics. Probably the second, if not, the most important function of the round that come out our barrels. My question here today (well tonight) is how can I see it? We see the pictures in the adds in gun magazines of perfectly mushroomed rounds. But how can I set something up to achieve those results my self? Some five gallon buckets filled with water for perhaps? Does anybody have any ideas or insider knowledge they care to shar? It would be much appreciated in advance!
 
Buckets of colored water look good on TV, but they don't really tell you all that much.
You can make your own ballistic gelatin. It won't be the expensive stuff designed for it (unless you can afford it) and used for comparative studies, but it will give you a good representation of terminal effects. There's plenty of formulas and mold DIY suggestions on the interweb.

Cheers,
C
 
Water soaked phonebooks, catalogs or newspapers have been used a lot...they are cheap and readily available.

Will it accurately represent what happens when the bullet hits a person? Not really, but ballistic gelatin gets a lot of detractors too.

The 'best' media for testing bullets gets a lot of discussion. Search on 'gelatin' on this site and you'll find some of the previous discussions.
 
I'd just use Google.

Lots of guys have already done the testing. Lots of hunters posting photos of recovered bullets from actual game they've shot. This seems like a more realistic approach anyway. I can spend a couple of hours at my computer and learn more about terminal ballistics than I can by actually shooting ammo and doing the same thing someone else has already done.
 
Water opens a bullet up more than in "real life" Unless you have a lot of time or money or both, it is difficult to duplicate "terminal ballistics. The Strasbourg study used live goats. Ballistic gelatin, water or wet newspaper all work to give you some idea but translation to real world is another thing. Quality ammunition from the major manufacturers will work just fine depending on the caliber. We all know a 125 grain .357 hollow point works real good and so do many other rounds. Here is one example, the Gold Dots will open up at low velocity but add in variables like clothing, car doors, dry wall, bones, and they all work to "mess-up" terminal ballistics. One reason I like hard cast bullets with maximum meplats is that you are not counting on "expansion." Big slow bullets with maximum meplats work real good.
 
Other than reading about the discriptions of others get out and hunt and see for yourself. Don't fall for myths like 'expending all the energy inside the animal' .Decide whether or not you want to eat the game or just blow it away. Get an idea of differences between standard bullet construction and premium bullets .
There is an amazing thread about a new bullet designed especially for large and dangerous game.Those who are using it in Africa are posting photos of just what it does to the animal how it works and what a spent bullet looks like ! That's the best I've ever seen. Cutting Edge Bullets is the name.
 
I suspect that the photos shown in the magazine ads of expansion at various ranges are actually shot at closer range with reduced velocity loads to approximate the long range velocities.
However, I have to wonder if the actual results would show the same performance since the reduced velocity loads do not have the same rate of rotational velocity. I think that the rotational velocity does have some effect on the expansion of the bullet.

Jerry
 
http://site.cuttingedgebullets.com/

Holy cow! $65.00 for 50 165 grain 30 cal bullets? They gotta be kidding! Actually they will be out of business unless they reduce the price. I would consider that cost for 100 IF I needed a lead free bullet.

As for expansion testing, I've been doing that for over 10 years. Water filled milk jugs work quite well, simply pick the expanded bullet from the last jug it penetrated.

Recently I got some test media from this outfit;
http://www.thebullettesttube.com/

They are in limbo right now, just the website is still up, but they don't answer email. Brownells may still have some product in stock yet, but don't count on them to have the new tubes available or the molds to re-cast the media.

The media is a wax type of expansion media. It's exact composition is a secret, but it's a good representation of muscle tissue in a mammal. Here's a couple of bullets I recovered;

IMG_0379.jpg


That's a home cast 200 gr. hollow point lead boolit I make. Notice the wound cavity. The test tube is 4" X a little over 8" long. This type of test media lets you SEE the wound cavity, You can even measure it by filling with measured water BEFORE splitting it along the bullet path.

expansion%20test%20007.jpg


Above, speer deepcurl bonded bullet from a 30-06. Weight retention was right at 90%.

expansion%20test%20014.jpg


expansion%20test%20015.jpg


Bonding makes all the difference. They're actually a plated bullet, plating makes the copper adhere/stick-to the lead core.
 
Buying a box of bullets at $65/50 isn't that bad if you consider a few things. A box of loaded ammo for really large game is $100-$150/20 rounds. Much more for really obscure calibers. If these 165 gr .30 cal bullets perform as well as a $100/box of 458 ammo it is a bargain. I don't know anything about these bullets, but know a lot of guys who claim there isn't an animal on the planet they wouldn't hunt with a 180 Barnes bullet from a 30-06.

Also you don't go to the range and plink with a box of these. I'm using Barnes TTSX 150 gr bullets in my 30-06. They sell for about $30/50. But I can practice/plink with much cheaper Hornady 150gr SST's, about $30/100. They have virtually the same BC, and shoot at the same speed. I get identical trajectories. I use the SST's for practice, the Barnes for hunting. A box of 50 will last for years.
 
Snuffy, those CEB bullets are machined from brass .For those who hunt dangerous game ,they want the very best bullets.The comments from many who have used them are ,'I.ve never seen bullet performance like that '

JMR40. in recent discussions hunters have found that while the TSX works fine the TTSX plastic tip breaks off sometimes from recoil and they don't want bits of plastic to jam a bolt or trigger. "Dangerous game " !!
 
knowledge_is_power: said:
Terminal ballistics. Probably the second, if not, the most important function of the round that come out our barrels. My question here today (well tonight) is how can I see it? We see the pictures in the adds in gun magazines of perfectly mushroomed rounds. But how can I set something up to achieve those results my self? Some five gallon buckets filled with water for perhaps? Does anybody have any ideas or insider knowledge they care to shar? It would be much appreciated in advance!
Click to expand...

I'd say that your best options for such testing would be

-properly calibrated Knox Ordnance Gelatin- type 250A

and then

-water (a row of 1 gallon freezer bags filled completely with water in a Fackler box) in that order.

Both mediums produce valid and repeatable results according to the experts, the biggest differences being that of ease of use and relative expense.

With either medium, you'll need high speed cameras to "see" the actual behavior. More "injury" (expense) added to "insult" (technical difficulty). :)
 
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