It is common for people to criticize the data generated by shooting projectiles into a block of calibrated, ballistic gelatin. One frequently hears comments like "Where are the bones?" and "How can they know where the bullet will hit?" and "Does it represent muscle or fat or a stomach full of pizza?"
And then based on those objections/rhetorical questions they will dismiss the data as being "completely meaningless".
Similar reasoning is applied to running on a treadmill. "What kind of surface does it mimic?" and "How does it account for wind-resistance" and so on.
What ballistic gelatin offers is that it is much more repeatable than shooting bullets into bodies at various angles and extracting the projectiles. Given the degree of variability in body composition for the various entry points and the vector, one would conceivably have to shoot a thousand rounds and go through a minimum of fifty cadavers to evaluate a single weight-caliber-construction-impact velocity to be able to make any authoritative conclusion.
Using ballistic gelatin to quantify terminal ballistics has been around for a long time but it got a huge boost after the FBI shoot-out in Miami in 1986. There were failures in tactics and there were failures in the bullets.
Prior to the shoot-out, it was generally assumed that the 9mm projectile that expanded the most violently was ALWAYS the best projectile for police work. The thinking was that the shooter who bled-out the quickest fired fewer return shots back at the cops.
Two key take-aways from the shoot-out were that bullets not only had to expand, but they often had to "defeat barriers" before getting to the final target. Bullets might have to penetrate a vehicle windshield or through heavy clothing. Bullets might hit the target but might have to penetrate, angling through a heavy fore-arm before hitting a chest. THis is easy to visualize if you think of a cop shooting at a goblin who is holding a gun and aiming at the cop. That bullet has to punch through a bunch of muscle and bone before it gets to lethal, highly vascular organs.
The group tasked by the FBI with improving the bullets used by cops finally agreed upon a minimum penetration of 12" in ballistic gelatin and a maximum of 18" (due to concerns of over-penetration). That included bullets that went through a variety of "barriers" that cops were likely to encounter while attempting to bring a bad-guy to justice.
One barrier that proved a tough nut to crack was the four-layers-of-denim barrier. Not because it stopped the bullet but because it packed the cavity, or hollow-point, at the front of the bullet. Unlike fat or liquid, fiber does not bulge sideways when compressed. The plug of denim in the hollow-point prevented the bullet from expanded and over-penetration and lack of bullet expansion was a problem.
The fine folks at Lucky Gunner tested many varieties of defensive ammunition in common handgun calibers. They even shot ammo from long and short barrels to give us information about the trade-off between ease-of-concealment and reduced-terminal-performance.
Hogs
Hogs are in the news, again. (Story behind paywall. Sorry)
Some of the "failures" from the Lucky Gunner testing can actually shed light on the parameters that would make decent projectiles to carry if high-speed pork might be on the menu.
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| Two of these are 180 grain, 40 S&W and one is 165gr. They penetrated between 11.9" and 13.8". Note that the hyper-velocity 115gr 9mm bullets that was popular in 1986 did not penetrate as deeply as these did. |
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| Two of these are 180 grain and one is 155 grain 40 S&W. They penetrated between 28.4" and more than 32" (having traversed the entire 32" of the two gelatin blocks placed end-to-end). |
Do you notice any similarities between the ones that did not penetrate more than 14"? Do you see anything different in the ones that penetrated more than 28"?
That is right. The ones that penetrated more deeply did not deform, they did not "expand".
So, if somebody wanted a handgun with excellent penetration, a 40 S&W firing "solids" i.e. bullets designed to NOT expand, in a weight range between 155 and 180 grains might be on to something. If you are a hand-loader, the Berry Plated 180 Flat Point has lots of data at the Hodgdon's reloading site with six powders generating more than 1050fps out of their 4" test barrel. At least two of those powders, Longshot (1150fps) and CFE Pistol (1092fps) are relatively available.
I was surprised that the 9mm bullets did not penetrate as well as the 40s even when they had similar sectional density and velocity. For example, a 124 grain 9mm bullet has a sectional density almost identical to a 165 grain .401" bullet and common, defensive loadings offer almost identical velocities. However, the undeformed 40 cal in 165 blew out the end of the gelatin blocks while the undeformed 9mm averaged 26". That is at least 20% more penetration in favor of the .40
All bullets, especially pistol bullets, are a compromise. Each will do some things better than other types while performing poorly in other situations. You select the round that is most likely to be effective in site you are most likely to face. And hope you aren't thrust into one where you are facing an outlier set of circumstances.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
DeleteI hand load the Berry's flat point 180 grain in a 10 mm with a max load of Blue Dot, using the Hornady manual. Without looking at my records I think it chronographed at 1450 fps out of my 5 inch barrel 1911. It has performed in an excellent fashion on cows and horses that had to be put down, and a pile of various varmints have been dispatched with it. They are reasonably priced and work. I've used Hornady 165 gn xtp, and they worked well in the same applications as well, nut they are a bit more money
ReplyDeleteThe 10mm can flat-out scream in terms of velocity and power. It is French Vanilla Ice Cream compared to the 40 S&W being a vanilla pudding cup.
DeleteNot everybody can shoot a 10mm well.
Paul Harrell, God rest his soul, shot meat targets back by the new and improved seven layers of fleece. The data reliably agreed with that gotten from shooting ballistic gel.
ReplyDeleteMind you, there are a lot of yahoos who look like they know what they're doing, but don't. Avoid them. Reliable data comes from tightly controlled experimentation.
For the purpose of defensive shooting using a pistol caliber, I want to avoid 26" of penetration.
ReplyDeleteI'm welcome to anyone explain why I shouldn't.
(I understand the effects on penetration of multiple layers of clothing. But not every, or even most defensive shootings will be in cold temperature environments. Should we then select for seasonal cartridges?)
Mass matters as much as velocity and type.
ReplyDeletePaul Harrell was an awesome gentleman.
ReplyDeleteBallistic Gell isn't perfect, but it gives some repeatable testing.
Back in the Samurai Days they used to test swords on live prisoners. Then in "gentler times" they decided that the feel of chopping through sugar cane simulated the human limbs. A lot of old school Samuri disagreed.
What ballistic gel and other such tests DON'T calculate is the effect of Street Drugs and Rage of the rapidly approaching target of your handgun.
I've stories from family members who were police and sheriffs about how even a really mad person can be "quite dead" from several lethal hits, but they didn't stop trying to knife you to bits for a very subjectively long time.
Street drugs are even worse.
Or as they often said, "When it's serious 12 gauge".
I typically perform a red-neck postmortem on the deer we harvest.
DeleteOne doe that had the plumbing shaved off of the top of her heart ran 900 feet. The hit SHOULD have dropped her blood-pressure to zero and her brain SHOULD have shut off about 10 seconds afterward...and she still managed 300 yards.
A six-point buck had the bottom of his heart blown off and he managed 100 yards. Based on the sounds, he was blindly crashing through the brush and bouncing off of trees.
As civilians, we don't generally have to subdue violent people. In many jurisdictions, if we deem them to be a threat to our life-or-limb or to those of our loved ones, we can poke some holes in them and flee while they are distracted. That "and flee" is not an option for law enforcement.