terminal ballistics???

[DennyRoark]

Anyone know of a way to reliably test terminal ballistics with no access to ballistic gelletan?  5G bucket of sand or water, a phonebook, etc?  Just curious what others may be using.

[grouse]

I'm going to do some testing with jugs of water. Put a jug of water on a stump, then put cardboard 2 feet behind it. This will show the expansion of the bullet. I have never done this but it does sound interesting.

[Hammerspur]

Did this expansion test several (10?) years back. Started with a 375 gr. .400 I cast in my custom Sching's adjustable mold shot in a White Shooting Star Sabot over 140grs. FFF ARCO Black Mag 3 out of my Hubbard's conversion .45 cal H&R Shikari.
At 50 yds. on a bench I lined up 6 one gallon milk jugs filled w/water, caps duct-taped on and laid a section of 4x4 across the tops to anchor things a little more.
Upon impact jugs 1-3 exploded, 4 & 5 were penetrated and torn, 6 merely dented, 4x4 flipped forward several yds.
Recovered the slug a couple yds. back uprange. Bullet retained nearly total wt. and expanded to virtually twice the original diameter.
Not sure what it may tell you, but thought I'd share it.
I've thought of rigging up a box with old leather, wet newsprint, water jugs, maybe dowels, etc. to simulate a 'realistic' target... haven't yet though.

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

i use 5 gallon buckets * when available*

Right now i am doing all of my testing in a good size cardboard box and using sand inside it. Pack the sand down after each shot. I kept wondering why i would get a bullet or 2 that was pancaked. It helped by packing it down between shots. Its pretty amazing the huge "wound cavity* thats left in the sand.

[DennyRoark]

I did some testing with mason sand in a 5G bucket late last summer.  Am curious how that would compare to the boiler room of a deer.  My gun likes it's loads on the low end and am searching for a reliable slower bullet.  The expansion on a Parker Hydra-con was tremendous, the SST did what it was supposed to and the PR bullet pretty much blew up (80gr Pyro RS @ 90 yds).  I chose the SST to hunt with, but both of the deer that were shot with it @75 and 125 yds got complete pass thru's and ran a LONG way.  I don't think they opened up.

[alleyyooper]

I like the 5 gallon pail with damp potting soil.

  Al

[DennyRoark]

The potting soil sounds interesting, will it stop a bullet or go thru?

[alleyyooper]

25 yds. with a small hand gun like a 38, 100 yards with a muzzle loader and most center fires.

the soil has to be damp though like you can wring out some water from a hand full. Thats the way most bags are when you open them any way.
 
  Al