Interesting bullet types & penetration

[dantana]

With all the testing we have done in the last several months have given us some interesting info: All handloads

A while back I shot a 250 grain Berry solid (one on left) which penetrated all 12 jugs, a 5 gallon metal can filled with water and went on into the dirt pile. I loaded 4 rounds yesterday with 265 grain Cast Performance slugs with extra wide meplat and expected them to out perform the 250 Berry. (Wrong).. We setup over 12 jugs in this order:
1 jug, 2 pieces of 1/2" OSB, then 4 more jugs and then 2 pieces of 1/2" OSB and then more jugs. I would have thought the wide meplat CP 265 gr. would out penetrate the Berry but it did not. Notice closely the middle bullet. It is much worse shape than the one on the right. It was shot thru 5/8" high quality plywood which we found to be much tougher that 4 sheets of 1/2" OSB. The Berry bullet due to smaller meplat penetrated further even being a lighter bullet.

Photo below is new Berry 250 .. next is 9MM 150 gr. with wide meplat we casted .. Right is 265 from CP.
 Slug stuck in one of the jugs.



Another interesting thing: When we shot the first CP 265 it hit the first jug with enough force the shatter a heavy duty zip tie that we had holding the cross buck board together with.

 

 
 

[mk454]

alot of times the smaller meplat will increase penetration as long as bullet stability is intact, it just won't "hit" as hard as the wide meplat bullets.   deeper penetration doesn't always equate to "more damage" or a larger wound channel.  nice results.

[temmi]

alot of times the smaller meplat will increase penetration as long as bullet stability is intact, it just won't "hit" as hard as the wide meplat bullets.   deeper penetration doesn't always equate to "more damage" or a larger wound channel.  nice results.

+1

[Lloyd Smale]

thing is its all a compromise. Sure a bigger metplat is going to make a wider wound cavity and a smaller metplat will usually make for a longer wound cavity. Which is better. Heck i dont know they both kill well. I tend to use more lfns then i do wfns. I havent noticed any differnce in kill power, at least nothing definate and its allway been easier to find accurate loads for lfns for me. When you compare two bullets, a lfn and a wfn or simular weight the lfn will about allways be longer and the shorter wfn is going to need a bit stiffer load to stabilize. this shows up alot at longer ranges and in my experience even comes into play at short range and is probably the reason lfns tend to be easier to work with. About the only time ill even play with a wfn anymore is in what i consider caliber challanged guns like 357s and .41s. In those two rounds alot of the lfns just dont have much of a metplat.

[HHI-7420]

Lloyd, try these loadings that I use with my rugers: cast performance 265gr. wfngc w/ 14.5gr. blue dot( in my bisley 7-1/2" w/2x scope I get 3" to 4" @ 100yds); redhawk 7-1/2"(same load) @ 50yds = 2-1/2" w/open sights; ruger flattop (new) 4-5/8" 44spcl. w/255gr. cast performance wfn plain base w/6.0gr. 231( freehand) I get 2" @ 25yds.. I'm sure that there are a lot of people who could do better than this, but I like it.  Pat

[ironglow]

  First off, I am not an avid "pistolero", preferring rifles instead....
      I am probably mistaken....But those bullets don't seem to show very much deformation.

[Blackhawker]

I love to see "studies" like this and think it's great that you've taken the time to figure these things out and more so, to share them with all of us.  Thanks! 
I am a little confused, however.  I'm assuming you're shooting these from a .45 Colt, correct?  If so, are these somewhat standard loads or T/C - Ruger loads??

How does the 9mm bullet compare to this if you're shooting primarily from a .45 Colt? ..or was the 9mm shown just as a comparison of a profile?

Is the Berry's bullet copper plated with a solid lead core or actually solid copper?

Maybe by now I've shown enough ignorance but now I'm really stepping out:  What is OSB?

Sorry for all of the questions, I'm just trying to make the most sense of this.
Thanks!
....and again, thanks for sharing this stuff with us.   
 

[HHI-7420]

Blackhawker, not sure who you are directing your first question to. If me: bisley and redhawk are 44mag.. Don't believe that they're any more than moderate loads although I haven't chrono'd them. 44 spcl. load is light.  Pat

[Blackhawker]

Question was to the original poster.

Blackhawker, not sure who you are directing your first question to. If me: bisley and redhawk are 44mag.. Don't believe that they're any more than moderate loads although I haven't chrono'd them. 44 spcl. load is light.  Pat

[Elwood]

to Blackhawker
OSB is Oriented Strand Board. This is the material that has almost replaced plywood in construction.

[Lonegun1894]

Thank you, I just now found this thread but was lost as to what OSB was too.  Blackhawker, at least you're not alone.