Bullet testing, again....

[yorke-1]

A few years ago I did some bullet testing, shooting about 85 different bullets into a bullet trap I made out of strips of apron leather soaked in water. The post is still here on LRH, but most of the pictures got removed because Photobucket changed their photo hosting policy and I just don't have the time or patience to repair all the broken links (thanks Photobucket ). Here's a link to the original post.

bullet expansion test results

I got out yesterday to test my new bullet trap design and it worked pretty well. It's a wood frame with layers of heavy leather packed inside of it. I get all the leather from a local glove company that would have to pay to throw it away, so they gave it to me for free. The best part is that...

www.longrangehunting.com

This time I'm using 20% ballistic gel from Clear Ballistics and trying to capture video of every impact. I'll get the videos posted in short clips on Youtube as I get the testing done and try to get good still pictures of the temporary wound cavity whenever I can. I'll post up muzzle velocities and impact ranges for each test as well. When possible, I'll include the penetration depth of bullets that remain in the gel blocks.

Here's the first video shooting a 375 Ruger with the 275gr Sledge Hammer, 300gr Partition, and 260gr Accubond. The 260gr Accubond was my go-to load for nearly 10 years before getting replaced by the 275gr Sledge Hammer. I use the 300gr Partitions for practice and plinking.



Muzzle velocities:
275gr Sledge Hammer : 2655 fps
300gr Partition: 2515 fps
260gr Partition: 2760 fps

The first shot with the 275gr Sledge Hammer went a little high, but not so high that I needed to redo the shot. The bullet penetrated 32" of 20% ballistic gel at 150 yards and exited the blocks. I don't know how far it would have continued to penetrate, but it didn't show any signs of slowing down! The second shot was a 300gr Partition that penetrated 30.5". The third shot was a 260gr Accubond which impacted too high and exited the gel. I fired a second shot which penetrated 25" of gel.

275gr Sledge Hammer


300gr Partition


260gr Accubond #1

260gr Accubond #2

 

[yorke-1]

Here's the Gen 1 10mm Jack Hammer 10mm bullet from Hammer bullets.



This is the Gen 1 Jack Hammer 10mm bullet next to a 180gr XTP

For load data, I ran the numbers through Quickload using a bullet modeled after the 180gr XTP with a reduced bearing surface and reduced weight. I took that data and compared it to other established data for 155gr bullets and the 155gr Barnes Tac XP. Since I have a somewhat limited number of the Hammers to play with, load development was very abbreviated. My goal was to match the velocities of high performance, lead free, ammo offered by Buffalo Bore, Double Tap, and Underwood Ammo. I was able to do that in my guns, but I won't make any claims as to whether or not these loads are safe in any other gun. I shot these loads first in a GP-100 revolver to check for safety, then tested them in a Kimber Camp Guard 1911. The 1911 has been modified with a 22# variable weight recoil spring, a 28# hammer spring, and a flat bottom firing pin stop. These modifications make a substantial difference in how a 1911 performs and handles with high power loads.

Here are the loads I tested:

180gr Hornady XTP
- 1245fps from the 4.2" GP-100
- 1294fps from the 5" 1911
This has been a standard load I've shot out of 7 different 10mm handguns over the years.

220gr TC flat point
- 1120fps from the 4.2" GP-100
- 1162fps from the 5" 1911
This load duplicates the Buffalo Bore Outdoorsman load and uses the same bullet used by Buffalo Bore and cast by RimRock bullets.

200gr WFL-pb coated with Hi-tek coating
- 1265fps from the 4.2" GP-100
- 1290fps from the 5" 1911
This bullet is cast by Montana Bullet Works using the NOE 403-198-WFN PB-Y1 bullet mold. This is has been my gold standard heavy bullet in all of my 10mm pistols for years.

152gr Claw Hammer
- 1360fps from the 4.2" GP-100
- 1405fps from the 5" 1911
I tested this bullet with 2 different powders, both gave similar velocities but one powder showed significantly better accuracy. This load was shot for accuracy and function out of the Kimber 1911 at 50 yards and the results were a 4.5" group, well within what I expect from this gun when fired at that range. Functioning was 100% with a loaded OAL of 1.240". A longer OAL (1.250") resulted in some failure to feeds.

Bullet performance was tested on two separate trips. The first trip was to get a baseline of performance and compare how the 4 different bullets perform in ballistics gel. All shots were from 15 yards into 20% ballistic gel from Clear Ballistics. Handguns don't provide quite the same dramatic wound cavities in ballistics gel that rifles do, and even less so when using 20% gel. I was more interested in overall penetration depth and how straight the bullet travels.

This is a top down view of the total penetration of the 4 bullets relative to each other.
- 180gr XTP = 14", straight line
- 220gr fp = 20", bullet curved up and turned backwards
- 152gr Claw Hammer = 30", straight line
- 200gr wfn = 32", straight line

This is a total of 6 bullets, 3 of the 152gr Claw Hammers and 3 of the 200gr WFN bullets. The CH are the two at the far left and bottom on the right. The rest are the 200gr WFN bullets. I can't give a good reason why, but the first shot from both the CH and the WFN penetrated farther than the follow 2 shots of each bullet. Penetration was very consistent with both bullets traveling in a straight line and stopping at roughly 30" of penetration.

It's difficult to see in the picture, but these are the tracks of all 4 bullets. The top track is actually two, the one with the largest wound cavity is the 180gr XTP. Behind that is the 200gr WFN. The middle track is from the 220gr load. You can see that it starts to curve up at roughly the 6" mark. The bottom track is from the Claw Hammer. I fired 3 of each bullet into the gel and all of them showed consistent performance. All 3 of the 220gr bullets curved up, with 2 of them actually exiting the gel block.

The next trip out was the first "proof of concept" trial of my new idea for an accurate representation of bullet performance on game. This test consists of a layer of heavy apron leather, 2" of 20% gel, the shoulder blade of an average sized (175#) Washington black bear, then 20% gel. This was the first test of this setup, future blocks will have the bone inserted into the gel before it cools, making the bone a more natural part of the gel.

I fired one of each of the bullets into the gel/bone and attempted to record it in slow motion. I'll work on getting the videos edited and uploaded later, but here are the best still shots I could get from the videos. I wasn't able to get a good picture of the 200gr WFN wound cavity.

152 Claw Hammer

220gr fp. Note that the bullet is curving upwards after roughly 6" of penetration.

180gr XTP

The most significant wound cavity was caused by the 180gr XTP, which was expected since it's the only expanding bullet I tested. I was disappointed to see that the 220gr bullet curved up, again. The wound cavity of the 220gr bullet was significant though. The Claw Hammer made a larger temporary cavity than the still picture shows; it's difficult to get good images when I'm only filming at 240 frames/sec though.

These are where the bullets stopped after penetrating the leather, bone, and gel mixture. The top bullet is the 200gr WFN, next is the 152 CH, then the 220gr FP (flipped backwards), then the 180gr XTP (flipped backwards). It's worth noting that the 180 XTP penetrated more on this round than without the bone. I attribute that to the limited expansion after the bullet hit the bone. The bullets' penetration relative to each other stayed the same when comparing the gel with and without the bone.

Here are recovered bullets compared to unfired samples.

 

[yorke-1]

Here's the Gen 2 Jack Hammer 10mm from Hammer Bullets. All shots are at 15 yards.



Gen 2 Jack Hammer

Muzzle velocity: 1405fps
Penetration: 24"

200gr WFN cast bullet (NOE style bullet mold)

Muzzle velocity: 1290fps
Penetration: 32" + bullet exited the second gel block

220gr TC

Muzzle velocity: 1162fps
Penetration: 23.5"

 

[huntinghuasna]

Awesome test, thanks for sharing!

 

[Trnelson]

I am looking forward to this thread!

 

[RockyMtnMT]

@yorke-1 very well done, sir! I think we are settled on the gen 2 of the 10mm Jack Hammer, unless you see the need to make a modification. We can certainly change weights but leave the nose design the same. We had talked about making the nose a bit more slender with a smaller meplat in hopes of getting a bit more nose deformation. I think we are better off with the larger meplat insuring immediate wounding. I think if we go to a little smaller meplat we will potentially lose wounding ability. I think the only reason to alter the nose would be for feeding issues and that doesn't appear to be an issue with a bit shorter coal allowing it to ride the ramp consistently.

 

[yorke-1]

@yorke-1 very well done, sir! I think we are settled on the gen 2 of the 10mm Jack Hammer, unless you see the need to make a modification. We can certainly change weights but leave the nose design the same. We had talked about making the nose a bit more slender with a smaller meplat in hopes of getting a bit more nose deformation. I think we are better off with the larger meplat insuring immediate wounding. I think if we go to a little smaller meplat we will potentially lose wounding ability. I think the only reason to alter the nose would be for feeding issues and that doesn't appear to be an issue with a bit shorter coal allowing it to ride the ramp consistently.

I like the nose profile just the way it is. If they were expanding more rapidly I don't think a smaller meplat would be an issue. If you make it too small though I'd be afraid that the bullet wouldn't penetrate in a straight line. If you look at all the images of the 220gr truncated cone style bullet (the same one used in some VERY popular heavy 10mm ammo), the bullet doesn't track in a straight line and seems to always curve up. I'll take the straight line penetration that the wide meplat on the Jack Hammer and the 200gr cast bullet give every day! I'm very confident that the reduced overall length (1.240") is more a function of the 1911 magazines than anything else. 1911 magazines are really narrow and have a very round nose profile, which is fine with more round nose bullets. It's just a problem with the really wide nose profile bullets. A wider double stack magazine like a Glock probably wouldn't have any issue with the Jack Hammer.

 

[yorke-1]

I never posted the pictures of the Gen 2 Jack Hammer!

Gen 2 on the left and Gen 1 on the right

And both versions of the Jack Hammer will expand when they hit a sufficiently solid object. I pulled these from a board at 40 yards and they still had enough energy to flatten out pretty good. Gen 2 on the left, Gen 1 on the right.

 

[yorke-1]

New video from yesterday with the 7mm SAUM.


This is the first round of 7mm bullets shot at 200 yards from a 1-8.5" twist 7mm SAUM. You know those days where you'd have been better off just packing up and going home? That was yesterday for me! LOL The weather turned just as I was getting set up, so it was overcast and I had to set up a canopy to keep the gel dry. That made it relatively dark, which doesn't help to get good video. Then every time the gel blocks hit the ground, they got a little dirtier. I only had a few of the 143 HH and 155 CE MTH bullets left, so I thought I could do this without any sighters, I was wrong and they were hitting pretty high. I was already zeroed at 200 yards with the 165 TGK, so those were dead on.

Here are the muzzle velocities of the loads tested.
143 HH: 3142 fps
155 MTH: 2955 fps
165 TGK: 2960 fps

Here's the first shot with the 143 HH

Second 143 HH

155 Cutting Edge MTH

165 Tipped Game King

The Hammer and CE bullets just didn't want to stay in the block with all three of those bullets exiting by either curving up (Hammers) or out the side (Cutting Edge). The Sierra bullet did stay in the gel and penetrated 19.5". I haven't had time to dig the bullet out and weigh it, but it held up pretty well considering the relatively high impact velocity.

The 143 HH shed about 6 petals which all exited either the top or sides of the block. The MTH left large fragments, most of which stayed in the block.

I'll also include one bonus picture of a 250gr SMK fired from a 338/375 Ruger specialty pistol with a muzzle velocity of 2670 fps. I fired this into the block after I was done with the 7mm, mostly as "stress relief" since the rest of the shooting didn't go quite the way I wanted it to. I flipped the blocks around so the relatively clean second block from the 7mm tests was now the first block for the 338. I didn't get a video of this impact, but I will shoot this load again at a later date.

The bullet you see in the gel is the 165gr Sierra. The 250gr SMK penetrated about 9" before coming unglued! This is the only piece of the bullet I recovered. The remainder exited the second block in 3 pieces that radiated out and exited the top and both sides of the second block after about 26" of total penetration.

 

[yorke-1]

Are there any strong opinions on 10% vs 20% ballistic gel? I'm going to order a few more blocks and Clear Ballistics currently has a good sale going on the 10% blocks. My goal is to have enough blocks to have at least 1 fresh block to shoot into for each bullet I test on any given day, as well as 1 or 2 additional blocks to try and catch the bullets in. Right now I can get 6 blocks of 10% gel for less than the cost of 4 blocks of 20%. The 20% would let the testing be more consistent, but the 10% would let me do more.

I'm also looking for suggestions on bullets to test. I have a few more Hammers on hand that I'll run through, but I'm going to order up some more to try too (I love the 15 bullet sample packs!). Most of the barrels I have are pretty conventional twist rates so I won't be able to do any of the super heavy bullets. I should be able to cover a good number of options though. I'll also test the other hunting bullets I have on hand, not just the Hammers. If anyone has a special request just let me know and I'll see if I can track some down.

Here are the bullets I have on hand to test still:

6mm (8" twist 6mm BR)
-88gr HH
-70gr NBT

6.5mm (8" twist 6.5 Grendel and large 6.5mm wildcat)
-99gr HH
-123gr ELDm
-129gr Interlock
-130gr SH
-160gr Matrix VLD

270 (7.5" and 8.5" twist 27 wildcat)
-117gr HH
-140gr Sierra TGK
-145gr ELDx
-156gr HH

7mm (9" twist 7mm SAUM and 9" twist 284 Win)
-168gr Matrix VLD
-180gr Berger

30 (10" twist 300 RUM)
-200gr Swift Aframe
-150gr Corelock

338 (9" twist 338/375 Ruger and 9" twist 338 SnipeTac)
-250gr SMK
-260gr Hammer Hunter
-300gr OTM
-304gr Hammer Hunter

358 (12" twist 35 Whelen)
-225gr TSX

375 (12" twist 375 Ruger and 10" twist 375 wildcat)
-300gr Sierra BT
-350gr Sierra SMK

458 (20" twist 45-70)
-276gr SH
-440gr WFLNgc Cast bullet

50 (28" twist Knight muzzle loader)
-290gr Barnes TMZ
-300gr XTP

52 (26" twist Knight muzzle loader)
-250gr Knight Bloodline (made by Lehigh Defense)
-275gr Barnes XPB

I don't have a ton of options for the 30 cal, I just never shoot it. I don't even keep any 30 cal projectiles on hand! The only ammo I have for it is actually two boxes of factory ammo I got with the gun when I bought it 2 years ago and have only fired 4 rounds of each! LOL

Let me know what you want to see and I'll try and track some down.

 

[elkaholic]

You're amazing Yorke! I know how much work that is. Thank you!
Maybe some Sierra Game changers and Speer Impacts

 

[Rhovee]

Yorke, We live pretty close to each other. If you wanted some more bullets to test we can meet up. @Lonnie did some testing with the 300 EH, 300 OTM, and 300 SMK, 300 AB last week. The SMK mirrored your testing from a few years ago. 2400 fps, and 1,800 FPS both showed great expansion. Maybe he will post some pictures.

 

[codyadams]

I could send you some .338 cal 250 Super Bull Dozer II's to test out, maybe some 7mm 171 PVA Cayugas too

 

[elkaholic]

PM me and I'll send some 140 Speer Impacts in 6.5