Real Bullet terminal limits

[MichaelJohn]

So I shoot a 30-06, 24"barrel and need to know what happens in real life to those 180/165gr Accubonds, ballistic tip partition, etc. manufacture bullets with muzzle velocity of 2900ft/sec or more. Some manufacturers show images of bullet mushrooming at 3000ft/sec to 1800ft/sec.
Does this honestly mean that at 1100ft/sec, the bullet will not deform? I want to limit my shooting to what I believe I can ethically hit and drop, not just hit. I can hit targets fine at 700yds(practice,practice..); I do not hand-load, so I'm constrained to purchasing my ammo. Honestly, what really happens to that bullet if the velocity drops and how low is too slow ??

Many thanks....

 

[rooster721]

Only way to see what (your) bullet is doing at those velocities is probably gonna be to soak some old phone-books (or similar) set them up in a box of sort at your given ranges (that off your charts mirrors the velocities you are wondering about) ...and shoot

...once you've shot into those soaked targets, dig through them to collect your bullets (however deep they penetrate) record it, and judge yourself whether the channel through the books and the bullets-mushroom (or lack-of) is sufficient (in your opinion) to do what you expect of it--

That's the only way in my opinion... often the best way is to do your own testing and draw conclusions accordingly. Every rifle is different, every calibre, every barrel, every twist.. etc etc

Goodluck, and keep us posted.

 

[MichaelJohn]

Thanks Rooster -
I had not thought of that, especially not soaking the phone books first, that is a great solution for capturing penetration and observing what happens to the bullet.
I think I'm going to be collecting a pile of old phone books now and accumulate some real data; You gave me a simple, cheap and elegant solution, many thanks!

 

[D.Camilleri]

While you are at this, you need to know your actual muzzle velocity, and it would be good to know the impact velocity also. Bundled up wet news paper will also work as a bullet stop. A mid range velocity would also be good information. Determining the lowest speed that any given bullet will reliably expand is very important to know the max range of a target for ethical clean kills.

 

[Brewer]

what would be really kind of you is to post some results!! I'd appreciate it ..

 

[Canadian Bushman]

Fan the phone books out a little. In my experience a wet closed up phone book will stop bullets unusually quick.

Some guys also use milk jugs full of water, and ballistic jelly is pretty cheap as well.

Def post some results!

 

[Michael Courtney]

So I shoot a 30-06, 24"barrel and need to know what happens in real life to those 180/165gr Accubonds, ballistic tip partition, etc. manufacture bullets with muzzle velocity of 2900ft/sec or more. Some manufacturers show images of bullet mushrooming at 3000ft/sec to 1800ft/sec.
Does this honestly mean that at 1100ft/sec, the bullet will not deform? I want to limit my shooting to what I believe I can ethically hit and drop, not just hit. I can hit targets fine at 700yds(practice,practice..); I do not hand-load, so I'm constrained to purchasing my ammo. Honestly, what really happens to that bullet if the velocity drops and how low is too slow ??

Many thanks....

The manufacturer's quoted lower end is too low. For many bullets, the practical lower end for real and reliable expansion is 200 fps ABOVE the manufacturer claims. The best you can hope for velocities well below manufacturer lower limit claims is for a long bullet to tumble and injure tissue by tumbling rather than expansion.

We've tested a number of 30 caliber bullets at 1100 fps in gelatin using high speed video. None of the bullets designed for normal (1800-3000 fps) velocities expand at all at 1100-1200 fps, but the longer bullets will tumble after 5-7" of penetration. The Lehigh Defense Maximum Expansion design will expand down to 1000 fps.