Ballistic gel tests

[Rev]

At the Powderhorn Clan's Joe Walker rondy, this young lady (Kathy Sullivan) from the AZ Game & Fish asked if she could do some ballistic gel testing using muzzle loaders & hunting loads with PRB. Of course, we were more than happy to accommodate her. The gel blocks were almost 2 feet long, easily wider than your average deer...

We set up some hay bales & strapped the gel to them & let 'er rip...



She documented each shot as to powdwer type, granulation, load, etc.



This shot was 120 grains of 3f Goex, .490 ball, .010 patch from a flintlock long rifle. The ball passed completely thru & lodged about 1/2" into the second block of gel behind it.



This was 100 grains of Pyrodex, .490 ball, .010 patch from a half stock generic "Hawken" rifle. As you can see, there was a significant loss  of penetration, as well as shocking power in the lighter load. A test of a 70 grain load, all else being the same, resulted in the same penetration but relatively minor disruption of the gel. In every case, the ball tended to rise as it passed thru the gel, leaving a very small exit hole.



This was my shot, into gel with Elk rib bones embedded in it. 100 grains of 3f Goex, .490 ball, .010 patch from a Lyman Great Plains rifle. The impact shattered the rib bone in several places, basically pulverizing about an 8" long section of rib, passed thru for about 10" & once again exiting out the top of the block.



Part of the purpose of this testing was to determine if any lead was fragmented into the "meat", thus posing a hazard to wildlife & / or humans consuming the kill. Happily, in every case the lead stayed virtually 100% intact. Even the shots impacting bone left no fragments visible to the naked eye. According to her, modern bullets fragmented almost instantly on contact, even if the majority of the bullet held together. In some cases, they fragmented so badly as to make it impossible to tell which was the "main" part of the slug...

[Red Badger]

cool info!  just goes to show newer is not always better!

[windwalker_au]

Rev those are the same sort of results Sam Fadala got years ago and killing the old wives tales about the more powder behind the round ball the less penetration.
Bernie

[crazell]

Rev, that's cool on the results. Thanks for the good information.. Looks like fun to shoot at too!!