Bullet Testing - Terminal Results from Ballistic Gel

[LarryBud]

I’ll never challenge Ron on the terminal performance testing front but I do have some results to share.

Background: I have a New Mexico Elk Tag on my pocket. It’s a difficult to draw unit and for the first time in my life, I’ve contracted an outfitter for my Son and I. Since this is a open canyon country, post rut hunt, I’ve been asked to be proficient to 300 Yards. With practice, Im becoming more comfortable at the long ranges. I will have two guns prepared. Gun 1 is a Knight Super Disc 45 shooting heavy lead. I have no worries on terminal performance if I do my part. Gun 2 is still up in the air. I have my .52 Knight Disc dialed in, shooting MOA to 300 but based on the below, it’s back to the drawing board.

No matter what projectile I use, speed drops considerably after 250 yards. I decided to test my current bullet options in ballistic gel at speeds I’ll have at the longest shot ( 1200-1300 FPS ).

The gel was mixed at 1 lb of beef gelatin to 1 gallon of water. I think this is about 12% concentration. 3 gallons total. I poured it on to a 6” x 6” x 23” brick. I then built a containment box out of scrap lumber and old paper brochures I had laying around. The containment box should had been built better but I did it’s job as I recovered each bullet fired. I added a chrony to the front for accurate speed capture.

I’ll post the results in subsequent threads.

 

[jsteurrys]

Very interested in seeing your results.

 

[phalanx]

Enjoyed looking at your results. If I may ask, what powder charges were you using for each of the projectiles you fired? Assume you were setting them up to simulate velocities at the longer range?
Thanks
John

 

[LarryBud]

Enjoyed looking at your results. If I may ask, what powder charges were you using for each of the projectiles you fired? Assume you were setting them up to simulate velocities at the longer range?
Thanks
John

Yes. This is the impact speed I'd expect at 250-300 yards. I used 60 grains, by volume of BH 209 at 50 yards.

I set up a paper target to the side. I'd shoot a round through the paper and the use the print to fire into the gel. The Chrony right in front takes the guesswork ot of the speed. I was targeting 1200-1300 fps and it worked pretty well.

 

[phalanx]

Thank you. A little scary for me to put my chrony in front at range. That would be the time I flinched and whacked it!

 

[LarryBud]

Thank you. A little scary for me to put my chrony in front at range. That would be the time I flinched and whacked it!

I figured the worst I’d do was shoot off the umbrella arms. All is well that ends well.

 

[mnoland30]

I hunt cow elk in NM every year. I've been consistently able to get within 220 yards. Read my post in reply to "Looking for advice from Seasoned Hunters" in todays forum for more info about hunting NM. Good luck. I let my buddy shoot over a borrowed Cronograph, and he drilled it with his muzzleloader. Oops.