H&S, Day Two!

12 Aug 07

Hoot & Shoot, Second Day!

Today, we shot a lot of gelatin! We had many gelatin blocks left over from yesterday, and we shot every one of them. All shots (with the exception of contacts) were fired at a range of eight feet.

WW Silvertip (now employing the old, Black-Talon technology) in 40S&W performed nearly as well as Cor-Bon DPX, uniformly expanding in gelatin, after penetrating four layers of denim. Penetration was consistent at twelve inches. Likewise with 9mm Federal BPLE +P. Both are excellent rounds!

From a five-inch 1911, hardball penetrated twenty-four inches of gelatin and squinted out the other side! Long, uniform wound channel, but scant tissue destruction outside the wound channel itself.

12ga, Foster slugs also easily penetrated twenty-four inches of gelatin. Through-and-through!

Nine-pellet, 00 Buckshot spread out at between six and thirteen inches of penetration. Extreme destruction of tissue. An authoritative fight-ender!

I fired several rounds at contact distance with my S&W M&P Pistol (40 S&W, w/140gr DPX). I actually buried the muzzle into the denim as far as I could without pushing the slide out of battery. I fired four, quick shots. Amazing destruction! Jets of hot, expanding gas blew into the temporary cavity right behind the bullet, producing colossal shear fractures in every direction. Shards of denim were carried as far as ten inches into the would channel. The pistol's muzzle and an inch of slide ended up coated with a heavy film of liquid gelatin. There is surely something to be said in favor of contact shooting with a pistol, even an autoloader!

As always, DPX bullets penetrated thirteen inches, expanded completely, and all came to a stop within an inch of each other.

We also fired several Glaser Safety Slugs into gelatin. Penetration was limited to five inches. One can clearly see small, lead shot blown into, and suspended in, gelatin, but it is difficult to say how destructive the impact really is. In any event, penetration is grossly inadequate, in my opinion.

I don't like bullets that break up, inadvertently or by design! Little pieces or big pieces, makes no difference! I believe, for maximum terminal effect, bullets need to penetrate adequately, expand consistently, and, most important, remain in one piece during their propagation through tissue, not shedding any pieces at all..

I'm looking forward to next year's event. Our sincere thanks to Evan Marshall, a giant in our Art, for this opportunity.

/John