Gelatin Tests

30 May 07

Gelatin Ballistic Testing:

Last weekend in PA, Mike Shovel of Cor-Bon was nice enough to stop by during our Pistol Class and put on a terminal ballistics demonstration, as he has done several times in the past.

We fired into large blocks of ballistic gelatin 357SIG, 45ACP, 40S&W, and 223, in Cor-Bon DPX as well as Federal Hydra-Shok and Speer Gold Dot. All bullets had to first penetrate four layers of denim. In some cases, bullets had to, in addition, penetrate a "car-door," which was simulated by two layers of sheet steel, separated by a two-inch air gap.

Once again, four layers of denim greatly frustrated conventional, brass/lead hollow-point pistol ammunition, particularly Hydra-Shok, greatly subduing expansion and actually increasing penetration.

No conventional hollow-point ammunition was able to penetrate the car door. Some didn't even make it through the first layer. None made it through the second layer.

On the other hand, DPX expanded uniformly, despite the denim, and easily penetrated the car door. This kind of consistently superior performance is the reason I carry DPX daily in my pistols. Velocities were as advertised, 1350 f/s for the 357SIG (from my SIG/229/DAK), 1200 f/s for the 40S&W (from a student's G22), and 1050 f/s for the 45ACP (from my short-barreledDetonics).

DPX 223 53gr expanded perfectly when fired out of an eleven-inch barrel, penetrating fifteen inches of gelatin. The bullet looked exactly like the one I extracted from a pig I shot in FL last fall. However, when I shot the same round from my XCR, with its sixteen-inch barrel, the bullet expanded so violently, the petals broke off as the bullet was propagated through the media, leaving only a perfect, copper cylinder when the missile finally stopped. Our chronograph showed velocity to be just under 3000 f/s. When I fired 62gr DPX from my XCR, expansion was, once again, perfect, with a velocity of 2800 f/s. I concluded that the DPX bullet can be launched at too great a velocity. Ideal velocity will generate consistent expansion, but still leave the bullet in one piece. In 223, I'm thus switching from the 53gr DPX to the 62gr DPX for my sixteen-inch rifles.

223, 55gr hardball uniformly failed the car-door test, penetrating the first layer of steel, but invariably failing to penetrate the second. Conversely, DPX 223, in both bullet weights, went through both steel layers and still penetrated twelve inches of gelatin, every time.

Finally I fired seven rounds of 357SIG DPX through my SIG/229/DAK into a denim-clad, gelatin block. I fired as fast as I could stay on target, with all seven rounds launched within two seconds. I wanted to see if penetration depth would see wide variation, with the last rounds penetrating more deeply than the first. Not so! All seven round stopped within an inch of each other, after twelve inches of penetration. All seven expanded perfectly, despite the denim, and, when recovered, all seven were facing forward.

I conclude that any reputable, high-performance, hollow-point pistol ammunition will expand after entering bare flesh, but few expand consistently after first penetrating several layers of clothing, and none, save DPX, will reliably penetrate car doors.

In 223, I believe 53gr DPX to a good choice with short-barreled rifles, but 62gr DPX is conclusively the way to go with sixteen-inch and longer-barreled rifles.

/John