Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns ...a few bullets tests...

Have not run many bullets into water since my days of a being a commercial loader/reloader back in the 1980s. Decided to put a catch bod together and see what some of the rounds available today do when run into water...

Catch box is 4' long and will take 8 one gallon plastic milk jugs. Most HP bullets never make it beyond the third jug. Some harcast will make it through all 8. I also learned that plastic sometimes is too tough especially for the initial expansion and when possible use paper cartons instead. One 1/2 gallon paper carton equals 1-1.5" of ballistic gelatin... but collecting paper cartons is a pain and it takes a LOT of then to do a lot of testing...so I compromised by using one paper carton backed up by four gallon plastic jugs and then an out of date soft body armor panel to stop anything going beyond three jugs...







..and a chronograph 10' from the muzzle, the first carton 21' from the muzzle.



Bob

That's a really cool setup.

I've got some old boards that I lay in the yard on three sides with a stump at the back and put as many jugs as I need in the trough. It works, but I've no doubt that setup you've got would be handier.

So do you have any results yet?

I'm waiting to amass enough jugs to test the factory 125 gr 38 special +p Rem SJHP against some handloads I put together with the 135 gr GoldDot short barrel bullets in 38 cases.

Sounds like a very practical setup to me. Would like to see how your test results come out. E

Test #1:
Colt Super Elite
7" .38 Super barrel
9x23 Winchester
CorBon PowR'Ball
Velocity: 1672 fps

At the shot water from the carton hit me and the chrono. Blew the carton into pieces, split Jug #1 and put a hole into #2 where the bullet was found. The jacket separated from the core once in Jug #2.




If you look at the base board of the catch box you will notice that the round split the 2x6 lengthwise....

Test #2:
Colt Super Elite
7" .38 Super barrel
9x23 Winchester
Winchester 125 gr. Silvertip
1480 fps (odd as I have clocked this round at 1440 fps from the 5" barrel from this same gun)

Cut the carton in half and split Jug #1 and a small hole in Jug #2 where the fully expanded bullet was found.

Pretty dramatic stuff. I suspect you'll find that the SWC, or wide flat point hard cast loads will not do anything like that level of disruption. E

Test #3:
Colt Super Elite
5"
.38 Super
CorBon 100 grain PowR'Ball
1545 fps

Blew up the carton, punched a 1" hole in Jug #1 and the bullet was found in Jug #2. Again the core and jacket were in two pieces.

Test #4:
Colt Super Elite
5"
.38 Super
CorBon 115 JHC (Sierra Bullet)
1481 fps

This load is famous for going to pieces and it did....blew the botton right off the carton and split Jug #1...I got very wey on this one. Started leaving lead behind in the carton and the remains of the bullet were found in Jug #2...my favorite round...

Test #5
Colt Super Elite
5"
.38 Super
CorBon 124 XTP (Hornady bullet)
1379 fps

Blew up carton, big split in Jug #1 and passed through Jug #2. Found that the base of Jug #3 (did not enter)

Bob- how did the results line up with your expectations?

Test #6
Colt Super Elite
5"
.38 Super
MagSafe 68 gr.Defender (large shot and epoxy in a bullet jacket)...just devastating...
2034 FPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



After creaming the carton the heavy lead shot not just punched holes into the first and second juck but actually deneted the side of the third and several pieces of shot were found in the bottom of the catch box. The base of the bullet was found in the base of THE CARTON.

All for tonight... I want to thank my friend for letting me do this at his house.... I could run the hose right over to the shooting area to fill up the jugs and cartons....

More to come....

Bob

Fun stuff! Are you going to shoot any other calibers in this test? Like 40 cal, maybe?

Yes, fun stuff. That hornady bullet load would be my favorite so far. E

OR...no surprises so far as I have done a lot of these in the past. Biggest surprise was the Defender round as fast as it was and how far the pellets penetrated.

And yes, I plan on doing a lot of rounds.... Whatever I can get ammo for...

More later....

Bob

Test #7
Ruger GP100
.357 Magnum
4"
Hanson&Hanson .357 Magnum FMJ SpirePoint (like the old Winchester Metal Piercing round)
1189 fps

Split open the carton and punched a large in/out of Jugs #1 & #2. Put a hole right through #3 and #4 and would have probably went through 3-4 more but was stopped by the vest insert. No damage to the vest cover at all. Bullet found at the base of the vest...





..could be reloaded...

Test #8
Ruger GP100
.357 Magnum
4"
CorBon 100 grain PowR'Ball
1359 fps

Blew up the carton, split Jug #1 and punched a hole into #2. Jacket separated probably upon exiting from Jug #1 as a piece of the jacket was found in Jug #1. The core was found in Jug #2...

Test #9
Ruger GP100
.357 Magnum
4"
Handload of 110 grain SuperVel JHP/15.5 grains of Blue Dot
1519 fps

Blew up carton, BIG hole into Jug #1 leaving the jacket behind....that did not stop the penetration however as the core punched through the #2 and #3 jug and was found between the #3 and #4 Jugs...





Tough bullet for 110 grainer...

Test #10
KelTec 3AT
.380 ACP
2.7"
CorBon 70 grain PowR'Ball
1082 fps

Split the carton, jacket found in Jug #1 and core in #2

Test #11
Ruger GP100
.357 Magnum
4"
Speer .38 Special +P 135 grain Gold Dot HP
897 fps

Only split the milk carton, put a hole into the #1 Jug and split the handle coming out. Punched hole in and out of Jug #2 an was found expanded in #3.