Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Bullet Box..............

Bullet Box Testing��..

The net is full of stories of bullet performance, ones used successfully and ones that failed. I am a sucker for full mushroomed bullets, just something about the look of the bullet, but in this age of high performance bullets, field recovered bullets are rare. So what is one to do?????? Build a bullet box����..


http://gunner.sixshootercommunity.org/BulletBox/Boxfront.jpg

http://gunner.sixshootercommunity.org/BulletBox/Boxleftside.jpg

http://gunner.sixshootercommunity.org/BulletBox/Boxrightside.jpg


Added bonus to using the box is being able to test bullets in a some what controlled manner, comparing different bullets and seeing how the individual bullets perform. Do pine boards compare to game in the field, NO, but the consistent media does allow one to test different bullets in an inexpensive media with like caliber bullets. TomC and I built the box for less than $53, in a couple of hours time. Searching the net for ballistic gelatin showed they are not cheap, lowest cost one ran $75 just for the gelatin with added cost for the cooker and mould form. Some companies would not even sell to a purchaser unless they were law enforcement or a Federal agent.

The tests were fired from 21 yards with a half liter water bottle in front of the box opening, this was done to help start bullet expansion allowing the boards to act like a stopping baffle to aid in recovering the bullet with limited number of boards. The box set up was 18 1x8x12 inch pine boards spaced � inch apart for a total length of 4 feet, weight was about 40-45 pounds complete box.


First up was the 6.5 Swede Encore using the Nosler Ballistic Tip��.

http://gunner.sixshootercommunity.org/BulletBox/BTcore.jpg

The BT penetrated 9 boards with the lead core stuck in the 10th board, TomC later found the jacket lying on ground to the left of the box.


Second bullet was TomC using the 6.5 Swede and the Nosler 130gr AccuBond�.

http://gunner.sixshootercommunity.org/BulletBox/Accubond.jpg

The Accubond went thru 12 boards, denting the 13th. The small piece of jacket/lead core was found stuck in the 7th boards about 3/8 inch from the bullet hole. Side note, the Accubond�s path thru the boards was a rising trajectory.
Third bullet was a Berger 6.5mm 140gr VLD bullet��..

http://gunner.sixshootercommunity.org/BulletBox/BergerVLD.jpg

This was actually the second bullet fired into the box. The first one blew thru the water bottle and started to tumble leaving a perfect bullet profile in the 6th board and hitting sideways high right on the 14th board, bouncing to the right and disappearing�.

http://gunner.sixshootercommunity.org/BulletBox/VLDboards.jpg

For the second VLD I used a heavier plastic Dr Pepper soda bottle, this bullet penetrated 17 boards, denting the 18th. The small piece of jacket was found in the 10th board. The bullet left a small caliber hole in the front of the bottle and a � in elongated slit in the back.


Next up was the Barnes 255 gr JFP in the Marlin 38-55 Winchester����

http://gunner.sixshootercommunity.org/BulletBox/Barnes255.jpg

The bullet went thru 12 boards and left a good size dent in the 13th. Great looking bullet, much better results then what I got back in May on a hog hunt in Central Missouri using this combo. All we could recover was a flatted, peeled piece of jacketing about the size of a dime.

Next I pulled out the heavy firepower, the wildcat 411 JDJ using a Hornady 300 gr .411 JFP pushing 1900 fps out of a 14 inch Contender���..

http://gunner.sixshootercommunity.org/BulletBox/Horn300.jpg

I knew this setup was going to give the bullet box problems so I used a one liter heavy plastic soda bottle, which the bullet totally blew apart. The 300 gr bullet mushroomed great going thru the 10th board and denting the 11th. Interesting note�..this is the only bullet/load that moved the box at all, some 10 inches across the top of the 55 gallon drums we sat the box on. I think the bullet might have passed thru all the boards if the box was secured and not allowed to move, will have to retest this load on a future trip to the range.

We shifted to 5 yards for the final two tests, self defense 9mm ammo. First up was TomC and XD subcompact using the Federal 124 gr Hydro Shock��..

The first shot left nothing but four very small pieces of jacketing and lead core between the second and third boards. TomC reshot the XD without the water bottle and this is the results���.

http://gunner.sixshootercommunity.org/BulletBox/Hydroboard.jpg

The bullet lodged in the third board with a slightly off centered mushroomed front end.


Last I shot my Kahr CW9 using CCI 124 gr Gold Dot +P+��.

http://gunner.sixshootercommunity.org/BulletBox/GoldDot.jpg

The Gold Dot mushroomed beautifully and stuck in the third board. Curiosity got the better of me so I reshot the Gold Dot but without the water bottle..

http://gunner.sixshootercommunity.org/BulletBox/GoldDot2.jpg

Interesting was the fact the GD penetrated five boards and denting the sixth.


Overall it as a fun experiment and neat to see the results, which left us with ideas for more testing in the future. For those of you interested in trying your own test here is a bitmap of the bullet box I designed.

http://gunner.sixshootercommunity.org/BulletBox/bulletBox.bmp

Put a water bottle between each board this would tend to retain the bullet before it falls apart