Ballistic Jello--yes, jello...

[Mole2017]

Like the title says, this is about ballistic jello. Normally we talk about ballistic gelatin, and there is a desert that goes by that name, but one desert making attempt at my house met with two accidents that resulted in something closer to the ballistic version. Read on...

So my daughter thought she'd make some jello with fresh pineapple in it. Sounds easy enough, but when it didn't set we checked the internet for an explanation: fresh pineapple is in fact a strong meat tenderizer that readily breaks down the gelatin (a protein) in jello.

The fix was to heat the failed batch to cook the responsible enzyme (and thus render it inactive) and add more gelatin. Here comes the second accident.

My daughter gets down the Knox gelatin per our recommendation and follows the directions. Again, easy enough, except that the directions must have been for finger jello treats and call for three packages. It set this time alright...downright chewy, LOL! It could have used more sugar too, so nobody wanted to eat it. Well, I thought, hmm, might be fun to shoot a piece. It was, too, but that only used up one piece.

That's when I hatched a plan to see if this stuff was anything close to proper ballistic gelatin. I threw the whole batch in a bowl and microwaved it to melt it again. Once cool, I had a round brick of really tough jello to shoot.

A Crosman Premier wadcutter from a pumped up 1377 blasted right through it at point blank range. Hmm, not a very promising start. I was wanting to catch some pellets. So, out comes the bucket of rubber mulch for a backstop and I try again. I give it another shot with the 1377, this time at only four pumps. Lo and behold it catches the pellet--right at the exit. Can't get any closer than that...



A disclaimer here: I'm not foolish enough to take shots like that with my wife's dishes holding things. The plate is just for the jello-themed photo.

Anyway, for the next shot I move back to 25 yards with the R10 shooting a 10.34 grain JSB, which blasts right through. Then I get an idea...how about one of the 15.5 grain NSA hollow point bullets? After a practice shot, I repeat the shot with the NSA at 25 yards. Of course, it too blasts right through, but I was hoping maybe it might do something. Actually, it did: made the jello jump over an inch in the air. Good for a laugh at least.

Then I hatched another plan. Could the 1377 shoot an NSA bullet? I forget if I gave it five or ten pumps, but it was probably five as I wanted to give it half a chance to get caught. No luck...right through it.

Oh, but today I'm full of ideas. I decide I should dig through the bucket to recover the pellets that just went through the jello. This is a pretty fresh bucket of mulch, so it only has the pellets from a test I did a few months ago now (If you'd like to read it: https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=158205.msg155753405#msg155753405).

Here's what I found:



Hmm, looks like they are all there, and some interesting things to be seen. Counter clockwise from the top: Crosman Ultra Magnum, JSB Heavy, RWS Powerball (almost all pieces recovered!), inboard of those the H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme (zero expansion!), NSA bullets, RWS Supermag (super smashed), a whole lot of 10.34 grain JSB and about as many 8.44 grain JSB. Some of these pellets are damaged from hitting each other--I shot into the same location during that test.

Ah, but none of these are from the jello test--I've saved those for last. I never did conclude I recovered the JSB pellet, but then again I don't think it would have looked much different than those you see above. The 10 pump Crosman Premier was shot into the leaves, so we don't have that one either. But--and now we get to why this post is here instead of the back room--I did find both NSA pellets:



On the left is the one shot from the 1377. Hmm, very lightly cut that one is...that means it must have passed through pretty easily? What might these do at higher pressures in a 1377 or other pumper, for that matter? I'll have to put one over the chrono tomorrow...

On the right is the one shot from the R10. And we even got a little hollow point action! This pellet would have been flying at about 700 FPS on impact. I'm impressed. I have to wonder what this might do to a ground hog? (Memo to self: next ground hog must get tested...) Anybody happen to have recovered an NSA bullet to comment on the expansion?

[A.K.A. Tommy Boy]

Wow....Ballistic Jello !      Like ! Like ! Like !      With Me...That is a big ...YES !   


Oh Wait.....My Wife Likes the Dishes ! 



Best Wishes My Friend  -  Tom

[Mole2017]

Well, I just made a discovery: I loaded a magazine of 8.44 grain JSB by mistake. I found this out because I just recovered a pellet from a rodent body that was not the 10.34 grain Heavy that I usually shoot (By the way, I made a mistake in my list of pellets above--the second pellet from the top is the 13.43 grain JSB Monster).

Since that had immediately followed the jello test, that meant I probably put an 8.44 grain JSB through the jello...Sure enough, looking them over again, I found one with clean shiny rifling marks. (All the older ones have oxidized by now.)

[wolverine]

I've thought about using jello myself.  I was given a 10 lb bag of jello without instructions so i thought why not make jello to shoot? 

[fwbsport]

I found out a week ago by shooting at a 4" diameter candle (it was missing the wick) with my HW30S .22 the pellet sank in it at 15 yards and lodged with an "eruption crater" encircling the entry hole!  I had thought the candle would disintegrate upon impact and was absolutely shocked the pellet went 1" into the wax!  I thought about taking something a little faster to it in .177 to see if the candle will soak those up too, and then graduate to the HW80 .177, and finally the HW80 .20 followed by the .25 Luxus. 

Problem is that first shot went EXACTLY to center of mass while shooting off hand at 15 yds, and to DUPLICATE a perfect center hit again while the candle is standing upright will (it will) be a problem.  If I am off center the whole candle could chisel apart.

This jello idea reminded me of this experiment I am carrying out on wax in a large candle.

It's a Vanilla candle.

[Mole2017]

Bob had found that a certain casting soap caught pellets pretty well. Some people like to shoot pellets into water to catch a pellet. That might be the simplest idea, but I haven't tried it to know how deep the water needs to be. And then there's the splash of impact...and the ladder you stood on for the shot so you wouldn't get drenched...

...but what if we put gelatin to the water? Not enough to make ballistic gelatin, but enough to make it stay put if you turn your bucket on its side or even tip it enough for a comfortable standing shot. Hmm. That's probably next for this batch. Right now I've got it in a small bottle to repeat a "constrained" catch idea I tried a while ago. But after that, I "thin" it some for a larger bottle and see what happens.

[Relentless Holiday]

Bob had found that a certain casting soap caught pellets pretty well. Some people like to shoot pellets into water to catch a pellet. That might be the simplest idea, but I haven't tried it to know how deep the water needs to be. And then there's the splash of impact...and the ladder you stood on for the shot so you wouldn't get drenched...

...but what if we put gelatin to the water? Not enough to make ballistic gelatin, but enough to make it stay put if you turn your bucket on its side or even tip it enough for a comfortable standing shot. Hmm. That's probably next for this batch. Right now I've got it in a small bottle to repeat a "constrained" catch idea I tried a while ago. But after that, I "thin" it some for a larger bottle and see what happens.

I have no logic at all I can pin point but some, probably wrong, piece of my brain is saying pure water could have more resistance...it makes no sence i can think of at all...maybe just that I never belly flopped into jello...

[Mossonarock]

learning how to make ballistic gelatin is on my to-do list.

[Mole2017]

learning how to make ballistic gelatin is on my to-do list.

Don't make the mistake of trying to dissolve it straight out of the package into water. That "blooming" part is an important step.