Author Topic: Penetration and Expansion Testing (Read 43176 times))

Paul68 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 18, 2013, 06:38:31 PM »

Even with it being close range, this is still a great demonsration of the different characteristics of each pellet. Threads like this are why I stay at GTA.

OleTomCat · « **Reply #21 on:** February 18, 2013, 08:10:22 PM »

Love it, keep the data coming.....

rsterne · « **Reply #22 on:** February 18, 2013, 08:12:28 PM »

Here is the photo of the recovered pellets from the High Power tests.... Only the pellets showing noticable expansion or distortion are shown.... the others looked like they could literally be reused....

Top row is .22 cal, from left to right:
Predator Polymag - 7 pieces
Hunter Extreme - crosscut nose in 3 parts, plus skirt
Baracuda Hunter - nose nearly peeled off
Crow Magnum - nose completely folded over, center punched out

Middle row is .25 cal, from left to right:
Predator Polymag - 8 pieces
Hunter Extreme - mushroomed with 4 jagged edges from crosscut
Mr. HollowPoint 58.8 gr. - nearly completely mushroomed
Crow Magnum - nose section inverted and separated, but was sitting over the skirt

Bottom row, also .25 cal, left to right:
EunJin Dome - some shortening, slight expansion
Mr. HollowPoint 50.0 gr. - completely mushroomed
H&N Ram Point - some shortening, lip at base of point forced back

Note: the H&N Ram Point had a small horizontal lip at the base of the point which acted a bit like a wadcutter and that is what caused the larger entry hole and wider cone shape of the wound channel.... The thin rim around the plastic tip on the Polymags blew apart into many small pieces at these velocities (950-1000 fps).... IMO they are at their best at a lower speed.... and in fact that may apply to all of the hollowpoint pellets, they are starting to come apart.... The Mr. Hollowpoint bullets, on the other hand look very interesting, they are behaving like a PB bullet (not surprising).... It will be interesting to see how they perform at higher velocities and energies....

Bob

BenjiHunter · « **Reply #23 on:** February 19, 2013, 03:19:46 PM »

This is great!
Thank you for posting.

triggerfest · « **Reply #24 on:** February 19, 2013, 04:50:13 PM »

Cool review

Very professional !

So the JSB Predator Polymag's are doing what has been promised right..?

As a conclusion for now, what would be your most favorite if you combine accuracy with penetration...?

jimmie lee · « **Reply #25 on:** February 19, 2013, 05:01:56 PM »

Very interesting results all around; particularly interested in the Mr. Hollowpoints with such expansion.

rsterne · « **Reply #26 on:** February 19, 2013, 05:40:46 PM »

Unfortunately, none of the hollowpoint pellets have proven to be accurate in any of my rifles with one exception.... My Hatsan .25 cal AT44-S10 likes the Polymags OK.... In all of my PCPs, the JSB Heavies or Kings are the most accurate.... I use nothing else for hunting as a result.... I haven't tested the Mr. Hollowpoints for accuracy in anything yet, that will have to wait for the summer....

Bob

triggerfest · « **Reply #27 on:** February 19, 2013, 05:49:36 PM »

Yes, the JSB Heavies are indeed very accurate and doing good with almost every airgun, even the pellet picky ones...

GunnerAl · « **Reply #28 on:** February 20, 2013, 05:00:43 AM »

Very interesting stuff here. It's hard to know what a pellet will actually do once it has left your rifle. That kind of helps a bit to understand at least a bit of what might happen. Very impressive indeed...

Bently71 · « **Reply #29 on:** February 20, 2013, 09:34:06 AM »

Excellent write up. And thank u for all your time, effort, and $$$ spent on this project. It benefits all of us. Now get to work on the .177 tests. Lol! We'll be expecting the results right away.

J/K! The squirrels in my neighborhood and I already knew the Crow Magnums are killers. I am surprised at how quickly they expanded. I know the only times I get pass through shots on squirrels is when I hit somewhere like the neck. Chest or head shots rarely leave the body. I generally find chest shot pellets on the opposite side just under the skin. The skin generally stretches on the backside requiring way more energy/velocities to pass through. And almost all recovered CM's have expanded greatly. So far they are my favorite hunting pellet. And I use the .177 H&N 9.26 gr.

Sheridan 74 · « **Reply #30 on:** February 20, 2013, 12:32:23 PM »

You sure have a large variety of pellets.

Great experiment, thanks for sharing the results.

rsterne · « **Reply #31 on:** February 20, 2013, 01:06:41 PM »

I pretty much purchase every new type of pellet that comes out.... with the exception of target types and non-lead.... It gets pretty frustrating sometimes when I virtually end up using only some weight of JSB Exact in every gun I own but one (my B-26 prefers H&N FTTs).... I applaud H&N for their recent Hunter and Hunter Extreme pellets, they are trying to provide a long range hollowpoint.... I just wish they shot better in my guns....

Bob

PackingHeat · « **Reply #32 on:** February 20, 2013, 05:12:28 PM »

Awesome job! I'm going to buy some of that soap ASAP.

Bent · « **Reply #33 on:** February 20, 2013, 05:17:59 PM »

Quote from: rsterne on February 20, 2013, 01:06:41 PM

I applaud H&N for their recent Hunter and Hunter Extreme pellets, they are trying to provide a long range hollowpoint.... I just wish they shot better in my guns....

Bob

I almost second that... the Baracuda Hunter is very close to the Baracuda giving me sub 1/3" groups at 35 meters the Hunter sub½"...
But the extreme and the crow magnum is crappy in my HW100. BUT a friend also got crappy groups in his Royal400, but turning the powerwheel down to 20ft/p he got "decent" grouping..

The same happened with RWS Hollowpoints which are the worst in mine... 4-5" groups at 35 meters..... he got it down to a little over an inch..

And I'm NOT shooting HOT, the RWS is at 270m/s and the Baracudas is from 235-245m/s depending on the type

Dockey 454 · « **Reply #34 on:** February 20, 2013, 08:29:44 PM »

Great test Bob, thanks for sharing.
Tom

umpreacher · « **Reply #35 on:** February 21, 2013, 09:37:32 PM »

Thanks Bob for all the wonderful info. I bet you had a great time doing this test. It will be of much help to many of us.

rsterne · « **Reply #36 on:** February 26, 2013, 08:59:35 PM »

I did a few more tests today, with cast bullets at higher FPE levels.... I started by adding the data for the solid and hollowpoints I recently cast from the RCBS 50 gr. mold I purchased, shooting them from my 2560 regulated PCP, and once again, for whatever reason, the energy level is only about 40 FPE (instead of 50), similar to what I got with the Mr. Hollowpoints.... The bullets I cast weighed 52.7 gr. for the solid, and 46.4 gr. for the hollowpoint, and here are the results....

You can see that the solid penetrated within an inch of the far side of the block, easily the deepest penetration I had seen to date.... I shot 2 of the hollowpoints, on from each side, and they both penetrated a bit deeper than the Mr. Hollowpoints I tested at the same FPE level, leaving a small entry hole and a similarly shaped wound channel.... I then pulled out my .25 cal Disco, which shoots about 85 FPE, and tested the same two bullets, plus the 50.0 and 58.8 gr. Mr. Hollowpoints.... The first solid went right through the 8" block of soap, but I had a second block handy, so I turned the block 90* and shot through the other block to produce the channel coming from the right side in the photo below....

The channel from the right is the 52.7 gr. solid, after already penetrating 8" of soap in another block.... The tracks from the bottom, left to right are:

46.4 gr. Lyman hollowpoint
52.7 gr. Lyman solid (first shot, straight through the block)
50.0 gr. Mr. Hollowpoint
58.8 gr. Mr. Hollowpoint

You can see the huge wound cavities about an inch into the block where the hollowpoints exploded.... The block was bulged a lot right above those cavities, which measured between 3/4-1" across, and had numerous imbedded bullet fragments.... Here are photos of the recovered bullets....

Top row, left to right, all shot at 85 FPE:
46.4 gr. Lyman hollowpoint
50.0 gr. Mr. Hollowpoint
58.8 gr. Mr. Hollowpoint

Bottom row, left to right:
52.7 gr. Lyman solid shot at 85 FPE
52.7 gr. Lyman solid shot at 40 FPE
46.4 gr. Lyman hollowpoint shot at 40 FPE
repeat of above HP @ 40 FPE

In summary, the 52.7 gr. Lyman solid has easily the greatest penetration I have seen to date, 175 mm (6.9") at 40 FPE and 318 mm (12.5") at 85 FPE.... interestingly just about exactly proportional to the FPE level.... The 46.4 gr. Lyman hollowpoints I cast performed well at 40 FPE, mushrooming completely.... At 85 FPE, all the hollowpoints came apart, which really surprised me.... The velocities ranged from just over 800 to just over 900 fps, depending on bullet weight, and it just shows how much damage a hollowpoint can do at those impact velocities and energies.... If I want to test anything over 100 FPE, I'm going to need bigger blocks of soap....

Bob

Cathartes · « **Reply #37 on:** February 27, 2013, 02:53:27 PM »

Wow, fantastic info and pictures. This confirms the pointlessness (no pun intended) of pointed pellets. Basically no better penetration and a worse BC.

1377x · « **Reply #38 on:** February 27, 2013, 03:38:17 PM »

nice tests
what kind of game is about the same hardness of the soap?
other than the bones isnt game soft?

badredbird · « **Reply #39 on:** February 27, 2013, 04:04:39 PM »

very nice mr bob , one guy like you is worth ten like me who dont have the innovative mind to have thought of this as a medium , i also have about every pellet known to mankind and this is a really nice way to tet them and besides now we know you have the cleanest pellets around!!!! keep up the great work , wondering how much id need to make to test some bigbores

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Penetration and Expansion Testing

Author Topic: Penetration and Expansion Testing (Read 43176 times))

Bently71