Ballistics Gel vs. Metal mag.

[CorvidKiller]

So recently I made some homemade ballistics gel and was curious about what kind of damage metal mags do to the target and here is what they do.

[rsterne]

Photos of the recovered pellet?.... velocity at impact?... .177 or .22 cal?.... total penetration distance?

Bob

[Geoff]

I have been thinking of doing this and even bought the stuff to do it however got lazy.

Nice separation and penetration on the tip there.  Thanks for the photo

[Lightninrod]

Thanks Aaron. That's my current hunting pellet. I'm about out of them and because they are so expensive, I will go back to the almost as effective Gamo Red Fires. Both group well out of my Bone Collector.

Dan

[Clifford]

This could be interesting. Mind sharing the recipe for the gel?

[CorvidKiller]

Sorry forgot to add all that info. The pellet was .177 and fps was doing 980 fps creating 18 FPE. The distance was 25 yards and the total penetration was 4 inches.
 
The recipe for the gel is using knox UNflavored gelatin packs. to get the right mix you need an once of gel per cup of water so that means 4 packets of gel per cup of water. Then take a pan to hold  however much water  you think you want to make, say you are using five cups of water, so that means you would need 20 packets. Fill the pan with cold water or the gel will not mix in correctly. Mix in it thoroughly then set the stove to medium heat and stir constantly until the mix appears clear or you can see the bottom of the pan pretty well. Set the mix into the fridge for 2-4 hours or until firm then remove and put it back on the stove and melt in it down. When everything is completely melted down find a container that will hold your mix and spray the inside with cooking spray. After pouring the mix into the mold put back into the fridge for 24 hours and when completely set gop and have fun. The gel is reusable so after you are done remove any pellets or pellet shards and cut it up and remelt it.   

[palonej]

Great stuff Aaron!!

[rsterne]

Thanks, I wanted to get a rough idea of how the melt-and-pour soap I use for penetration tests compares to your ballistics gel.... At 15 FPE impact energy I tested .177 Predators and got 50 mm of penetration and the pellet was nearly inside out.... so the soap offers a lot more resistance than the ballistics gel, which is what I thought.... Here is a photo of some recovered hollowpoint pellets.... At 12 FPE on impact the penetration was only 42 mm (1.65")....



You can tell which ones are the Predators, the top row was at 12 FPE, the middle row at 15 FPE, and the two on the bottom (Baracuda HPs) at 18 FPE (all energy at impact).... Assuming your 18 FPE was at the muzzle, you would have had about 12 FPE remaining at 25 yards.... so the top row would be the comparison.... I didn't have the Metalmags, of course, the Pred is the closest.... Here is a photo of the wound channels from the hollowpoints in the soap....



The Predator at 12 FPE is the 4th from the left in the top row.... you can see the red tip separated about half way in.... Notice that the wound channel from the Predator is wide but short compared to most of the other hollowpoints....

Bob

[Geoff]

thanks for the soap shots Bob. 

[CorvidKiller]

I agree bob the soap seems to add a lot more resistance to the pellet. I think sometime I am going to shoot a bird and let it rot to get the skeleton and see how the pellet acts going through bone but I may also use tooth picks, but I may get the same thing you got with shooting through bone.

[rsterne]

It just seems to me that (at least homemade) ballistics gel yields too easily compared to game.... I was getting about 11" of penetration with a .22LR solid in soap, I can only imagine it would do 3-4 feet in your ballistics gel, which seems excessive.... The soap may be a touch on the hard side, but it is consistent, regardless of temperature.... which ballistics gel isn't.... 

Bob

[starlingassassin]

couldnt you make it slightly stiffer by using say 5 packets per cup of water instead of 4?

[Shooterr]

Thanks CorvidKiller for the recipe !

[CorvidKiller]

I did have mine watered down a bit but yes you could add more to stiffen it up. The pellet only penetrated 4 inches so I think it is almost there stiffness wise.

[rsterne]

4 inches.... I thought you said 6" above....

Bob

[CorvidKiller]

Sorry that was a typo the mold was only 4 inches wide.

Aaron.

[rsterne]

Did it stop inside the 4" block, or blow through?....

Bob

[CorvidKiller]

It stopped inside.

[starlingassassin]

i wonder what thickness would stop 52fpe?

[CorvidKiller]

I would make a block at least a foot deep if not more but you would need a lot of space in the fridge.