More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
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More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
Tested a couple cast hollow point bullets in my ballistic gel, and also a new 380 offering from Sierra.
I fired the bullets from 5 feet through 2 layers of denim in front of the gel. The 380 bullet from Sierra has a huge hollow point, and weighs 90 gr. I push them just a hair over 1000 fps, and they are very accurate in my G42. I bought them from Midway, but apparently it was a 1 time run from Sierra, and they are not available any longer. Good thing I bought 200 at the time, because it's a nasty little bullet.
As typical of most 380 hollow points, penetration was limited to just over 8", but it left a decent wound cavity.
Expansion was picture perfect, and it retained 100% of it's weight.
Next up was a cast 38 Special +P from an old Lyman mold. These weigh 135 gr. cast from a 50-50 mix of pure lead and clip on wheel weights. It runs 960 fps, and fully penetrated the 12" of gel, stopping just at the end of the block. It shed a bit of the hollow nose portion, but overall looks like a great performer for a defensive load.
Next was the 45acp Lyman Devastator pushed by 6.5 gr. of Unique. It lived up to it's name, producing a massive cavity, and fully penetrating the block, and just denting the phone book backer. It shed several petals of the nose portion that jutted off creating secondary wound channels.
As a result of these tests, I feel pretty comfortable carrying any of these bullets for defensive use.
I fired the bullets from 5 feet through 2 layers of denim in front of the gel. The 380 bullet from Sierra has a huge hollow point, and weighs 90 gr. I push them just a hair over 1000 fps, and they are very accurate in my G42. I bought them from Midway, but apparently it was a 1 time run from Sierra, and they are not available any longer. Good thing I bought 200 at the time, because it's a nasty little bullet.
As typical of most 380 hollow points, penetration was limited to just over 8", but it left a decent wound cavity.
Expansion was picture perfect, and it retained 100% of it's weight.
Next up was a cast 38 Special +P from an old Lyman mold. These weigh 135 gr. cast from a 50-50 mix of pure lead and clip on wheel weights. It runs 960 fps, and fully penetrated the 12" of gel, stopping just at the end of the block. It shed a bit of the hollow nose portion, but overall looks like a great performer for a defensive load.
Next was the 45acp Lyman Devastator pushed by 6.5 gr. of Unique. It lived up to it's name, producing a massive cavity, and fully penetrating the block, and just denting the phone book backer. It shed several petals of the nose portion that jutted off creating secondary wound channels.
As a result of these tests, I feel pretty comfortable carrying any of these bullets for defensive use.
Last edited by TedH on Wed Jun 17, 2015 3:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
NRA Life Member
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
I EDC a .380, but don't ya just love a .45?
The Rotten Fruit Always Hits The Ground First
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Proud Life Member Of:
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Second Amendment Foundation
Citizens Committee For The Right To Keep And Bear Arms
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Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
I have a .32NAA, which is a .380 necked down to a .32. It is put out North American Arms (NAA). I have some reloading dies, not much information out on reloading, but Hornady puts out a factory load 60gr at around 1200fps. I like how you used a powder coat on the cast, I would like to try that someday with the 32NAA.
Steve
Steve
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
That was another part of what I wanted to see, was if the powder coat stuck to the bullet through the rifling. It did very well.SteveR wrote: I like how you used a powder coat on the cast, I would like to try that someday with the 32NAA.
Steve
NRA Life Member
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
Midway used to or still does sell ballistic gelatin , a re usable type or something . This is making me think I need to get some !
I'd love to see how ALL my 44 cal home cast bullets react . Lord knows I'll more then likely never find one in a deer or bear !
I'd love to see how ALL my 44 cal home cast bullets react . Lord knows I'll more then likely never find one in a deer or bear !
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
Did you shoot the 45 ACP with the Devastater bullet in a 1911 ? And if so how well does it feed ?
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
Ted,
Thanks for sharing your results. You put in a lot of work preparing this report, and I really appreciate seeing it. It's always interesting to see NON-professional tests. Over the years, we've all read this kind of stuff in the magazines...usually accompanied by a full page advertisement for whatever hot product was reviewed/tested right next to the article itself. Kinda makes you wonder doesn't it..???
One question...I see you ran your tests at 5 ft. and that's good information. I'm curious if you have any results from 10 or 15 yards...??? As someone who carries a Ruger LCP .380 more often than anything else...I'm wondering if the .380 results would show meaningful change from a little farther away.
Thanks for sharing your results. You put in a lot of work preparing this report, and I really appreciate seeing it. It's always interesting to see NON-professional tests. Over the years, we've all read this kind of stuff in the magazines...usually accompanied by a full page advertisement for whatever hot product was reviewed/tested right next to the article itself. Kinda makes you wonder doesn't it..???
One question...I see you ran your tests at 5 ft. and that's good information. I'm curious if you have any results from 10 or 15 yards...??? As someone who carries a Ruger LCP .380 more often than anything else...I'm wondering if the .380 results would show meaningful change from a little farther away.
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
Yes, it's a 1911, and they feed very reliably, I believe. I've only shot several dozen of them so far, but have not had any failures. I don't know if I will do a whole lot more with these, mainly because they are a royal pain to cast and have them come out perfect. The mold and alloy have to be extremly hot, and it's hard to keep the mold hot enough without touching the hollow point pin every other bullet with a propane torch.6pt-sika wrote:Did you shoot the 45 ACP with the Devastater bullet in a 1911 ? And if so how well does it feed ?
NRA Life Member
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
I always keep it pretty close, especially with these short barreled, small ccw type guns. Seems more real world, and I don't want to chance not putting the bullet exactly where I want it in the block of gel, and having to remelt it because I shot one out the side of the block of something. I don't think there would be any noticable difference at 15 yards though. You'll have a bit lower velocity, but I don't think it would be enough to matter.guido4198 wrote:Ted,
One question...I see you ran your tests at 5 ft. and that's good information. I'm curious if you have any results from 10 or 15 yards...??? As someone who carries a Ruger LCP .380 more often than anything else...I'm wondering if the .380 results would show meaningful change from a little farther away.
NRA Life Member
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
Having tested 45-70 cast bullets in the gel, I can tell you that you will need substantially more gel than you see here to catch your cast 444's!6pt-sika wrote:
I'd love to see how ALL my 44 cal home cast bullets react . Lord knows I'll more then likely never find one in a deer or bear !
NRA Life Member
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
I have a copy of the Lyman 429640 Devestator mold and as you say I have to run it very hot .TedH wrote:Yes, it's a 1911, and they feed very reliably, I believe. I've only shot several dozen of them so far, but have not had any failures. I don't know if I will do a whole lot more with these, mainly because they are a royal pain to cast and have them come out perfect. The mold and alloy have to be extremly hot, and it's hard to keep the mold hot enough without touching the hollow point pin every other bullet with a propane torch.6pt-sika wrote:Did you shoot the 45 ACP with the Devastater bullet in a 1911 ? And if so how well does it feed ?
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
TedH wrote:Having tested 45-70 cast bullets in the gel, I can tell you that you will need substantially more gel than you see here to catch your cast 444's!6pt-sika wrote:
I'd love to see how ALL my 44 cal home cast bullets react . Lord knows I'll more then likely never find one in a deer or bear !
Is this what you got ?
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/929328 ... uctFinding
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
No, I'm too cheap for that. I use unflavored food grade gelatin, purchased in bulk.
http://www.bulkfoods.com/wholesale-cook ... ounds.html
http://www.bulkfoods.com/wholesale-cook ... ounds.html
NRA Life Member
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
Can you cast them very soft, and allow the powder coat to keep them from leading? Soft should bump up and fill the bore and the powder coat should act like a gas check in my mind.TedH wrote:That was another part of what I wanted to see, was if the powder coat stuck to the bullet through the rifling. It did very well.SteveR wrote: I like how you used a powder coat on the cast, I would like to try that someday with the 32NAA.
Steve
Steve
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
I have tried some very soft. The powder coat still performs well, but accuracy goes by the wayside because the alloy can't stand up to that kind of pressure. I don't powder coat the bases anyway, simply not needed with these types of bullets.
NRA Life Member
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
You are most welcome. I really wanted to get my hands on some more of those Sierra 90 gr. bullets, and Midway lists them as "No longer available, 1 time run". So I called Sierra, and they told me the same thing. They had produced the bullets for an un-named ammunition manufacturer and had a over run. The excess bullets went to Midway, and once they were gone, they're gone. The gentlemen at Sierra wouldn't even tell me the name of the ammo maker that they produced them for. I've searched images online, and have not seen any ammo that has this bullet, so it remains somewhat of a mystery for now.casastahle wrote:Thanks Ted for that little extra confidence in my favorite little EDC
NRA Life Member
Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
I see, thanks for the work on this and posting. I would be interested in seeing how non coated bullets would fare when shot at same as powder coated.TedH wrote:I have tried some very soft. The powder coat still performs well, but accuracy goes by the wayside because the alloy can't stand up to that kind of pressure. I don't powder coat the bases anyway, simply not needed with these types of bullets.
Thanks,
Steve
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Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
YES!BlaineG wrote: I EDC a .380, but don't ya just love a .45?
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Re: More cast bullet ballistic gel tests
Ted, thanks for your great report and the time you put in to it. My grandson carries a Kel Tec 380 and liked your report a lot.
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