Some informal water jug ballistics testing results

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someguy2800

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I have been saving up milk jugs for a couple months to do some ballistics testing prior to deer season and finally got around to doing it today and thought I would share the results. Here is my sled full of fun getting ready to test.

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They are just used gallon milk jugs filled up with well water. From what I have read water jugs are very destructive to a bullet and will tear up a bullet significantly more than ballistics gell does so take the results with a grain of salt. The 4 guns I wanted to test are my ruger sp101, my contender pistol with a 13" 357 maximum barrel, my Tikka T3 lite in 25-06, and my AR15. I shot two of each of these tests but I failed to capture a few of the bullets.

First the 357 magnum. This is a 4.2" ruger sp101 and I've been trying to decide between a 125 grain XTP and a 140 grain XTP.

125 grain XTP hp, starline brass, 21.5 grains win 296, fed SPmagnum primer, 1490 fps muzzle velocity, 15 yards from jugs

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140 grain XTP hp, 18.5 grains win 296, 1290 fps

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The difference in impact between the two was dramatic, the 125's blew the first two jugs to pieces and the bullet bounced off the 5th jug and was sitting on the table. The 140's were both found in the 4th jug. They split the first jug and there was 1/2" diameter hole exiting the 2nd and penciled its way into the 4th. The 3rd and 4th jugs were reusable. I shot a deer a couple years ago through the lungs at 50 yards with the 140 xtp and the deer ran off and took half an hour to die. The bullet exited but the wounding was not dramatic.

Next gun was my 16" 223 AR15. I just shot one round through this. This is one of my favorite bullets and I knew from experience with this bullet that its not quite as explosive as a fragmenting varmint bullet but not quite tough enough to be a big game bullet. It came appart more than I expected. These pieces were in the 3rd jug with some chunks in the 2nd and lots of little pin holes from fragments exiting.

Hornady 55gr SP, 24 grains accurate 2015, 3015 fps, 15 yards from jugs

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Next was actually a couple tests I did a few months ago under the same conditions. This was with a 14" contender pistol in 357 herrett.

Sierra 158 grain JSP, 34 grains IMR 4198, WLR primer, 2000 fps at muzzle. This is one very tough little bullet, would be great deer bullet for a 357 magnum lever rifle. One of these was at 15 yards and the other at 100

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Hornady 180 grain XTP, 31 grains IMR 4198, WLR primer, 1800 fps at muzzle. One was at 15 yards and the other at 100

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Back to todays testing, a 13" MGM 357 maximum barrel which I like alot better. Same 180 grain XTP seated in the second canelure. I specefied the throat dimensions on this when I got it built so I could seat these bullets out long and get more powder volume than saami spec.

Remington 357 max brass, 180 XTP, 24 grains win 296, federal small rifle magnum primer, 1990 fps muzzle velocity. This disintegrates the first two jugs and sends pieces 20 feet in the air. The two on the left were at 15 yards and the one on the right was at 100 yards. I have seen results of people shooting this bullet on game with 357 max rifles at as much as 2400 fps muzzle velocity and the bullets did not come apart like this. I don't think the hollowpoints expand as fast hitting game as they do on water.

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Last was my Tikka T3 lite in 25-06. Bullet was a speer 120 grain bonded bullet. These were pulled bullets I bought from American Reloading and were advertised as being 120 grain Federal Fusion factory bullets. I used to shoot federal fusion factory loads in this gun before I started handloading and these were the best performing bullet I ever used so I was excited to find them as a component bullet. Federal fusion's are probably the best deal out there on factory ammo considering they use a premium bonded bullet.

Federal 25-06 brass, 120 grain fusion, 53 grains Reloader 19, WLR primer, 3006 FPS

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I recovered the first bullet so I shot the rest of the 4 I brought out on my 100 yard target. This Tikka never disappoints. By all account this barrel should be shot out but it just keeps on shooting.

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Thanks for all the effort. I've done the jug thing before & it requires some work. How many rounds through the Tikka?
 
Thanks for all the effort. I've done the jug thing before & it requires some work. How many rounds through the Tikka?

About 1500-2000. I was told accuracy would be gone at 1000 and it would be tumbling bullets by 1500. The throat is pretty much gone but it shoots just as great now as when I bought it.
 
Ah water jugs. They're fun even if you aren't analyzing results! And cheap!

Used them as a first demonstration to my boy about the destructive nature of firearms, too.

"Do it again! Do it again!" :D

The WATHWUMP sound coming back from a 180 grain revolver bullet turning a jug to mist at 100 yards is priceless
 
Sierra 158 grain JSP, 34 grains IMR 4198, WLR primer, 2000 fps at muzzle. This is one very tough little bullet, would be great deer bullet for a 357 magnum lever rifle. One of these was at 15 yards and the other at 10
I have some older Sierra JHC bullets in 140gr, 150gr and 170gr and I tested them in a Marlin levergun and was surprised at the results with the 170gr Sierra bullet. I would not hesitate to use it on small deer.

I did send a bunch of bullets over the chrono shot from the Marlin Levergun. It seems Lil'Gun adds ~100 fps to each load.
Here are the numbers: (you will be surprised!)

Using a 180gr Hornady XTP bullet:
15.0gr Lil'Gun - CCI-550 primer - AV=1584 fps
13.6gr W296 - CCI-550 primer - AV=1495 fps

Using a Cast Performance 180gr WFNGC bullet: (Hard Cast)
14.8gr Lil'Gun - CCI-550 primer - AV=1657 fps
13.7gr H110 - CCI-550 primer - AV=1547 fps

I also tried a 170gr Sierra JHC bullet and liked the results.
17.0gr Lil'Gun - CCI-550 primer - AV=1793 fps (that's amazing velocity!)
15.5gr H110 - CCI-550 primer - AV=1699 fps

Just to add some info for a 125gr Hornady XTP/HP bullet even though I didn't use Lil'Gun, the velocities were scary!
17.7gr 2400 - Win WSP primer - AV=2055 fps
22.0gr H110 - CCI-550 primer - AV=2239 fps
 
Wow those are some impressive velocities from a magnum! Was 17 grains of little gun under that 170 a compressed load? I actually have 200 of those 170 grain sierra's I got cheap at a gun show. I tried them in my revolver but the accuracy wasn't there. They do shoot well out of my maximum but I think they will be a bit fragile for a max load. I could see them working really nice at about the 1700-1800 so I might try loading them down to that. The lead seams to be really soft compared to the sierra JSP. The fastest I have shot anything from the maximum is a 158 sierra on top of a compressed load of 1680. Velocity was over 2400 fps but it was about unbearable to shoot! I am looking forward to trying a 125 and see if I can get it up to about 2700 just for giggles.
 
Wow those are some impressive velocities from a magnum! Was 17 grains of little gun under that 170 a compressed load? I actually have 200 of those 170 grain sierra's I got cheap at a gun show. I tried them in my revolver but the accuracy wasn't there. They do shoot well out of my maximum but I think they will be a bit fragile for a max load. I could see them working really nice at about the 1700-1800 so I might try loading them down to that. The lead seams to be really soft compared to the sierra JSP. The fastest I have shot anything from the maximum is a 158 sierra on top of a compressed load of 1680. Velocity was over 2400 fps but it was about unbearable to shoot! I am looking forward to trying a 125 and see if I can get it up to about 2700 just for giggles.
The 17.0gr Lil'Gun load was not compressed and even though it sounds high I did work up the load from the data on the Hodgdon site so it is a published load. Remember, those velocities were from a levergun barrel, not a revolver.

Take a look at the box of those Sierra bullets. If it's as old as mine it will specify they are rifle bullets,so they are tough.
 
Interesting results with Lil'Gun. Thanks for sharing.

Another powder I would try in a 44mag lever gun would be 300-MP. I tried that powder with a 5" 357mag revolver and was not all that impressed. But, when I tried it in my 16" Rossi 357, it was very impressive. I was getting 1800 fps with 158gn XTP, and 1.5" groups at 50 yards with iron sights (rear peep sight). No pressure signs at all. That was a full 200fps faster than I got with a max load of 2400 powder.
 
I did a little informal testing of my ccw/load on a liter bottle filled with water.
I found this in the bottle.
I changed my ammo immediately.

I have an LC9 as well as my carry gun but the S model. Funny you mention that. My plinking load for that gun is a 125 grain Berry's target HP at about 800 fps. I was curious one day if that big huge hollow point would expand at all if you shot something with it so I set up 7 jugs on my table. First two shots made it all the way out the 7th jug so I quickly ran and grabbed a big rock laying nearby before my water all leaked out an put it behind the last jug. The bullet smashed into the rock at an angle and scraped the plating off one side. The other side of the bullet looked perfect after having gone through 5 feet of water. Those bullets are HARD!
 
Thanks for sharing your test results. I have also done some water jug testing with some good and not so good results. Following is one one of the better bullets I tested for expansion:

357sig, P229, 3.9"
COL: 1.125"
Sierra V-Crown, 125gr, JHP, BE86, 7.8gr, CCI500
Average: 1288
ES: 28
SD: 11.4
Force: 460
PF: 161
Velocities: 1271, 1295, 1295, 1299, 1284

Testing medium: 1gal water jugs
Bullet recovered: 3rd water jug
Recovered bullet diameter: .7020" (95.75% increase in diameter)
Recovered bullet weight: 123.2gr (1.36% decrease in weight)
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Spent my fair share of time blasting a 50-gallon water barrel. Figured these belong in here ;)

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Top: 220gr Sierra Pro Hunter @ ~2200fps
Middle: 150gr Barnes TSX @ 1900 - 2200 - 2600
Bottom: 110gr Barnes TSX @ 2400 - 2100

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150gr Barnes TSX - 2600 - 2200 - 1900

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110 TSX 2400 - 2100 - 1800

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55gr FMJ - 20'' barrel ~ 3100fps

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100gr SP Carbine bullet

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Nosler 125gr BT - 2200fps

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Sierra 168 Matchking

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That's interesting, I water jug tested a bunch of 125 grain BT's for my father in law's 30 Herrett contender and every single one of them lost the jacket and fragmented at 2000 fps muzzle velocity. We also shot a couple into a water soaked poplar log with the same result.

2 out of those 3 pictured did in fact have jacket separation, and I simply placed the lead core back inside the jacket prior to the pic.... Shot out of a 16'' 300blk.
 
I have about 15 1 gal jugs saved up for doing just what you did. I guess I need to get busy and have some fun. I was planing on comparing 55gr @ 3300fps 223R to 458 SOCOM 300gr at 1650fps at 100 yrds I already know what the 458 does to hogs :) I imagine the jugs will be a no contest.
 
Somewhere between 2200-2400. It's been 3 or more years but at the time I think I was testing that bullet with A1680 out of a 16'' bolt-gun chambered in 300blk...
I was curious, as I have loaded that bullet for 30 carbine, and have considered it for 30-30. In 30 carbine, the top velocity would be around 1900fps so I would expect less spectacular disintegration
 
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