Pistol Bullet Expansion.

I founf this on http://www.firearmstactical.com./

A Simple Method for Testing Bullets with Your Guns

A quick and easy method to determine bullet or shotshell performance out of any handgun or shotgun is to gather several (and we mean several -- about 30) cardboard half-gallon milk cartons (plastic won't do).

Fill them full of water, line them up side-by-side three abreast, in three rows of 10 (each carton should be in contact with its neighbor). Back-up several feet and shoot a bullet from your handgun into the center row of cartons.

Count the number of water filled cartons the bullet penetrated, including the carton where the bullet came to rest. Multiply the number of cartons times 2.5 to determine penetration depth in inches. This will give you a SWAG (scientific wild-??? gauge) of how your gun/cartridge combination will perform in soft tissue (both bullet expansion and penetration).

The data obtained and averaged from three test shots should give you a fairly accurate SWAG. Remember to observe all safety rules when handling your firearm.

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I've done this many times. Speer's GD is always the best performer. The bullet stops at the 5 or 6 carton.

Forgot the pic. Here is it.

I just use a single one gallon water jug. Behind that I have a box about 12 to 20 inches deep filled with rags to catch the bullet.

I used to line up several jugs to see how many the bullet penetrates but mostly it was a waste of time.

I found that a HP or SP pistol bullet was going to do it's best in the first jug. If it didn't expant in the first jug it wasn't going to expand at all.

A lot of bullets were lost in a line of jugs also. I never lose a bullet using a rag filled box to catch it.

This is a 60 gr Cor Bon from a 32 Kel Tec. The ONLY HP bullet I've found that will expand at all from the short barrel 32.

I just use a single one gallon water jug. Behind that I have a box about 12 to 20 inches deep filled with rags to catch the bullet.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll check that next Saturday.

how about a 5 gallon sparklets water jug?



Fill it up, tip it sideways, and shoot through the cap...., you can always replace with a new cap, and you havent wrecked the jug....right?

I just use a single one gallon water jug. Behind that I have a box about 12 to 20 inches deep filled with rags to catch the bullet.

Click to expand...

Hmm, I'll have to try that. Last time I didn't have enough jugs to test two different rounds because the bullet was caught in the third of four jugs. That first one had the whole back end blown off. The second one only had two small holes and the third one small whole. Beautiful expansion from a 180 gr. .40 S&W Hydra-Shok. The one I didn't get to test was the Winchester Ranger SXT.

brad cook

Brad,
That's what I found with using more than one, one gallon water jug. The bullet does it's job on the first jug and may just put holes in the second or third jug.
This will give you a good idea of the penetration of the bullet you are testing but if you mostly want to see if the bullet will expand, one jug does the job.

arinvolvo,
I tested the Aguila 45 IQ round in a 5 gal jug. I wish you could see the video.
First I hit it in the top half. The jug lifted about 4 inches high and rolled left and back.
I hit it in the bottom half while it was in the air ( I didn't know I was that fast ) and it finished blowing up the jug.

Real time it was just a lot of water flying around but slow motion it's real impressive.

The 45 Aguila IQ is my Kimber Ultra Tactical II carry round. 1400+ fps out of that short barrel.

Wet telephone books work well too. You'll need at least 12 inches of telephone book... and a backstop just in case.

I am not sure what the controls are for calibrating cardboard (paper) milk jugs. Do you or do you not close and seal the tops? Is the distance shot relative to penetration comparable between the jubs and human targets? What thickness of carton is required? Will wax or laminate paper cartons work equally as well?

Yes, cartons can give you a SWAG, but so too can wet newspaper, dry, wet phonebooks, dry, etc. I am not sure if paper milk jugs are better or just different, especially being more fun to watch.

Double Naught Spy
My standard for testing, for years now, has been one plastic water/milk jug shot at about 7 yards. Far enough away not to get too wet.

This doesn't tell you hardly anything about penetration except how far the expanded bullet goes into the box of rags and that really doesn't tell you too much either.

Hot loads that don't expand will sometimes go all the way through the box. Not a good defense load I would think.

I used to line up several jugs to get some idea of penetration but it was really a waste of time and jugs.
Except for very hot loads the bullets were expanded about all they were going to expand in one jug. Usually, as said here earlier, the 2nd, 3rd, etc jugs just had a hole in them. Not "blown up" like the first one.

So all I'm really learning is if a given bullet and load will actually expand.

Sometimes you learn something interesting like the earlier picture where the Cor Bon was the only JHP I found that would expand in the Kel Tec 32. The other non expanding ones were Federal Hydro Shock, Speer Gold dot and a Winchester JHP.
These all expanded in my Colt 1903.

A couple months ago I bought some "super dooper" 9mm JHPs.
They were like shooting FMJ. Went clean through the water and box with no sign of expanson. So I lined up 4 then 5 jugs. Same thing. This stuff was just high dollar FMJ.

Botton line is this testing only tells you if the bullet in question will expand under minimum conditions.
It's just really an interesting comparison of bullets under the same conditions.

It's not meant to compare with more "scentific" tests but is just an easy interesting semi controled test.