70 bucks is a great price. How much of that is the bullets? I'm also wondering now how much it'd cost for say 25 of the real sharp bullets, and then 75 more of ones that are the same weight and everything, but are less labor intensive to make, for the sole purpose of chrono testing.
Just as a note, the 12" thing actually comes from another guy who's been there, done that, and has the T-shirt. Originally, the FBI basically just tried the maximum energy approach with a bigger cartridge (10mm), but zero testing.
Then along came Martin Fackler, who'd served as a combat medic in Vietnam, then went on to get an M.D. because that's the only way he could get anyone to listen to him and get other doctors to stop butchering their patients (long story). It was Fackler's advice that led to the FBI's penetration requirement of 12" to 18" (Fackler himself says 12.5" to 14" is the optimum in bare gel, 13" to 16" through 4 layer denim), and also the development of the .40 S&W.
Fackler saw firsthand what happens to men right when they're shot, minutes after, hours after, days after, weeks after, and years after, in his career. And he said that with handguns, big heavy bullets at moderate speed that make big deep holes are the best way to put men down and keep them down.
Basically, Fackler sees
all handguns the same way Jule looks at the NAA Companion. An icepick with a real long needle, that the best you can hope from them is a deep caliber-width hole.
Also, gelatin is really misleading, because the tears in gelatin barely have anything to do with the amount of wounding in living tissue. Most jello testers say the tears only tell you the size of the temporary cavity but even that isn't true. The temporary cavity is bigger than the tears.
If you want to see the actual size of the actual hole which would be left behind in living elastic tissues, the best tissue simulant to use is a special mix of "transparent gel candle" stuff. Of course, the actual medium you'd use has as much to do with a candle, as ballistic gel has with a jello mold. 13% kraton and 87% white paraffin oil (or it may be 15/85, the article is kinda badly done...) will replicate the penetration of ballistic gel, and also humans. Also, I believe the gel candle blocks are more highly reusable, since you can simply melt them down and recast the block after shooting it a few times.
http://www.travma.org.tr/pdfs/9.2/TJTES.9.2.5.pdf
Personally, I'm now starting to think Fackler's opinion on energy at handgun levels was due to his personal experiences. As a combat medic, he only saw people being shot with FMJ ammunition, and as a surgeon, he only saw people several minutes or hours after they'd been shot. Recent research, especially the stuff by our own Michael Courtney, suggests that the
immediate reaction to being shot is more dependent on energy than previously believed. A pressure wave (which correlates with energy, and distance from CNS structures of the shot) of sufficient magnitude can damage the central nervous system. However, Fackler's research into the same phenomenon also suggests that the damage is minor (it can only be seen under a microscope), and does
not have any long-term effects.
In other words, barring shots which directly pulverize the spinal cord or brain, whether or not someone drops instantly depends on the pressure wave (energy and shot placement), but whether they
stay down depends on whether the hole is big and deep enough to punch through a vital organ (penetration, hole size, and shot placement). Anecdotal evidence does seem to show that this is the case. People hit with high-energy rounds in non-vital areas often drop, only to get right back up and keep fighting seconds later, while people hit in vital areas with low-energy rounds will often keep fighting for several seconds as though nothing were wrong, before finally bleeding out.
Seems like the best approach is to use a big, heavy, fast bullet with high energy, that makes a big deep hole. Someone's gotta be right, so I'm covering all bases with my primary carry loads. See my thread here
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=201813
Very nasty, and definitely covers everything. Very high energy, very deep penetration, very nasty fragmentation, very huge temporary cavity (threw pieces of modeling clay about 50 feet), and a good hole size. What more can you ask of a handgun round?
Are you measuring the charge by volume? Just wonderin'. Be a pain to have to weigh each charge, but might be prudent, don't know. I have a Lee powder scoop set, but I don't even know if it goes down to one grain of Bullseye, LOL! 
