I have no ballistic gel but I'd like to test a few different loads and bullets for penetration and expansion.

What is the best homemade media that works close to the real stuff?

Thanks.

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The most realistic media I know of is what Paul Harrell uses. Do a Youtube search and he will come up. He uses Pork Ribs, Pork '"steak", Watermelon or Oranges, Leather and clothing with Fleece blankets as a back stop in a bundle. It simulates shooting through clothing, skin, ribs, fat, lungs and more clothing on the back end. IMO, MUCH MORE realistic than than shooting into a jug of water or Ballistic Gelatin which is really only good as a relative testing of bullets through that particular Block.

Paul uses this media in about 75% of his videos so it should be easy to find.

YouTube

without getting really fancy or expensive, wet phone books or newspaper has always served the purpose.

Next time you have a boucherie just use the hog....he's going to be butchered any way so just take the opportunity to test them loads on one . Then proceed with the butchering.
You can't eat wet phone books or newsprint but pork chops, bacon ham sausage...no waste .
Gary

I guess the tough hog hyde counts as a few layers of clothing in the comparison to defense shooting. Not a bad test...

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While shooting animal flesh is more realistic, it is much less scientific since you aren't wounding the same kind of flesh every time. So I don't know how you could compare your results very well. That's why gelatin came about.

Anything fibrous like a phone book is going to also give uneven results.

One of the better articles on this topic is here: Triggernometry - Home Bullet Penetration Testing - GunsAmerica Digest

It mentions one way that I have used - firing lengthwise through a 2L plastic soda bottle. For a long time, that is what I used for testing military ammunition, except I used 3L bottles. I took high-speed videos of the impact, and some very interesting videos came out of it. Unfortunately that was all done about 15 years ago, and I have no idea where those videos are today (I was using a Red Lake camera which went up to about the equivalent of 20,000 frames per second).

Some also have used consistent putty-like materials such as plumber's putty, wallpaper cleaner. and Play Dough packed into plastic pipe. I would think those would be pretty good and the material can be re-used. You can't re-use gelatin, although you might be able to test two or three shots in the same block if it is big enough.

And there is also the Box o Truth website, with extensive load testing.

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Honoring the little pin

- Kind & Knox 250A (can be recycled and reused)
--- Best results
- Water
--- Demonstrates maximum projectile upset, but 1.6-2x penetration depth
- Clear Ballistics Gel
--- Not as accurate as the real stuff, but decent for pistol ammunition

- Clay and similar mediums over-emphasize the temporary stretch cavity.
- Dead tissue is less elastic than live tissue and can produce inaccurate results.
- Live animal testing, conducted well, is useful, but anatomical and physiological differences can lead to inaccurate conclusions.


Your best bet, without buying gel, is a water box.

To check the ballistic performance of my reloads I get clean wet sand for the gravel pits. You can make a 5’ long 18” x18” wooden box to put the sand in. Then fire into the 18” x 18” square. You will see the lead turn into a gray powder and the copper coated steel jacket open up like shrapnel.

Didn’t know the copper jacket was coated steel underneath.? The JHP does one heck of a job stopping wise.

+1 for phone books (if they still make them). Works best if you soak them overnight, and then let them dry for a couple of hours.