Unfortunately, it turns out I’m somewhat of a tard.
The jelly is starting to cloud a little and I misjudged a cut and sliced a small lobe off the expansion cavity and just for a cherry on top also cut too much off the end and removed the end of the channel with the very back end of the jacket.
These things really come undone when they hit, below is what I found after remelt with an unfired one as comparison.
The projectile appears to have detonated pretty much on contact as there was a large piece of shrapnel just a few mm in. The back end of the jacket penetrated 30.5cm.
The pic below shows the side of the cavity I broached, entry was from the right and the cavity was 21cm.
The permanent wound cavity was significant. Entry was from the left in this pic and the aforementioned lump of early shrapnel is visible in the top half.
I have some of these that I’m happy to donate to science.
They were made by a mate of mine in Victoria, i know that he shut up shop and moved to Timbuktu but I’m not sure if he sold off the business as we lost touch when he moved.
They are made by swaging .22lr brass over lead cores.
He gave me a handful of these to try out but I’ve never loaded them.
I did buy a box of them in .308 that will get a run sooner or later so i wouldnt mind seeing what they do.
P.m. me with an address if your’e keen and ill post you a dozen.
Just revisited this topic, starting at the initial mold/pour… Thanks Gaz for giving me a good laugh, your description of the “melt down” and clean up are worthy of an open mic night at a comedy club.
Looks like you’ve overcome the problems and are pretty well on top of it. With regards to a hide/skin replicator, maybe some old carpet? This project has certainly given you a time filler.
I had thought of using a carpet tile, but the thought of trying to sort out which debris came from the bullet and the inevitable fragments of carpet and backing gave me pause.
I’m having a ball doing the tests and have come to love the jelly.
Lots of messy experiments on cutting and smoothing it for photos have shown it to be a remarkably compliant, yet strangely uncooperative medium.
I’m itching to do more but Hughie is being disruptive.
I have to hand it to you Gaz, considering the wobbly start I was dubious of your results . They have , however, proven to be very good. Good science and info there mate, well done.
Thanks guys.
I appreciate the feedback.
It’s good to know I’m not just amusing myself.
I had a sudden brainwave about the clouding issue while melting and re-pouring yesterday.
I noticed that the level in the mold is now 2" below where it was originally.
Being a tightarse by nature, I’ve been scrupulous to the point of obsession about not losing any more than possible, even scraping up drips that have fallen on the melamine tray I use when cutting, so it’s got to be evaporation of the water component concentrating the solution.
So, next time I melt I’ll add enough new water to bring it back to the original volume
Been thinking about simulating hide, I still think carpet would be a good equivalent. I understand your concern for the fibre getting caught up with the bullet but that is exactly what hide does. You always find skin and hair/fur tangled up in the remnants of the bullet.
It should float to the top when you remelt the gel, should being the operative word.
Break in the weather and it was the Honady 35gn Vmax at 100m.
I’m not happy with the jelly density for this test, particularly as it was such a fast, light projectile. I was thinking it’s increased too much. Remelt proved how much.
The original block was 3kg of gelatin in 27lt of water, so slightly greater than the 10% target density.
After re-pouring I had to add 6lt of hot water to restore the original level in the mold so this last test was closer to 14.5%, nearly 50% more dense than the original.
Bugger.
I had a fossick about in the shed for the truck “inner tube” I was going to use as a skin analogue.
Alas, it was a rim liner, not a tube. About 10mm thick and useless for the purpose, besides which, I wouldn’t have used the tube as it turned out because of my density issue, no point skewing things farther.
This was my last .223 projectile variety, I thought I had some Bergers, but wrong again.
I’ll try the 12g next.
I only have 5 Breneke slugs, which I haven’t used for years, and don’t want to burn them up finding out how they fall so I’m going to have to do some googling on that, unless one of the shotgun users on here can give me a clue. I’m thinking 30m range.
I’ll be using my trusty old Sportco Model 80, 28" full choke.
I do have a box of OOs, I can try them first, would that be a useful reference or is it apples and oranges as far as fall of shot?
Apples and oranges mate. Slugs will be pretty hard to predict mate I reckon.
I’ll send off those BT Energetics this week, sorry I got a bit side tracked last week with some health stuff and then pissed off out bush for a few days.
No worries man, your health is most important.
There’s no hurry.
More horizontal rain on the way here anyway apparently.
Hughie’s getting all worked up again.
Good thing about winter storms here, at least we don’t get tornados.
Had 3 in the last 2 summers, one took out a 30’ tank stand right next to the garage and my car and another killed 2 sheep, stampeded a mob into and right through a ringlock fence.
The third just ripped up a trail through the paddock behind the house.
It’s getting all Kansas-like.
Perhaps just an old T shirt or other cloth would be suitable. I was at first thinking of a skin as I have a few tanned ones around the place but they are a lot tougher once off the animal and treated.
