What do you use to test bullet expansion at home or at the range? I am currently in progress of developing Subsonic loads for .300 BO. I would like to know how the bullet is performing after I have my cartridge figured out. What works for you as far as bullet expansion tests?
Something I Can Do at Home To Test Bullet Expansion?
- Thread starter RLinNH
- Start date
This plus a wal mart folding table to put it on at the 100 yrd line, next to everyone else's paper targets.
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With a 40 S&W (Speer Gold Dot 155gr. at 1150 FPS) at about 10 yards the bullet always remained in the water. If your shooting a bullet that’s designed to expand I would expect a subsonic 300 BO can also be stopped with water.
Water jugs can do that, if it's a bullet designed to expand at 900-1,000 fps (most 30 cal bullets aren't; you'd know if you bought a specialty bullet for this). Beware that a non-expanding bullet (including most 30 cal conventional hunting/target bullets) will not stop in a reasonable number of water jugs and can often penetrate 12-15 jugs IF you can keep the bullet centered, although they drift offline most of the time.
Also recognize that water jugs don't replicate live meat and bone, but neither do any other test media. There are a ton of different methods you can try, and all give different results. Wet paper is a common one, some use dry paper for worst case abuse of a bullet against heavy bone, then there's the various kinds of gel and wax media, and things like rice or oatmeal mixed with water, etc. IME water jugs are the most consistent and easiest to use, if you understand the differences in what it does to a bullet.
You didn't say whether "at home" means a home shooting range, or literally in your home? Hopefully this is something you're doing outside in the backyard shooting range.
There are several reasons why gelatin is less than ideal and much harder to get right than water jugs or even wet paper, especially for what the OP is asking.
I wasn't aware that you knew exactly what the OP intended with his subsonic 300 BO loads. But since you've eliminated it from his options for him I won't ask any more.
Pig carcass although the high fat content doesn’t exactly replicate the medium you may be shooting at/into..unless you are hunting hogs.
You can make ballistics gel at home in 5 Gallon buckets.
Its a logistical nightmare, but can be done.
Its a logistical nightmare, but can be done.
If you are using a bullet designed to expand at subsonic ranges, ask the manufacturer. They will likely have done the tests- they are after all, selling them as expanding subsonic bullets. If, however, you are doing what most do and rolling 200+ gr match bullets into subsonic 300 BO cartridges, just expect little to no expansion and go about your day. Beyond the potential for making a fun youtube video, and given the variability in the typical home made "ballistics test media," it is unlikely that your home "test" will be sufficiently controlled to draw useful conclusions.
