A while back I posted about my son (8th gr) planning to do his science project on m/l bullet performance. I needed some advice on how to do it, and bullets to test...a bunch of folks here stepped up to help us out.

A HUGE thanks to sabotloader, hubby11, idahoron, an bronko22000! They graciously sent us a number of different bullets to test out, and asked nothing in return. I do appreciate it guys...hopefully someday I can return the favor.

Semisane gave me the idea we ended up going with...I built a wood box 1'x1'x2'...filled it with damp play sand. I cut a hole in the front to shoot through, and used some posterboard to hold the sand in. This setup worked very well. Could have actually been about 6" shorter in reality.

So my son and I built the box, set up the shooting bench, layed out our bullets and accessories, and away we went. He used one of my .50 cal MK-85's. Each shot was loaded with 80gr Pyrodex RS, and we used RWS #11 caps. The bench was set up 20yds out. He spit patch swabbed between each shot to keep the fouling down. He shot each of the bullets we had twice. (Would liked to have done more, but we didn't have enough bullets of every type to do more...and in reality it took us a LONG time to get through all the bullets as it was.) Thankfully it was a gorgeous day, took us about 8hrs total. Even with only shooting each bullet twice, the results from shot to shot were VERY similar in all aspects.

It was pretty cool...he would shoot, and then we'd go dig through the sand and find the bullet...measure the penetration depth, and repack the sand back tight for the next shot, replacing the posterboard as needed. He recorded his info in his log book after every shot, then swabbed and realoaded for the next shot. Over the next few days, he took the shot bullets, weighed them to see how much weight retention they had, and measured how much they expanded. Later he took pictures of everything, and recorded all the data for his project. I thought it ended up great

Keep in mind...this is shooting into damp sand, not a deer. BUT, since the playing field for all these bullets was exactly the same...I feel it gives a good representation of how they perform. Other than size differences, all other factors in the test were the same.

I really enjoyed this project....and it was neat to be able to see & use so many different bullets. I've never shot alot of different bullets...I've always been a don't fix it if it ain't broke guy. Very interesting our findings. I was really impressed with some of the bullets, and really diappointed in others. I'm sure some healthy debate will arise...be interested to hear you guys thoughts/feedback.

(I do have the spreadsheet he put together with all the data on it that I'll be glad to email to anyone who would like it. Just pm me your email addresss.)

I'm gonna go ahead and post the pics of the project and results. There are quite a few, so bear with me.