Blowing up jugs
08-05-2010, 08:32 PM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Illinois
Posts: 1,482
Blowing up jugs
Well, while I was out shooting today I decided to do a little bullet testing. The most consistenly accurate bullet in my .45 has been the 200 grain SST/Shockwave. I've only taken 1 deer with this bullet and I put together a mini-torture test:
Taped to the front of the jug is a very thin piece of wood panelling. I thought it might be a way to approximate the bullet hitting a bone upon entry (at least better than nothing
).
The range was 20 yards, the load was a 200 SW & 80 grains T7 3f. Here's the results:
Actually, 2 of the jugs were blown all the way down the hill, but I put them all together for the picture. I quickly saw that the bullet, or at least part of it had penetrated all the way thru the 5th milk jug. However, in the 3rd jug, I found this:
Basically, it appears what happened is the bullet fragmented almost immediately - before it exited the first jug:
The 2nd & 3rd jugs were full of these smaller holes from bullet fragments. However, one large piece of lead managed to penetrate thru the back of the 5th jug - that's about 25" of penetration! Not too shabby, but I'm not crazy about the whole losing your jacket thing and the fragmentation.
Next I moved onto the Lehigh's. I didn't have enough jugs to do a penetration test (besides, I have no doubt the Lehighs penetrate very well). This test was to see how quickly the Lehigh's start to expand and shed their petals:
The yellow 1/2 gallon milk jug was in front, the water bottle behind it. You can see the round entrance hole easily. I was able to find evidence that at least 1 petal separated before it left the milk jug:
There is a rectangular hole above my finger was probably made by a petal shearing off. In any case, there was massive expansion in the first jug (4" deep) - the back of it being shredded, and the bottle behind it blown up as well.
Conclusion:
1. Both bullets would have easily killed a deer at this range, provided the bullet was placed in the vital area.
2. Both bullets showed evidence of quick, violent expansion. In both cases the water jugs were blown up, shredded.
3. The SW tends to fragment and lose its jacket in this kind of situation. I know this was a one-off test, but it matches my other experiences with this bullet. However, you still get good penetration by the larger fragments, and it will probably quickly kill deer.
4. The Lehigh expands very quickly (less than 4" of media) and fragments early per its design.
I'm still on the fence as to which bullet to use this season. I would vote SW, because I have a supply on hand, they're accurate, consistent and get the job done. On the other hand, I don't like picking lead fragments out of my meat, like I had to do last year with a 200 XTP.......
Taped to the front of the jug is a very thin piece of wood panelling. I thought it might be a way to approximate the bullet hitting a bone upon entry (at least better than nothing
).The range was 20 yards, the load was a 200 SW & 80 grains T7 3f. Here's the results:
Actually, 2 of the jugs were blown all the way down the hill, but I put them all together for the picture. I quickly saw that the bullet, or at least part of it had penetrated all the way thru the 5th milk jug. However, in the 3rd jug, I found this:
Basically, it appears what happened is the bullet fragmented almost immediately - before it exited the first jug:
The 2nd & 3rd jugs were full of these smaller holes from bullet fragments. However, one large piece of lead managed to penetrate thru the back of the 5th jug - that's about 25" of penetration! Not too shabby, but I'm not crazy about the whole losing your jacket thing and the fragmentation.
Next I moved onto the Lehigh's. I didn't have enough jugs to do a penetration test (besides, I have no doubt the Lehighs penetrate very well). This test was to see how quickly the Lehigh's start to expand and shed their petals:
The yellow 1/2 gallon milk jug was in front, the water bottle behind it. You can see the round entrance hole easily. I was able to find evidence that at least 1 petal separated before it left the milk jug:
There is a rectangular hole above my finger was probably made by a petal shearing off. In any case, there was massive expansion in the first jug (4" deep) - the back of it being shredded, and the bottle behind it blown up as well.
Conclusion:
1. Both bullets would have easily killed a deer at this range, provided the bullet was placed in the vital area.
2. Both bullets showed evidence of quick, violent expansion. In both cases the water jugs were blown up, shredded.
3. The SW tends to fragment and lose its jacket in this kind of situation. I know this was a one-off test, but it matches my other experiences with this bullet. However, you still get good penetration by the larger fragments, and it will probably quickly kill deer.
4. The Lehigh expands very quickly (less than 4" of media) and fragments early per its design.
I'm still on the fence as to which bullet to use this season. I would vote SW, because I have a supply on hand, they're accurate, consistent and get the job done. On the other hand, I don't like picking lead fragments out of my meat, like I had to do last year with a 200 XTP.......
08-06-2010, 08:24 PM
#4
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 5,605
Ive got about 18 saved up now and a cheap back stop idea to try out when i want to catch them.
Ive used the 200 SST but not the Shockwave and the 185gr Lehighs mostly. Both have given me my two best 200 yard groups and would probably get the job done that far out.
I got some Hawks 40-225gr JHP i still need to try out when i get a chance.
Ive used the 200 SST but not the Shockwave and the 185gr Lehighs mostly. Both have given me my two best 200 yard groups and would probably get the job done that far out.
I got some Hawks 40-225gr JHP i still need to try out when i get a chance.
08-08-2010, 04:15 AM
#6
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Illinois
Posts: 1,482
Nice one, semi-insane 
I would have loved to do more testing, but I ran out of jugs. I think the Lehigh shows a lot of promise in the accuracy dept as well as terminal performance, but I don't have time to do more testing before the season. So I'll probably stick with the SW's for this season.
I would have loved to do more testing, but I ran out of jugs. I think the Lehigh shows a lot of promise in the accuracy dept as well as terminal performance, but I don't have time to do more testing before the season. So I'll probably stick with the SW's for this season.
