Making a Bullet Trap to Test Terminal Performance

slimjim · Last edited by slimjim on Fri Jun 01, 2012 3:38 am; edited 3 times in total

I went to the range last week and used the bullet trap I have been developing to capture a Berger 150gr VLD and Barnes 110gr TTSX. I wanted to see what the terminal performance difference was going to be between a bullet that was designed to penetrate a couple of inches then fragment (VLD) and one designed for expansion with 100% weight retention (TTSX). From the picture below, you can see the surprise I got. The VLD is on the left and the TTSX on the right.

Detail regarding the Bullet Trap can be found in this article.

Making a Bullet Trap to Test Terminal Performance

slimjim

The TTSX performed as expected. It mushroomed to twice its size and bored through 3 phone books and 7 magazines. The VLD, however, piled up as a flatted slug 15 magazines deep. Nice penetration but no fragmentation and in a strange state with the hollow-point tip still intact as you can see from the picture below. I've included the Hornady 130gr GMX from a prior range session for comparison.

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

That VLD doesnt look like it was stabilized when it hit the target. Really wierd result!

-DallanC

slimjim · Last edited by slimjim on Mon Dec 26, 2011 8:25 am; edited 1 time in total

Investigation revealed that the VLD bullet did not expand on impact but yawed and was turned 90 degrees passing through the first phone book in the box. The VLD bullet actually went through the remaining phone books and magazines backwards until the copper jacket crumbled and the bullet expanded to a stop.

I'm going to write an article on building and using a bullet trap and wanted to use this topic for our discussion.

slimjim

DallanC wrote:

That VLD doesnt look like it was stabilized

I checked its stability factor at 1.4. That should be plenty of stabilization. The 130gr GMX has a lower stability factor and did fine.

tlo7mm

That is a pretty great experiment, I think I will try it with my loads as I have several different types of bullets to try for my 7 mag and my .222 Rem. Interesting how that VLD seemed to perform like it did when I have talked to so many that swear they are great. Im sure anything you shoot with any of those rounds would go down but would you really want to risk it. I hada core lokt that performed even worse then that which is why I stopped using them.

slimjim · Last edited by slimjim on Fri Jun 01, 2012 3:38 am; edited 1 time in total

The article going into more detail about the bullet trap is now posted here.

Making a Bullet Trap to Test Terminal Performance

Thanks, DallanC, for posting it so quickly!

Pumpkinslinger

Slim, this is a good thread and that's a great article! I'm looking forward to more on this line of testing.

Suzanne

Thanks SlimJ, that was very well done for sure. I've seen that sideways yaw reaction on one of my targets......now which rifle was it? I'm glad you did the .270, I've really liked the round and wondered how it performed. You saved me the trouble. I think I'd like to do that too. You are very analytical and got me interested.

Suz

Donut Slayer

Outstanding post Slim. Both of them.

Ominivision1 · Last edited by Ominivision1 on Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:49 am; edited 1 time in total

Slim, excellent post, I have also did some peniteration with both wet and dry newspaper, my best results were with wet paper.

glockman55

Very cool...I'm going to try this for pistol defence loads.. I tried the water jug in front of a dirt mound, but I like the phone book idea, Thanks..

jeh7mmmag · Member Joined: Dec 24, 2006 Posts: 223 Location: DFW, TX.

Great job Slim... I like the fact the bullet penetrated the lawyer head and did not pass through. Great result. Good stuff.

Ominivision1

Looking at the VLD, it amazes me how that bullet came apart like that.

slimjim

Ominivision1 wrote:

Looking at the VLD, it amazes me how that bullet came apart like that.

OV1, I'm going repeat the test on the VLD again. However, when testing for reliability, I have found that 10 passes in a row is not enough to determine a high level of confidence. One failure - is way too many.

Thanks, all for the compliments.