I am looking for any thoughts on the best way to fire a cast bullet and capture it so as to not deform it in the process.

I have a rather long 1.5" 35 caliber bullet that I have designed and made a mold.

It has one large grease groove (GG).
I want to shoot it at black powder velocities and pressure and capture same to see if there is any bending of the bullet at the wide GG
which is .2 off the base.

Has anyone used sawdust or a similar product which will slowly capture the bullet without deforming it in the process.

Will water do the trick, or is water too dense ?
Thanks in advance.
RJ

I think water might be your best bet to try first.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I think water might be your best bet to try first.

Thanks, I'll post the results...
BTW, with 54,000 posts when do have time to sleep..?
Thanks for your contributions to all of us.

quote:

Originally posted by RJM.@Jax.FL:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I think water might be your best bet to try first.

Thanks, I'll post the results...
BTW, with 54,000 posts when do have time to sleep..?
Thanks for your contributions to all of us.

I never do

Having wandered around a few very long rifle ranges you tend to find quite a few intact bullets in dry sand berms at 500 yds and beyond. Perhaps if you have access to such a range you could rake out an area and lob a few rounds into it at your rounds max range.

quote:

Originally posted by RJM.@Jax.FL:
I am looking for any thoughts on the best way to fire a cast bullet and capture it so as to not deform it in the process.

I have a rather long 1.5" 35 caliber bullet that I have designed and made a mold.

It has one large grease groove (GG).
I want to shoot it at black powder velocities and pressure and capture same to see if there is any bending of the bullet at the wide GG
which is .2 off the base.

Has anyone used sawdust or a similar product which will slowly capture the bullet without deforming it in the process.

Will water do the trick, or is water too dense ?
Thanks in advance.
RJ

I heard that oiled sawdust might work..

quote:

Originally posted by Bobster:
Having wandered around a few very long rifle ranges you tend to find quite a few intact bullets in dry sand berms at 500 yds and beyond. Perhaps if you have access to such a range you could rake out an area and lob a few rounds into it at your rounds max range.

quote:

Originally posted by RJM.@Jax.FL:
I am looking for any thoughts on the best way to fire a cast bullet and capture it so as to not deform it in the process.

I have a rather long 1.5" 35 caliber bullet that I have designed and made a mold.

It has one large grease groove (GG).
I want to shoot it at black powder velocities and pressure and capture same to see if there is any bending of the bullet at the wide GG
which is .2 off the base.

Has anyone used sawdust or a similar product which will slowly capture the bullet without deforming it in the process.

Will water do the trick, or is water too dense ?
Thanks in advance.
RJ

quote:

Has anyone used sawdust or a similar product which will slowly capture the bullet without deforming it in the process.

When I was a kid the guy who lived across the street from us was a big time target shooter, reloaded and cast his own bullets. He used cotton (not the processed cotton like in cotton balls, but cotton waste like from a cotton gin) stuffed in a short piece of galvanized pipe, maybe 8" or so in diameter, I helped dig them out. 45 ACP stopped within a very few inches, cast bullets from his target rifle went much deeper (I'm guessing it was a .30-06 but don't remember, if I ever knew). Best I recall there was little or no damage to the bullets. He shot them in his driveway or garage and no one seemed to mind. Try that today and you'd make the 6 o'clock news.

Karl,

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give that a try.
Got a laugh out of your comment about the 6 o'clock news. I live in a condo so I guess the commandos would go bananas.

In Florida we can shoot, as long as it is safely if you live in a community with more than an acre. Smaller if you can reasonably ensure that the bullet is "trapped"

FS 790.15 Discharging firearm in public or on residential property.
(4) Any person who recreationally discharges a firearm outdoors, including target shooting, in an area that
the person knows or reasonably should know is primarily residential in nature and that has a residential
density of one or more dwelling units per acre, commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as
provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. This subsection does not apply:

(b) If, under the circumstances, the discharge does not pose a reasonably foreseeable risk to life, safety, or
property; or
(c) To a person who accidentally discharges a firearm.

So a stuffed and capped piece of cast iron pipe should work.
My goal as mentioned is capture the slug undamaged for obvious reasons.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

quote:

Originally posted by K Evans:

quote:

Has anyone used sawdust or a similar product which will slowly capture the bullet without deforming it in the process.

When I was a kid the guy who lived across the street from us was a big time target shooter, reloaded and cast his own bullets. He used cotton (not the processed cotton like in cotton balls, but cotton waste like from a cotton gin) stuffed in a short piece of galvanized pipe, maybe 8" or so in diameter, I helped dig them out. 45 ACP stopped within a very few inches, cast bullets from his target rifle went much deeper (I'm guessing it was a .30-06 but don't remember, if I ever knew). Best I recall there was little or no damage to the bullets. He shot them in his driveway or garage and no one seemed to mind. Try that today and you'd make the 6 o'clock news.

The time was the early ‘60’s in Stuttgart, Arkansas. People duck hunted on rice canals about 200 yards from our house, so no one thought twice about a little gunfire. The guy I spoke of was apparently a pretty good shot, his house was full of shooting trophies, mostly pistol, and the first pistol I ever shot was in his garage and it was a Colt 1911 in .38 Super. I still have that brass somewhere.
Texas has gun discharge laws similar to yours, thank goodness. About 30 years ago I owned a small place on the edge of town where my best friend and I had a trap set up. We would shoot pretty often and one of the neighbors didn’t like it. One day she called the Sheriff, a deputy showed up and asked if we had been discharging a firearm, we both answered “yes sir”, he asked if we owned the place, I said “yes sir”, he then asked how many acres were in the place, I said “12.8 acres”, the deputy said “thanks, be careful” and left. Neighbor was really mad about that, she thought she had us. I think 10 acres was the threshold as far as acreage went at that time. Current closest neighbor (we call her Mother Nature) complains about most everything firearms related...but that’s another story

How well do you want to preserve the shape of the bullet? I think long range into a soft berm is your best bet. I saw on mythbusters where they fired straight up on a dry lake bed, then took cover and listened for the bullets to land. That should give you a nearly perfect sample because they'd only be going a couple hundred fps when they land.

I knew a guy in texas who put on local fireworks shows. He would take the duds out to the field and shoot at them. Great fun. Someone called the cops, and now the cops join in.

JPL,
I would like to preserve it well enough to see if the nose slumps, if the wide shallow grease groove retains it's shape and to see if there is any fining on the base.

RE: Myth busters
Not sure how one calculates the speed of a returning bullet if it gets shot straight up...?
How high it goes in the first place ?
Obviously it depends on initial velocity, how high it goes, drag increases as it falls.
At some point it reaches terminal velocity, I would guess.
Gravity is 32' per second, per second.

quote:

Originally posted by jpl:
How well do you want to preserve the shape of the bullet? I think long range into a soft berm is your best bet. I saw on mythbusters where they fired straight up on a dry lake bed, then took cover and listened for the bullets to land. That should give you a nearly perfect sample because they'd only be going a couple hundred fps when they land.

I knew a guy in texas who put on local fireworks shows. He would take the duds out to the field and shoot at them. Great fun. Someone called the cops, and now the cops join in.

Here is an outdoor range in Jacksonville. Maybe they could accommodate you.

http://www.grpc-jax.com/

quote:

Originally posted by Bobster:
Here is an outdoor range in Jacksonville. Maybe they could accommodate you.

http://www.grpc-jax.com/

Bob,

Thanks.. They may something set up for that. I'll check.

Bob

When I visited the New Mexico State Police crime lab last year, they showed me the water tank they use for capturing bullets for ballistic comparison. Ought to work fine.

Good idea! Maybe the Jax Police Dept has a similar tank. I bet they would help him.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
When I visited the New Mexico State Police crime lab last year, they showed me the water tank they use for capturing bullets for ballistic comparison. Ought to work fine.

Never thought of going to the police....
Might try that after I give a water filled schedule 80 capped PVC tube a try...

Water is much harder than a lot of other media.
Although a test will confirm my suspicion, I think that there will be nose deformation with water.

Because the bullet I want to test has a bore riding section, I really hope I can find a media that leave the whole bullet in the 'as left the barrel' condition...

THX

quote:

Originally posted by RJM.@Jax.FL:
Water is much harder than a lot of other media.

I agree. These were fired into water:

If you know the velocity your bullet will be going when it gets to it’s target you could make appropriately reduced loads to simulate terminal velocity.

He wants to know if the bullet deforms when it's fired with normal loads.
Reduced loads won't do that.
F.W Mann used oiled sawdust to catch bullets, but I don't know how many feet it took.
I seem to recall Winchester had a large room covered with stacks of foam rubber to catch undamaged bullets, but that is not feasible in this case.

Rikkochet,
Your observation is correct.. thanks for making the point.
Don't know why I can't seem to get out there and experiment. Once I do I'll post my results.

One of my ultimate goals is to develop a lead / tin / ? mix which doesn't slump but still obturates using BP...

quote:

Originally posted by rikkochet:
He wants to know if the bullet deforms when it's fired with normal loads.
Reduced loads won't do that.
F.W Mann used oiled sawdust to catch bullets, but I don't know how many feet it took.
I seem to recall Winchester had a large room covered with stacks of foam rubber to catch undamaged bullets, but that is not feasible in this case.

quote:

He shot them in his driveway or garage and no one seemed to mind. Try that today and you'd make the 6 o'clock news.

I do that all the time no one complains but my closest neighbor is an 40 away.

quote:

I am looking for any thoughts on the best way to fire a cast bullet and capture it so as to not deform it in the process.

55 gal drum of water.

Used it dozens of times. I climb up onto the roof and shoot into it. A ladder works also.

If one lives in snow country.

A snow bank is also good. I shoot into one of my snow banks when accessing my normal range get hard.

The bullets I pick up in the spring 99% show hardly any damage.