My brother in law and I were inspired by RIP's work with the steel mistress so we decided to build our own test box and run a few tests using the various lots of ammo we had on hand.

We took three 18"x10" wooden ammo boxes and screwed them together end to end, dubbing it the "Wood Whore". We cut the front out the first box and second box. Each box section held three one gallon ziplock bags filled with water. When the Wood whore was loaded with bags the sequence it had three bags in the fist box with a one inch pine partition seperting the second box which held three more bags and a two inch pine partition seperating the final three bags for a total of approximately four feet of water and three inches of pine.

We tested 9mm 147 grain Remington Golden Saber and 127 grain Federal Hydrashocks from a 3.5 inch barrel CZPO1 and a 3 inch barrel Taurus PT111.

The Golden Saber penetrated three bags of water and left an imprint on the first wood partition when fired out of each pistol. Both cores seperated from the brass jacket. The jacket of the golden saber was serrated into some rather sharp and nasty cutting edges. The one half inch longer barrel of the CZ gave significantly greater expansion although expansion was acceptable out of the shorter taurus barrel.

The Federal hydrashocks also penetrated three bags of water when fired from each pistol however out of the shorter 3 inch barreled Taurus the hydroshock exhibited marginal expansion. The hydroshock expanded considerably better out of the one half inch longer barrel of the CZ.

0ur conclusion was that the Remington Golden Saber is the better self defense load of the two because it exhibited consistent expansion from both guns. The nasty jacket serrations which resemble a black talon don't hurt either.

We intended to test my 19 inch barreled .308 scout rifle with 150 grain remington corelocks and and my 23.5 inch barreled 30/06 with 180 grain remington corelocks and 180 grain federal high energy nosler partitions but after seeing the minor damage caused by the the 9mm to the first box we decided to go ahead and shoot the 450/110 first. Needless to say, the box didn't survive to test the 30 cal stuff.

The 450/110 was impressive to say the least. I tested my north american hunting load consisting of a 460 grain cast performance bullet downloaded to 2050 fps. The bullet penetrated through nine bags of water and three inches of of pine. It was recovered in the last bag. The end the bullet was blown off to just above the crimp groove. Penetration was laser straigh with no apparent tumbling. The hydrostatic force of the bullet hitting water destroyed the first two ammo boxes beyond repair ending causing a premature end to today's testing session. I will try to upload video in the near future.

jnc91,
Good work! I believe you got some useful information there.
The "Pine Box" I started with started coming apart with one shot of the .375 H&H, hence the Steel Mistress. I believe the Steel Strumpet would do admirably with handgun bullets too. It is amazing how easily bullets can be caught in plastic bags of water, eh?

Love that "Wood Whore," that is rich!

JNC, you are persistent and skilled. I used to just line up a dozen gallon milk jugs filled with water on pallets, then shoot them from one end. They would catch most expanding pistol bullets by the third or fourth jug, but I never could line up enough to stop a hard cast .44.

We have several cartridge/loads we want to test but first we will need to build a more substantial catch box. Wood is simply not substantial enough to take the hydrostatic forces.

One gallon ziplock bags work excellent and allow one to guage penetration depth by the number of bags that are burst. Wood partitions between the bags simulate bone.

The rifles we have on hand for testing are a 6.5 Swede, .270, .308, 7.65 ARG, 30/06, 32 Winchester Special, .338 Win and my cannon the .450/110.

We also want to try various handguns such as a 9mm, 40 S&W, .44 Mag and 45 APC.

jnc91,
You got the fever too?
My 2.5 mil plastic trash compactor bags cost about 25 cents each. I will have to price ziploc bags and see how many it would take of what size.

We found one gallon Glad brand ziplocks for 1.89 for a box of 20 bags. Bought four boxes. They fit perfectly in the ammo boxes we were using. Very easy to fill and seal. The bags allowed us to measure penetration in approximately five inch increments.