I have a .500 black powder express. It shoots a 400 grain Jacketed bullet or a 405 grain paper patched lead bullet at 1950 FPS.... Because of it being a light for caliber bullet many say it will not penetrate well... I have no experience except the lead bullet through a whitetails neck, just as it goes into the shoulder.. For sure it went through and the whitetail hadn't read up on its balistic charts. My question, What will be my best way to conduct penetration test? I will be back in America for a year starting in June at which time I will do some load development and hunting. And how well do you think it will penetrate?..... I think I'll get several doe permits and try to get one facing me and see how far it will go... That would be a OK test.
Aaron

I'd say shy of thick skinned dangerous game, it'll penetrate just fine! Folks are shooting those bullets at 1500 fps from revolvers, and claiming them to be killers of mythical proportions. Perhaps those claims are just a wee bit overbloan, but I'd not be the least bit concerned using a 400 gr 50 cal pill at 1950 fps on any soft bodied critter, elk, moose, no problamo!

That sounds like a fine North American game cartridge, being about like a supercharged 45-70.

The simplest way to do penetration tests is to use some widely available thick books, like old phone books. Stack them back to back inside a cardboard box of, say 18" depth. This is not a perfect test medium, but will show you the RELATIVE penetration of various loads/bullets compared to one another.

You'll be surprised at the mythology that your tests will dispell.

Aaron, I use local phonebooks that I soak spine down in a tub overnight, drain, bag and then stack in a Rubbermaid tub with a window cut into one end. It will hold right at 28 inches of snugly stacked phonebooks and keeps the mess to a minimum. I cut the books down the spine if they have a glue that doesn't dissolve and causes the spine to curl as the pages swell. That allows me to stack them almost perfectly flat. Wet paper has a density not too dissimilar from that of some tissues. The amount of water in it can influence the degree of "hardness" of the target so try to be consistent in your draining technique and in how long you wait before shooting. They are however remarkable stable once drained, although this condition is less hard. Keeping the target fully saturated would require fully immersing the books and that makes a collosal mess because the thing will explode and blast paper pulp everywhere with some bullets. I let them drain naturally for a minute or two before I bag them and they hold the remaining water well.

Other materials can be used as well, but if you want to see the hole produced as well as look at the bullet you need a medium that holds its shape. Dry paper is extremely resistive and I do not recommend it. Wood also is hard and provides artificial support to the bullet which can lead to some conclusions that are not applicable to game targets. Gelatin is expensive, requires very controlled methods for consistent results, and is not temperature stable. Carcasses are the ultimate target, but need to be freshly dead or anesthetized live animals for truly correct results (rigor mortis and other post mortem effects can alter performance). A variety of other things have been used from sand to wax to modeling clay. All have pros and cons. Nothing is perfect. Wet paper has chemical and physical resemblance to tissue and is relatively consistent. Its also cheap.

[This message has been edited by Harald (edited 10-18-2001).]

If you want to really stress a bullet then shoot dry magazines stacked together, they will destroy all but the best, including solids...I use them to test solids prior to a hunt if I,m using a new bullet. Wet books make for nice expansion and plywood is much to nice to bullets...Water makes all bullet act right...

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com