Tried to catch a Ranch Dog .432-265...

[Silvercreek Farmer]

...going around 1300 fps out of my 6" Taurus 44 pushed along by 22 grains of 300-MP. It traveled though 11 gallon jugs or nearly 6 ft of water. Alloy was ACCOWW. Exit hole on the last jug did not appear to show any expansion. Looks like the kids will have to drink more milk...

[shredder]

Wow. That is some kind of penetration.

[Rick R]

I tried the same yesterday with that same NOE bullet, water quenched 66% wheel weight / 33% Pb from my 4 5/8" SBH and my 20" Marlin . Same result, I need tougher media.
Hopefully either gun will account for some venison this month.

[osteodoc08]

At first I was thinking you shot yourself through the hand, glad it was just milk jugs doing the catching.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

You may need to use a different mix....if you want expansion 20/1 or 40/1 should work a bit better. I have the same mold and it will shoot thru most animals with out slowing down , if cast hard....Good Luck:cbpour:

[44man]

My RD made 33" of soaked phone books. My 330 gr did 34". Rem factory did 11", hardly enough to go through a deer.
Pulped paper and damage from the RD was more then the Rem. The 330 has accounted for many, many deer. So has the Lee 310.
When shooting jugs, count how many blow up, if at least two, you are good to go.
My .475 will blow four sky high and still make it through 14 jugs, fastest deer killer I own. .44 is second.

[Artful]

At first I was thinking you shot yourself through the hand, glad it was just milk jugs doing the catching.

Definitely don't shoot yourself through the hand
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa131/brush511/image_zps03dfd767.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa131/brush511/image_zpse4af2ad2.jpg
You may notice he only has 3 fingers and his thumb now. This was a 40 S&W wound.

[murf205]

Try dry news paper. I built a "catch" box 14" x 14" x 4' long. I caught 300 gr 44's cast with 90%pb, 5% lino, 5% tin @ 1000fps in 11" of newsprint, shot at a range of 10'. It really doesn't simulate tissue but it'll catch boolits. I had some 220gr Hornady's loaded for my '06 @ 2550 fps and it made them shed their jacket and penetrate less than the 44 cast boolits. I had the newspapers stacked pretty tight. Not sure how this affects penetration but it sure captured anything I shot into it.
Murf

[44man]

No way to duplicate an animal with anything. lungs are full of air, not liquid that does not compress.
Even the Jello is no match at all. Water is harsh on a boolit. it is like hitting rock.
Only way to tell what a boolit does is to kill animals. Dry paper is worse and can destroy a boolit with false results.
I don't care what you set up, it will be wrong. Even a dead animal is false.

[MBTcustom]

44man, could you expound on that last statement?
Do you mean shooting at a dead carcass? In your experience, where is the fallacy in that test?

[murf205]

44man, could you expound on that last statement?
Do you mean shooting at a dead carcass? In your experience, where is the fallacy in that test?

I should have known better than to post without consulting with 44man. After all, he said that no matter what you do, it will be wrong. The thread was about capturing boolits-not simulating animals.

[44man]

44man, could you expound on that last statement?
Do you mean shooting at a dead carcass? In your experience, where is the fallacy in that test?
The animal is no longer breathing with air in lungs. It is static. Just a mass on the ground. Bone break, Ok but nothing else is the same.
Compare to a basket of wet towels you hang on the line and shoot at them, then make a big ball out of them and shoot it. I don't think you will see the same results. The only truth is a live animal on it's feet.
How about bubbling air through jello as it sets up?

[TCLouis]

I like water jugs because I can hear what the impact sounds like and look at the relative damage to the jug as an indicator of "energy transferred".

By the way 4 jugs will not stop a Lee 380 slug.

[Djones]

4 one gallon jugs in front of a duffle bag stuffed full of old clothes will stop your 44. I've even stopped a NOE 434-310 at 1400 (carbine) and 45-70 405 grain slugs.

catching boolits is fun!

[44man]

I admit to liking to catch them myself and recovering a boolit is the best way to see rifling results. I might have learned more about loading from caught boolits then any other thing.
Only thing is the mushrooms from water are not what to expect with lung shots. Bone and meat will expand a boolit decent.
I have caught thousands of jacketed .44 bullets and it does not take many jugs and most jugs that blow up are fewer then with cast.

[Dan Cash]

For perfect analysis of bullet performance, visit your local livestock sales yard and buy several pigs or steers or better, some of both. Shoot them and see what happens. Each shot may be different so one needs to repeat the test multiple times. If one of you folks decides to do this, let me know and I will help - eat the resulting BBQ.

[44man]

For perfect analysis of bullet performance, visit your local livestock sales yard and buy several pigs or steers or better, some of both. Shoot them and see what happens. Each shot may be different so one needs to repeat the test multiple times. If one of you folks decides to do this, let me know and I will help - eat the resulting BBQ.
This is true and include me for a BBQ! [smilie=s:
Still the caught boolit should be examined, not for the expansion but for rifling marks and how the base performed. It is a goldmine for information.
I was young once and seen jugs blow up and since we could not use a rifle or handgun for deer back then, we always said to ourselves, WOW, what would that do to deer? Turns out it would be failure.
I made swaged, half jacket boolits with pure lead cores from lead wire, amazing things but 100% wrong for big game. Turned many chucks and fox to mush though.
I bought supplies from Herter's back then. C&H press and the swaged HP was a BOMB!