reduced velocity penetration

[crankycalico]

Its just a curious thing I have to ask.

Just what is the typical penetrative ability of our low velocity gallery loads.

170 grain bullet at 10-1200 fps does raise the question of how much it can poke through.

[Hannibal]

Slow and heavy proved quite effective on the American Bison.

What are you attempting?

[crankycalico]

170 grain 22-24bhn true shot rnfp over 10 grains red dot.

Well its that I can get those 6 inch diameter AR500 plates for about 20 dollars at the local walmart, and that diameter would fit fine into a coffee can.

Was thinking if I put one in the bottom, covered with a layer of say 200# cardboard, that rubber mulch on top would make a useful bullet stop for me.

I know that I could use a stack of layered bread load pans as a stop for round balls, but not sure if it would work on those big bullets.

[Hannibal]

Rubber mulch will do fine given enough distance. AR 500 will stop bullets given the velocity and hardness range you describe, but the bullets will fragment upon impact and likely escape your coffee can, if I understand what you propose.

Are you attempting to reclaim your lead, or evaluate your fired bullets?

[Conditor22]

What are you planning to shoot this out of?

IF you don't want penetration, why go with the hard alloy?

[crankycalico]

reclaim lead, and try to evaluate bullets.

.308 Winchester 10 grains red dot. rather accurate at 30 yards for me.

its why I was asking, I know the 170 may be a stretch, but the round ball SHOULD be doable right?

[Hannibal]

Well, now you're asking for a lot. Lead reclamation is pretty straight forward. And bullet recovery is also. Round ball recovery? Well, I'm not sure what you are attempting to learn, but OK.
Bottom line is, you can recover lead in bulk easily, though the system you describe will not hold up for long. Or you can recover fired projectiles and evaluate them using the catch system you outlined, so long as the round count is not high.

The ability to accomplish both is neither cheap, easy, nor expeditious.

[Hannibal]

reclaim lead, and try to evaluate bullets.

.308 Winchester 10 grains red dot. rather accurate at 30 yards for me.

its why I was asking, I know the 170 may be a stretch, but the round ball SHOULD be doable right?

What is "rather accurate for me"?

Your definition and mine are likely quite different.

I apologize if I come across as a smart alec. That's not my intention. I'm just trying to understand precisely what it is you are trying to accomplish.

[crankycalico]

What is "rather accurate for me"?

Your definition and mine are likely quite different.

I apologize if I come across as a smart alec. That's not my intention. I'm just trying to understand precisely what it is you are trying to accomplish.

pretty accurate means "hey, the bullet holes on the paper are either touching each other, or are in a half inch circle."

[Thumbcocker]

Using a Rugen #3 in .30-40 Krag with a 311291 cast of acww over IIRC 6.0 of red dot we had not trouble penetrating the doors of a 70's vintage chevy car. Same load would shoot squirrel head sized groups at 30 yards. Boolits were shot without gas checks.

[GhostHawk]

My take, instead of a coffee can think a 3' length of 6" PVC pipe to hold the mulch.

You get a lot more stopping ability with the increased length.

Epoxy the steel onto the back end.

Dump the works into a water filled container, rubber mulch will float, can be skimmed off, dried, reused. Lead will sink, can be evaluated, recast.

[Screwbolts]

Cranky, you dont indicate where you live. I have found that a plowed up snow bank will stop any boolit/bullet fired at it. easy to pick up projectiles in the spring.

Yes a plowed up snow bank of 6' thickness will stop any 50BMG projectile from either my 24" or 36" barrelled rifles.

Ken
central NY

[quilbilly]

Don't know if this is relevant or not but I once did terminal ballistics tests on a 308 cal 120 gr RFGC at 1300 fps from my T/C Contender 32/20. The range was 30 yards and the media was soaked compressed phone books. Penetration was 9" with good expansion.

[crankycalico]

Whats snow?

[Hamish]

Its just a curious thing I have to ask.

Just what is the typical penetrative ability of our low velocity gallery loads.

170 grain bullet at 10-1200 fps does raise the question of how much it can poke through.

Anything and everything up to and including elephants have been killed with a 40gr bullet at around 1100fps. I kill small animals up to about 20 pounds with a 15gr pellet subsonic. 125gr 38 spl. loads at 600fps kills hogs.

170gr at 1200fps? Dare you to stand a couple hundreds away and see if they bounce off,,,,,,

[MT Gianni]

"We want our loads to have complete target penetration. If they happen to go through the backer we shouldn't complain too much." Curmudgeon, a longtime member here.

[Smoke4320]

Plastic 55 gallon drum filled with rubber chips
at 50 yards if shot near center will stop most full power centerfire rds

[country gent]

With a 6" dia its going to need to be set up and held pretty accurately to keep bullets from breaking out the sides of the tube. A bigger dia tube would give some leeway on this aspect. A piece of 24" fiberglass sewer pipe 36" when filled would give some extra protection. A 1/4"- 1/2" plate in the bottom, a layer of pea gravel 6" thick ( this will break bullets up when the traps contents weaken) and rubber chips packed tight to the mouth. But this will be heavy not just picked up and set on a shelf.

[500Linebaughbuck]

ummmmm.......my 44spl will go thru deer broadside. i used a 250gr hp(cast) and 7.5gr of unique (850fps+/-). oh and it was 35+/- yards. i did it just because......

[dverna]

Well, a deer is not a very practical bullet trap option. For the OP, 6 inches of sand will stop your load.

The challenge is keeping the sand in the container.