What's the best way to test your boolites?

[tayous1]

So I bought a MP .311 140 HP mold and wanted to know what is the best way to test the penetration and expansion of your boolites? We all know ballistic gelatin is best but most of us can't afford to buy it or make it.

So looking for ideas on ways to test the expansion and penetration values of my boolites!

[M-Tecs]

Wet newspaper or wet telephone books has been commonly used in the past but both are much hard to find now than in the past. Water jugs are also commonly used.

[tayous1]

Wet newspaper or wet telephone books has been commonly used in the past but both are much hard to find now than in the past. Water jugs are also commonly used.

Would do the phone book also but in my area, it looks like a comic book as thick as it is.

Have been saving water jugs for a long time is there any information on what is good or great penetration for water jugs?

[ABJ]

Go to youtube and check out Paul Harrell meat targets for testing. I just use a single 16 ounce water bottle in front of the fleece blankets for testing 20:1 hollow points.
Tony

[dverna]

Here is a start:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?193436-Best-alloy-for-30-06-and-45-70-hunting-bullets

The guys banned in that thread were not banned for giving bad advice...their advice is sound so consider it. BTW, the thread is old...before powder coating. With powder coating, you should be able to use a softer alloy; so how you lube can affect alloy choice.

Adding a HP can change things.

Too brittle an alloy (higher Sb) will not hold together as velocity goes up and because Sb is cheaper it is used to make a harder alloy. Thus the advice in the above thread to add pure lead to the hardball.

There is no good, easy and cheap way to test expansion and penetration that I know of. How a bullet performs in water jugs is unlikely to be the same as shooting critters.

If I had your challenge I would use a 20:1 alloy at about 1800-2000 fps and limit my range to about 150 yards max. You are using a light for caliber bullet. I assume it is for a .300 BO level weapon. If casting a hunting bullet for a more powerful .30 cal, something in the 170 gr or higher range would be my choice.

[quilbilly]

I have always used wet compressed phone books at 40 yards. The medium is harder than actual tissue but you can certainly see how a boolit performs. Usually about 21-23 inches is required for larger rifle boolits and 14" for pistol boolits. As above noted, one of the first things I learned was not to use really hard alloy but stay with medium or even softer alloy. There used to be stacks of local thin phone books surplus'ed at the local post office a couple times a year but not anymore apparently.