Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Calibrated Ballistic Gelatin

"Are gelatin tests a good indication of how a shell will do in real live?"

A resounding no, and here's why. Ballistic gelatin must first be calibrated by firing a bb into it, then measuring the penetration. Most bb's will enter properly calibrated gel to the tune of approximately 4 inches.

During the celebration of my brother's 11th birthday, he shot me in the thigh with his brand new Daisy. I was wearing shorts, and the projectile penetrated just enough to sting like hell but remained visible.

If my leg were gelatin, the bb would nearly have passed through and through now, wouldn't it?
So then, if ballistic gelatin cannot even determine the power of a bb, how can it be trusted with calculating the depth of real bullets?

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