#BallisticTesting

Located in Cedar Springs Michigan, Applied Ballistics is a well-known source for great information, education, and real-world training for long-range shooters. Applied Ballistics curates a lot of its own research and data to give long-range shooters the data and information they need to become more effective marksmen. All in all, Applied Ballistics has just about any type of information or service you’d want when it comes to long-range shooting ranging from load development, ballistic testing, and software integration for mobile applications that work with existing ballistic hardware like laser rangefinders and wind measuring devices. Applied Ballistics is now proud to announce a new service called The Science of Accuracy Academy.

There is a lot of misconception out there about ballistic gel, which leads to some pretty bad conclusions about defense ammo. One of the more popular mistakes is the claim that ballistic gel is not an exact simulation of tissue. Paradoxically, this one is a little sticky because taken at face value, that’s actually correct. It isn’t a perfect simulation, but for that matter, actual living bodies are not a perfect prediction of what will happen in a shooting because every body is different, the exact angle of impact will vary, the tangent of the bullet to a round bone is literally infinitely variable, and many more significant variables are simply impossible to control. But properly prepared and calibrated 10% ordnance gelatin does produce penetration, retained weight, and expansion/fragmentation results that correlate very strongly with wounds observed in actual bodies. It is near perfect for simulating those measurements in living muscle tissue and the results in other soft tissues do not tend to deviate significantly. It is also homogenous and easily reproducible so variables can be controlled and results compared.

Expanding from his myriad capabilities as a trickshooter, 22Plinkster has been evaluating what the .22LR can really do. He’s had a great series of videos looking at the formal penetration of the 22 through drywall (which is surprisingly dangerous, using drywall as a measure).

A lot of internet knowledge has solidified both .30 carbine and .32 ACP as “inferior” loadings, an assertion that I have vigorously disagreed with but thus far have relied on anecdotal points such as “many Nazis were slain with the .30 Carbine”, etc. While it has a certain ring to it, there is a certain lack of proof when it comes to the terminal effectiveness of the chamberings.

Welcome to the fourth installment of our ballistic gel testing series. The current series is sponsored by Clark Armory who provided the testing medium (Clark Armory sent us a couple of new gels this month–it is like Christmas in June!) and rounds.

Welcome to the third installment of our ballistic gel testing series. The current series is sponsored by Clark Armory who provided the testing medium and rounds.

Last month we published a series of articles on some ballistic gel testing of some “exotic” 9mm rounds. The series was sponsored by Clark Armory who provided the testing medium and rounds. A number of you readers detailed that you would like to see other rounds tested, and so Clark Armory has graciously sent us a couple of more gels and a new round to test.

Several months ago, Tom R and I were approached by Clark Armory to conduct ballistic tests of several popular self-defense rounds. For testing, we were provided two of Clear Ballistics, 10% Ballistic Gelatin F.B.I Blocks.