#GelTest

We shoot Hornady .357 Sig 135gr Critical Duty ammunition from a Glock 22 with a Storm Lake 4.25″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

We shoot Hornady 9x18mm 95gr FTX Critical Defense ammunition from a Bulgarian Arsenal Makarov with a 3.7″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions

We shoot Ventura 10mm Lehigh 115gr Extreme Defense ammunition from an EAA Witness with a 4.5″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight.  Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

We shoot Remington 9mm 124gr Golden Saber brass jacketed hollow point ammunition from a Smith & Wesson Shield with a 3″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

We shoot Federal 9mm 150gr HST jacketed hollow point ammunition from a Smith & Wesson Shield with a 3″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

We shoot Ventura 10mm Lehigh 115gr Extreme Defense and 140 gr Extreme Penetrator ammunition from an EAA Witness with a 4.5″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

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.

We shoot Federal .40 S&W 165 gr HST ammunition from a Glock 23 with a 4″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel and measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight.

.44 magnum Sig Sauer 240 gr V-Crown jacketed hollow point fired from 4.25″ Smith & Wesson Model 69 Combat Magnum into bare ballistic gel and through heavy clothing.

Armscor .45 Auto 230gr JHP fired from 5″ SA 1911A1 at 20 feet into ClearBallistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight for the purpose of assessing the usefulness for defense.

Last week, Sig .40 S&W 180 gr V-Crown didn’t do very well from a short barrel. This week we shoot it through a Glock Model 22 into ClearBallistics gel to assess velocity, penetration, expansion, and weight retention. Performance is still mixed, even with the longer barrel.

Buy it at Ventura Munitions: https://www.venturamunitions.com/hsm-9mm-124gr-xtp-subsonic-ammo-50-rounds/

Take a look at our test of Speer’s .45 Auto 230 Gold Dot. The Gold Dot is not technically a bonded bullet, but rather a plated one. Nevertheless, it tends to perform like bonded bullets and the plated construction is essentially the same as a bonded bullet in that core and “jacket” are chemically bonded to each other, resulting in high weight retention. This bullet lives up to its reputation as one of the very best defense loads by expanding well and penetrating perfectly in both bare gel and when fired through heavy clothing. The moderate velocity of approximately 830 fps proved adequate to initiate expansion and the bullet was able to perform properly even when fired through four layers of denim. The IWBA standard of four layers of denim is a more difficult protocol to pass than the more realistic FBI heavy clothing standard. The IWBA heavy clothing test is not intended to simulate real world clothing, but rather to present a worst case scenario of many, closely packed, dense fibers which can clog the cavity of some hollow point ammunition, preventing expansion. Having performed well even in this worst case scenario, the Gold Dot proves to be an outstanding choice for personal defense and the more rounded nose tends to feed better in unmodified 1911A1 pistols than some other hollow point designs. Not only was the bullet able to expand adequately in adverse conditions, it was also able to penetrate to an appropriate depth. The variation in penetration depth was also extremely consistent, with only a small difference between bare gel and heavy clothing. Retained weight was also 100% for every bullet and expansion measurements varied little from bullet to bullet. This highly consistent performance indicates excellent quality and speaks to superior performance across a range of other conditions not evaluated in this test.
Avg velocity: 834 fps
Avg penetration: 14.6″
Avg retained weight: 229.6 gr
Avg max expansion: 0.695″
Avg min expansion: 0.601″

We fired 10mm Hornady 175 gr Critical Duty FlexLock from 4.5″ barrel EAA polymer frame Witness at 20 feet into clear ballistic gel to assess velocity, penetration, expansion, and weight retention. While the performance may not be perfect, it is nevertheless quite good.