I got home a few hours ago and decided we had enough light with the help of a spot light to take a video. But, what to shoot? I decided to modify some 550gr .62 slugs into hollow points. I burned a little daylight while drilling out 4 slugs. I had to set-up the drill press with my custom "V" jig and then go through a number of steps to get 4 perfect hollow-point slugs to experiment with. The first slug would be a test slug aimed at a spot on the wall to give me a correction factor or to tell me that the slugs were now wild...

Well, the slugs turned out OK. Three of the slugs came out very close in weight so those were put aside. I used the one heavy slug to get a feel for the aimpoint. That slug was about 3" from center at 43 Yards so I figured it was safe to do the rest of the test. My first shot missed! What the heck! Someone must have moved the bench or something...

After chasing everyone out of the house and resetting... Here's the next shot at the gel:

Looks like I aimed a little low. The slug goes through 4 blocks of gel and then exits at the bottom, bounces off the box and the target wall and tumbles out of view.

Here's the next shot on the gel with my last custom Hollow-point .62:

Sweet! That'll do! I decided to take a look at what a .62 HP would do since I just did a video of a .22 RWS 54 shooting a Predator .22 HP the other day. The .22 shot was cool and all that but let's face it... it wasn't some awesome video was it? The .22 shot was something in excess of 20FPE and the .62 at the same range is in excess of 400 FPE. I wouldn't want to get shot with either one but certainly the .62 should make for better video!

Yeah, even at 8 frames per second of video shot at 1000 frames per second, things move pretty quick. So, here is a still progression of the second video:

That's the closest to impact that I captured. The slug is still in the picture about an inch into the gell.


Plus .001 second.


Plus .002.


Plus .003.


Plus .004.


Plus .007.


Thaere's the inpact block, the second block and the third block.


That's a close up of the impact block. The HP slugs took neat little cores out of the gel to a shallow depth.


That's the 5th block of gel. The HP slug shown penetrated 16.5" of gel.

I'll let you guys figure out what the best hunting round would be and all that debate about expansion vs. penetration etc. I'll just give you some facts"

These slugs all started out at 550gr and .617" in diameter. After I drilled out a hollowpoint the slugs were down to 490gr on average. The impact energy was around 400-420 FPE based on prior testing of lighter and heavier slugs correlated with the fill pressure and gun performance that I am familiar with. I doubt I'm off by much in the 42 Yards that these shots covered.

BTW, this is an important point as far as I'm concerned: these videos and stills reflect the effects off this slug/gun combination at 42 yards, a realistic hunting range. (Sorry I don't have the room for 50 yards) Many of the other pictures I've seen of expansion or penetration etc., have been of a slug fired with the muzzle of the gun against the test medium or so close as to be almost touching. I suppose that will yield accurate results for those things you just don't want to beat to death but if you're going to shoot something...maybe you want to know how your slug or pellet will do at a realistic range?

Anyhow, I think the .62 HP did really well but I don't see any reason to change from the .62 solids. The coring of the impact site is neat and the slug did all it's work in 16 instead of 26" but it didn't hit any bone either. Personally, I'd rather have the solid slug do a pass through than risk the HP not going far enough after hitting a rib. The solid slug (in another video on this site) penetrated 26" and ended up just a touch shorter than it started after hitting nothing but gel. The HP slug penetrated 16" (it was also 60gr lighter), expanded to .733 and stayed in the gel but did not have to break any bones either.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2009 11:40PM by Jerry.

Hi Jerry,

Well, that was comprehensive. Really put the hurtin' on that jello!

Something that's come up recently, in a conversation with rotorhead .... and I modify here to fit the topic ... you may wish to try one more hollow point, and pack the hollow with duct seal. He had the idea of a paper sleeve of the stuff ... and I feared a horrid mess. But ... with the neat hollow ... it's an idea. Another point would be ... fill the hollow with oil ... then seal with a buckshot ball. Now THAT should EXPAND!!!

Gary

Check back in later. Rough day in the shop. Leg is very unhappy. Kicking back with TV for awhile.

Gary

Jerry, I loved the video. It really shows the impact and energy transfer so well. I'm with you on the solid vs hollow point especially when it comes to larger game. If you penetrate the vital organs, you will bag the game. Explosive expansion is not going to happen at airgun velocities except when striking steel targets, not game. Besides if all you are looking for is expansion, you are starting at better than twice the diameter of most modern powder guns.

Great video!

Kent

Hi Kent,

Yeah ... I was going for the "hydroshock" expansion for one of Jerry's jello films. Morphed from the putty to a viscous liquid in a sentence of two.

You're right ... twice the diameter = four times the surface area!!!

Hey - maybe we could get the little 87 caliber to open up the size of a frying pan!! hahah..

Gary

Great video Jerry! The .62 slug should be devastating on biggames due to its big front diameter bullet. I've been looking to get some heavy .62 slugs for my 20 guage shotgun, do you know where can I get some? The ones I have now are only 390 gr.

Peter,
It seems you're about a 100gr short there! I'm afraid the slugs we're making are custom fit to the Barnes .62 and wouldn't be a proper fit for another barrel. I would think the best thing to do would be to slug your barrel to get an exact size and then consider having one of the mold makers like Lee make a custom mold for you.

Thanks Jerry, that's a good advice. I would like to get them in 700 grain so I can get the maximum power out of my 20 guage. I wonder if they can make a custom mold like that.

hey are not cheap but this is one source: [www.neihandtools.com]. I'm sure there are plenty of others as well.

Pretty cool stuff, thanks for posting it. I particularly like the way the blocks wiggle back and forth in slo-mo when they're hit, it's a shame that the camera frame rate isn't about ten times faster. But...considering the price point it's still an amazing feature in a consumer electronics item.

I suppose that you could do one of those 1X6 lumber or plywood "baffle boxes" to get an idea of how the two slugs compare on harder media. Admittedly nothing really compares with shooting real critters in a real situation, but you see the "how many one-by boards will it go through" used for a lot of different rounds, so it's at least some comparison. Maybe one day all you guys down south can get together for a pig roast, and just happen to ventilate the main course a bit before you drop it in the barbeque pit. (BTW...to us folks up here in AK you're ALL southerners down there in the lower 48 )

Jerry,

Good stuff, I'll look it over better at leisure.

Lon