Make your own Ballistic Gelatin

[Texas10]

Ran across this today and thought you guys might want to try it out sometime.

https://www.customcartridge.com/pdfs/BallisticGel.pdf

 

[Mozella]

I'm not gonna' read that link because I fear it might say, "First kill three horses".

 

[dmoran]

Have to question the instructions. The recipe calls for 9 gallons of water to fit into 6" of a 12"H x 12"W x 20"L container. Cubic feet of 6" by 12" by 20" equals 0.833-ft3 which would only hold 6.2-gallons of water.
Just saying.... and regardless, Thanks for sharing the link.
Donovan

 

[lpreddick]

This gel must be refrigerated and shot fairly soon after taking out of frig. If it gets hot, it "melts". Midway had a one half sale on a large clear ballistic gel block. It has to be cut into blocks for shooting, then you can reuse after tearing apart to remove bullet fragments. I found containers called "steam table pans" that are stainless steel and rectangular. Throw pieces in them and put in oven at 225°F for 2 hours and you have a melted gel block that you leave to cool...4-6 hours. Unmold and lightly torch the sides(propane or MAP) to make them clear. They really react to being shot and if you shoot several, they fly in any direction. I use a soldering iron to "brand" each block with a number or letter. You have to be meticulous in removing lead stain as this clouds the gel and is hard to remove. Small pieces of lead or jacket sink to bottom of pan and can be removed after shooting.

 

[lpreddick]

Here is a pic of the gel just removed from the pan.

 

[Bill Koepke]

How did it work out for you

 

[lpreddick]

How did it work out for you

I learned something. A good friend is a bullet maker and knew I hunted ghogs. I've hollowpointed match bullets to get them to explode in the varmint...a match bullet will often pass thru the animal and it will crawl into it's hole to die. He made some really open meplate 22 cal 52 gr bullets and they rarely exited, but with a fairly low BC, they dropped quickly and drifted with wind. He then made some open meplate 65 gr 6 mm bullets and they did the same. A ballistic polymer tip should improve the BC but what effect would it have on terminal ballistics? I shot a gel block with the open bullet and it created a large roundish cavity and did not exit. I shot a gel block with a polymer tipped bullet and the cavity was oval and had fragments to exit. The added tip did reduce bullet drop significantly( reduced elevation clicks at 200 yards by half), but prevented bullet disruption. These jackets are thicker than J4s so i tried thinning the jacket tip by chamfering the tip to a razors's edge. A small droplet of super glue secured the polymer tip. Shot gel with this bullet and it made a rounded cavity with no exit.