I notice that your M855 bullet performs quite differently from Test 'X' from Company 'Y'. Why is this?

Up to a certain distance, significantly beyond what is encountered in close-quarters shooting, a rifle bullet will exhibit significant 'precession'. The effect of precession that is relevant here is the angle that the tip of the bullet makes with the line of travel of the bullet (what would be the centerline of the bullet, if no precession was occurring). This angle at impact has a significant effect on the depth at which a rifle bullet will tumble. The greater the initial yaw angle, the earlier in the track the bullet will tumble, and vice versa. Two rifles with consecutive serial numbers will fire two cartridges (made consecutively from the same lot of ammo) differently, in terms of precession. Further, the bullet angle at impact will differ with the rifles distance from the target - inches of distance can make a significant difference. This is the reason why any test on this website which features a tumbling bullet from a rifle, will likely differ from an otherwise similar test, conducted with the same type of rifle and ammunition.

What is your policy on linking/reproduction of your data?

All information and images on this website is free for public distribution, provided that credit is given to the source of the information. This offer extends to all legitimate uses of the information, for non-political, medical, pro-second amendment, governmental or recreational usage. That being said, the exception to the above statement is anti-gun groups. If you or your groups interest is in regulating civilian possession of firearms or ammunition, you are expressly forbidden to utilize any information or image on this website. Whether you like guns or not, remember that you have no right to dictate what the next person chooses to own or not to own. Move to North Korea or any other "workers paradise", where your political view(s) would be more at home and "may posterity forget ye were our countrymen."

What is the .32NAA all about?

The .32 North American Arms cartridge is a .380ACP case necked down to accept 32 caliber bullets. Basically, it is a magnum 32 caliber cartridge, specifically designed for pocket pistols. It is deeper penetrating than .380ACP bullets and expands to a greater diameter than .32ACP bullets. In fact, it is the only mousegun cartridge tested that consistantly expands and penetrates to FBI-acceptable depths. For more, please click on '.32NAA' on the menu.

What is ballistic gelatin? Where do you get it?

Ballistic gelatin blocks are made of ballistic gelatin powder, water and sometimes extra chemicals to help with the making of the gelatin, usually a de-foaming agent or a preservative for longer-term storage. Some tests found on www.brassfetcher.com have been conducted in gelatin blocks made of Vyse brand ballistic gelatin powder and other blocks have been made using Gelita brand ballistic gelatin powder. A fuller description of the biological origin of ballistic gelatin powder may be found on the websites of these companies.

What is a 'Brass Fetcher'?

Thank you for asking! A Brass Fetcher is one who transcends the role of 'reloader, just picking up brass' and spends most of their time at the range looking in every nook and cranny for that elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow : a pile of once-fired .45ACP brass. This is the same person who has been known on occasion to low-crawl underneath the firing line to pick up brass (I don't do this, of course, but I understand that being directly under a gun muzzle when it fires is a loud and oftentimes 'warm' experience). What is important to the true Brass Fetcher is not how well they shot - it's how much brass they brought home from the range. Disclaimer : The above was mentioned in jest. Don't low-crawl underneath the line picking up brass, it's dangerous - instead, wear gloves and get the brass when everyone is down-range patching up their targets! In all seriousness, anyone who shoots regularly should look into reloading - it is easy to slow down your shooting and focus on the fundamentals once you appreciate how much time you had to put into assembling that same round the night before.

How important is ballistic testing to the average gun owner?

Great question and thank you for asking. Gelatin testing is good for the 'wow factor' for gun owners who do not consider a firearm as part of their home/personal security plan. But for those who do incorporate firearms into their daily lives, the usage of higher performance ammunition can give a definate tactical advantage during an emergency shooting. There seems to be a tendancy with most people to substitute tools for common sense and/or training, but there is no substitute for professional training if you are contemplating the carriage of a handgun for self-defense. The advantage offered by the highest performance ammunition will be of no advantage if the intended target cannot be hit with accurate shots. In short, the payoff with proper ammunition selection is that you are increasing your chances of ending a violent confrontation sooner. Ammunition must function reliably in your gun and reliably in the target in order to give you a better chance at a less tragic ending. Having said that, ballistic gelatin testing of the ammunition that you plan on carrying should establish these three criteria in order of importance (first being most important) : Does the round penetrate to 12" of calibrated ballistic gelatin (some exotic and low-quality expanding bullets do not); does the round penetrate no more than 13" in the block; and lastly, does this round meet the penetration criteria above and give the largest expanded diameter of other similar tested bullets in your gun? Ballistic gelatin testing is really not that expensive : using what is available in your kitchen and buying the rest of the equipment plus 25 lbf of gelatin powder should set you back about $600 - much less than the price of a fancy new 1911, for instance. The payoff, of course, is that the ammunition you carry in your firearm can be custom selected and verified by you to meet the performance standards that you establish.

If I send you (blank) bullet, will you test it in ballistic gelatin?

This is the most-often recieved question. Testing bullets in ballistic gelatin requires more than just the gelatin powder. It takes at least 2 hours of uninterupted preparation time, 2.2 pounds of gelatin powder and lots of your refrigerators electricity to make a block of ballistic gelatin. This is before the 2 day wait for the block to solidify and the drive to the range takes place. While I would like to test bullets for everyone who asks, there is simply not time enough in the day or money enough in my pocket to be able to do so. When I test gelatin for someone, I charge $100 per (16x6x6)" block if I have to use a gun here locally and recieve your ammunition via UPS. But sometimes this is not practical, like when the customer wants to find out how their particular ammunition will work with their particular gun. In this case, one block can be shipped to your location for $50, with the buyer paying the shipping fees. This is also where things can get expensive - to insure the best results, the gelatin should be shipped in an insulated and/or cooled container. This adds weight and cost, depending upon the carrier. Please send me an email if you are interested in gelatin testing and we will see what can be worked out.

What does the ± symbol mean?

The ± symbol means 'the number plus or minus the number listed after it'. It is used in measuring quantities during laboratory experiments and indicates the quality of the data being measured. For instance, if a person wanted to find a bullet that penetrated 10" in ballistic gelatin, but wanted to make sure that it penetrated deeper than 8" and less than 12", they might find the listing of the accuracy very helpful. If this bullet was listed as penetrating 10", the person might conclude that this is the bullet that they should go with. However, if the same bullet was listed as penetrating 10 ± 3", they would know that it would be possible to have the bullet penetrate anywhere from 7" to 13". An uncertainty of ± 3" in ballistic gelatin testing is 'about as good as guessing', but was chosen to provide an example of the usage of the ± symbol. The tools utilized to make the measurements posted on this website are commonly available - the caliper that I used is probably just as accurate as the one in your garage; the case is the same with the weighing scale and the rulers, etc. NB: The 'plus or minus' assumes that the user making the measurement was 100% on target with the reading of the measurement. In other words, the uncertainty refers to the quality of the equipment, not the accuracy of the recorded measurement to the actual measurement. But don't worry, after about 10 years of making such measurements, I've gotten pretty good at it. Also, the uncertainty given for 'corrected' penetration depths and average diameters should also be considered as the minimum values, because these are calculated values, and uncertainty compounds with calculations. In any event, the uncertainty inherent with the gelatin itself and bullet manufacturing variations should overshadow those considerations.

Do I need to shoot my gun into ballistic gelatin?

If you would like to determine the performance of your particular cartridge/bullet/gun choice in ballistic gelatin, an individual test is the only way to go. This is largely because the same cartridge will shoot to a different velocity when fired from two different but otherwise identical guns. For example, pistol A will shoot round B to 800 ft/sec, the velocity at which the bullet from round B functions at its best in terms of maximum expansion for a given penetration depth. Pistol C, which fell off the assembly line right after pistol A, might shoot round B at 900 ft/sec (an exaggeration). At this speed, higher than the bullet was designed to function optimally, the jacket may shear off, creating a smaller expanded diameter, while the higher speed of impact works to slow the bullet down faster, giving a shallower penetration depth.

How can I 'water test' bullets?

As a result of publishing the results of some of the ballistic gelatin test events that I have conducted, on www.brassfetcher.com, I have received many emails with questions regarding how well would I predict a certain weight, caliber and bullet configuration to perform in ballistic gelatin. While I would very much like to give a definite and valid answer to each person who asks me such a question, it is actually very difficult to say, as different guns (especially those with different barrel lengths) will fire a given cartridge/bullet at a different velocity, and my experiences with certain brands and types of ammunition do not translate well into different weight and caliber configurations of the same bullet design. For example, the 230 grain Federal Hydra-Shok JHP in .45ACP has performed exceptionally well in .45ACP guns from 3.7"-5.0" barrel length. This bullet travels (from Federals tables) at 890 ft/sec at the muzzle. Having also fired the 65 grain Federal Hydra-Shok JHP in .32ACP, into gelatin, it should be easy to say that the speed at which the 2 hollowpoints may be expected to break up in gelatin, the critical velocity, should be equal. However, nothing can be further from the truth. The .45ACP was fired out of a competition-style .45ACP and impacted at a speed very close to the critical velocity (say 900 ft/sec) - as it can be seen on the recovered bullets places where lead and copper jacket had been torn away by the pressure. The .32ACP bullet was pulled and then handloaded to above safe pressure levels, giving a velocity of 1150 ft/sec. This particular design does not fail until around 1050 ft/sec. It would therefore, be completely irresponsible for me to make assumptions like this, based only on brand familiarity. So, I would like to tell you how you can test your carry ammunition without the need for ballistic gelatin, using my results and the results of others as a guide. All that you need for this is a dial caliper, an old pillow, a half gallon orange juice jug, a cardboard box and the ammunition that you want to test. Take the stuffing out of the pillow, pull it apart some, and place it into a long, lightweight cardboard box. Fill the orange juice jug full of water and place it in front of the box so that the long side of the box will be parallel with the travel path of the bullet. You will want to use the half gallon jugs that are made of waxed cardboard for this - no plastic. Shoot the center of the carton and be prepared to get soaked by the outflow of the water out of the jug. Dig the bullet out and measure it with the calipers. Wherever the words 'average diameter' appear on this website, that refers to the average of six measurements - 3 taken across the face of the recovered hollowpoint at the furthest points (usually found at the 'petals' of the bullet) and 3 taken across the face of the recovered hollowpoint at the closest points (usually found between the 'petals'). If the diameters that you measure are within ~ 0.025" of the diameters that I have listed, the results of your testing should correlate well with that particular gun/bullet combination in ballistic gelatin.

Which is better, 45ACP or 9mm?

Nicholas Cage could not have said it better in "The Lord of War" when he said 'That's the secret to survival : never go to war.' Likewise, I suspect that my answer to your question will inadvertantly step on the toes of some visitors to brassfetcher.com. I am not and have never been a soldier or a police officer, but I am an engineer, so perhaps I can offer my perspective of handgun performance from a slightly different angle. Bullet designers cannot know the circumstances of a defensive shooting involving their ammunition before that shooting happens. As such, the goal is usually to identify some reasonable standard to which to design the product to meet and go from there. Today, this standard is the FBI standard for bullet performance in ballistic gelatin. For example, if you were designing a car and not a bullet, it might be reasonable to make it fuel efficient enough to meet EPA requirements for a vehicle of its size - this way you can say that it meets EPA efficiency requirements in your advertising and it will give the consumer better performance in usage. Some people argue the validity of the FBI standard 'because it doesn't have bones and the various other tissues that can be found in the body'. Which is true and also is why a uniform testing medium like gelatin is such a fine innovation - bones and tissues in different parts of the body will have different toughnesses and no two bullet angles during any defensive shooting will be close enough for any realistic correlation with a non-uniform medium, such as ballistic gelatin with bones cast into, or set in front of, the block. Just the same, assuming the pistol bullet penetrates the FBI minimum depth of 12", the name of the game is increasing the diameter of the hole made by the bullet. Given the constraints of non-uniformity of the intended target that was given above, the only way to design defensive pistol bullets is to make the assumption that the bullet will strike only soft tissue - if it hits something more solid like bone, then most bets are off. Furthering this assumption, the larger the expanded diameter of the bullet, the greater the odds that something vital inside the attackers body will be damaged and/or the larger hole will (in theory) speed up the rate of blood loss. Think of the difficulty of breathing through a straw versus breathing through your mouth, for instance. The larger the diameter of the hole through which an incompressible fluid passes (air, water, blood), the faster it flows, all else being equal. Hopefully, my bias towards the larger caliber handguns is not becoming too apparent yet. If not, than this next section should make it very obvious. I would like to talk about the frontal surface areas of the common calibers (assuming an FMJ profile, although the calculations hold, assuming that hollowpoints of different calibers but equal ratios of final expanded diameter are considered). The diameter of a .32ACP bullet is 0.311", while the 9x19mm Luger is 0.355" and the .45ACP is 0.451". Some math-challenged gun writers have suggested that the .45ACP is 'only' 1.27 times the size of the 9mm Luger bullet. They are referring to the diameters of unexpanded bullets and this is neglecting the discussion of the importance of bullet frontal area - any part of a bullet is theoretically just as capable of inflicting damage as any other part of the bullet - but the engineers cannot know beforehand which part of the bullet face will be passing close to a vital organ at the future defensive shooting that I mentioned above. This is where the bullets frontal area becomes important - the larger the area of the hole (which can have units in square inches) the greater the chance of something important getting hit. Let's look at the areas of the above few calibers and their likelihood of hitting something vital, where a small diameter bullet would have just barely missed. The .32ACP has a frontal radius of 0.311/2 = 0.156". The area of a disc (or bullet face) is given by 3.14159 * radius *radius. In this case, the frontal area is 0.156" * 0.156" * 3.14159 = 0.077 square inches. The 9mm Luger is 0.355" in diameter and 0.178" in radius. The area of the 9mm is 0.100 square inches - 30 percent larger in area than the .32ACP. And the .45ACP is 0.451" in diameter and 0.226" in radius. The area of the .45 is 0.161 square inches - 61 percent larger surface area compared to 9mm and 109 percent larger than the .32ACP. I would err on the side of the largest diameter, hardest kicking handgun that I could shoot safely and effectively as my choice for self-defense.