**Update Below!**
I've always wanted to do my own quasi-scientific ballistic tests, and I have been somewhat curious about the real(ish) life properties of some of the ammunition that I have been carrying. So tonight, I got together the necessary ingredients, and cooked up some home made ballistic gel! Through a few sources around the internets I knew that Knox unflavored gelatin is a pretty good substitute for the real, and expensive, actual science type gel. for about $30 I got 24 1oz boxes (all the store had, sorry if anyone had any last minute confectionary plans![[rolleyes]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/042.gif "Roll Eyes [rolleyes]")
), which ended up to be more than enough to fill a plastic bread container. The bread container seemed to be pretty good dimensions for this sort of application. It's a pretty easy process. I mixed 1 cup of water per 1oz of gel powder. Each box was an ounce. At this point the gel is gritty and mushy. Its pretty thick, not watery. Mixing in the tub:
And done mixing:
After mixing, I put the gel in the fridge for two hours to "bloom." After that its still gritty, but more solid. The gel has had time to absorb all the water (i think.) Now, I set the pot-o-gel on the stove and let it sit over low-medium heat. It took about an hour to melt into a liquid. Melty gel:
After the gel was fully melted, I poured it into my bread container, which was lubed with with cooking spray to make sure it will be easy to remove. I set the container in the fridge where it will set until saturday afternoon. Then, I'll take it to the range and put some holes in it! Setting:
+rep for first one to identify the product to the left! Here's all the boxes of gelatine
All the packets emptied:
To the range I will be taking some 180 gr. .40 Winchester PDX1, mostly because its what I have around, and also because some people have been asking about it.
Check back sometime this weekend for a range report and possibly somewhat useful results! references:
http://www.myscienceproject.org/gelatin.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae3vSmKTpz8
**Update**
So its been a while since I first posted this, but I finally got a chance to get out to the range (I was waiting for a time when my buddy and I could both go). Well, the tl;dr version is: Shot it twice, caught one bullet, it worked great! I wasn't able to get the gel out of the container, probably because of a vacuum, or because it had been in the mold for so long. The first shot was top right corner, and solved that problem! Do note, the bullet never impacted the mold at all as far as I can tell. The breakage I believe is just from the cold weather and shockwave!
As questions about the material came up earlier, I can report that the gel is very dense, more so than your typical gelatin dessert. I believe this recipe used about half as much water as the package called for in food usage. It held together well, and I could pick it up without breaking, and It withstood a finger poke with a decent amount of force without breaking.
Hitting near the edge actually seemed to work out well, you can see the pattern left behind. Here you get a pretty good look at the spin.
And, for the "pics or it didn't happen" crowd, the captured bullet:
Side view of the expansion zone
Heres a nice closeup of one of the "in" holes (after my buddy knocked it on the ground)
And some before and after of the ammo.
So it only took a month to the day -1 to get the gel to the range, but I would say this mission was a success![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
I've always wanted to do my own quasi-scientific ballistic tests, and I have been somewhat curious about the real(ish) life properties of some of the ammunition that I have been carrying. So tonight, I got together the necessary ingredients, and cooked up some home made ballistic gel! Through a few sources around the internets I knew that Knox unflavored gelatin is a pretty good substitute for the real, and expensive, actual science type gel. for about $30 I got 24 1oz boxes (all the store had, sorry if anyone had any last minute confectionary plans
), which ended up to be more than enough to fill a plastic bread container. The bread container seemed to be pretty good dimensions for this sort of application. It's a pretty easy process. I mixed 1 cup of water per 1oz of gel powder. Each box was an ounce. At this point the gel is gritty and mushy. Its pretty thick, not watery. Mixing in the tub:
And done mixing:
After mixing, I put the gel in the fridge for two hours to "bloom." After that its still gritty, but more solid. The gel has had time to absorb all the water (i think.) Now, I set the pot-o-gel on the stove and let it sit over low-medium heat. It took about an hour to melt into a liquid. Melty gel:
After the gel was fully melted, I poured it into my bread container, which was lubed with with cooking spray to make sure it will be easy to remove. I set the container in the fridge where it will set until saturday afternoon. Then, I'll take it to the range and put some holes in it! Setting:
Check back sometime this weekend for a range report and possibly somewhat useful results! references:
http://www.myscienceproject.org/gelatin.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae3vSmKTpz8
**Update**
So its been a while since I first posted this, but I finally got a chance to get out to the range (I was waiting for a time when my buddy and I could both go). Well, the tl;dr version is: Shot it twice, caught one bullet, it worked great! I wasn't able to get the gel out of the container, probably because of a vacuum, or because it had been in the mold for so long. The first shot was top right corner, and solved that problem! Do note, the bullet never impacted the mold at all as far as I can tell. The breakage I believe is just from the cold weather and shockwave!
As questions about the material came up earlier, I can report that the gel is very dense, more so than your typical gelatin dessert. I believe this recipe used about half as much water as the package called for in food usage. It held together well, and I could pick it up without breaking, and It withstood a finger poke with a decent amount of force without breaking.
Hitting near the edge actually seemed to work out well, you can see the pattern left behind. Here you get a pretty good look at the spin.
And, for the "pics or it didn't happen" crowd, the captured bullet:
Side view of the expansion zone
Heres a nice closeup of one of the "in" holes (after my buddy knocked it on the ground)
And some before and after of the ammo.
So it only took a month to the day -1 to get the gel to the range, but I would say this mission was a success
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