This little experiment of mine was a good-natured take-off on the website named The Box O Truth ( http://www.theboxotruth.com ). For those not familiar with the site, the gentleman who runs it has done some practical experiments with things like bullet penetration and the like in order to see what various calibers and bullets will do. It's purely a demonstration on a practical level and very interesting.
I was at the range the other day shooting my S&W 1911 SC. The Federal 230 gr HS grouped very well, and I was wondering how they would penetrate and expand. I had a bag of paper in the truck and decided to try a shot from 5 yards to see what would happen. The bag weighed about 5-7 pounds maybe and I saw no perceptable movement when I shot it. The bag did not fly backwards, nor did blood, guts, or confetti fly out the back.
The first picture shows the entry hole, a regular .45" diameter hole. No big surprise there.
The second picture shows the area where the bullet came to rest. It was about 3-3 1/2" in and tore the paper almost directly in line with the entry hole. This generated some random talk at the gun shop about using a ream of paper as a bullet-proof vest.
The third picture shows the bullet. The hollow point appears to be packed with paper and it did deform to a certain extent.
What does this prove? Not much other than if you are attacked by a bag of paper, a hollow point bullet may not be your best defense. My shooting time was cut short by a call to pick up a sick grandchild but the next time I go out I plan to try a round of 230 gr RNFMJ to see if that fares any better.
I was at the range the other day shooting my S&W 1911 SC. The Federal 230 gr HS grouped very well, and I was wondering how they would penetrate and expand. I had a bag of paper in the truck and decided to try a shot from 5 yards to see what would happen. The bag weighed about 5-7 pounds maybe and I saw no perceptable movement when I shot it. The bag did not fly backwards, nor did blood, guts, or confetti fly out the back.
The first picture shows the entry hole, a regular .45" diameter hole. No big surprise there.
The second picture shows the area where the bullet came to rest. It was about 3-3 1/2" in and tore the paper almost directly in line with the entry hole. This generated some random talk at the gun shop about using a ream of paper as a bullet-proof vest.
The third picture shows the bullet. The hollow point appears to be packed with paper and it did deform to a certain extent.
What does this prove? Not much other than if you are attacked by a bag of paper, a hollow point bullet may not be your best defense. My shooting time was cut short by a call to pick up a sick grandchild but the next time I go out I plan to try a round of 230 gr RNFMJ to see if that fares any better.


