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Why is this penetration test perplexing me?

Tom396

.30-06

.380 from a 3" barrel, .223 from a 16" barrel, shotgun slug from a 20" barrel. Two of them basically penetrate the same distance and one goes significantly further. Guess which one?

It seems to fly in the face of logic. The projectile going the slowest and falling in the middle of the mass total, ends up penetrating the farthest. I don't get it. Take care. Tom Worthington
 
From a physics standpoint it's the most balanced.

If the mass and the speed of a round are significantly out of balance, one negates the other. It's a matter of maintaing energy.

If you eat too much and don't exercise, you get fat and have no energy to run very far. If you exercise a lot and don't eat enough, you become weak and have no energy to run very far. With the right balance, one can maintain peak physical condition and run farther than in the other two examples...
 
Good video, it's definitely a balance of speed and weight but BC of the projectile in has a lot to do with it as well.

I like videos the totally blows people perceptions of things. Kind of puts all the media hype in perspective.
 
From a physics standpoint it's the most balanced.

If the mass and the speed of a round are significantly out of balance, one negates the other. It's a matter of maintaing energy.

If you eat too much and don't exercise, you get fat and have no energy to run very far. If you exercise a lot and don't eat enough, you become weak and have no energy to run very far. With the right balance, one can maintain peak physical condition and run farther than in the other two examples...

That's why I have a truck......
 
That's why I have a truck......

Wouldn't the truck perform like the shotgun slug? .223 = crotch rocket (light, very fast), .380 = average sedan (middle weight, not much speed), 12 gauge slug = SRT10 Dodge pickup (big and fast). Take care. Tom Worthington
 
Wouldn't the truck perform like the shotgun slug? .223 = crotch rocket (light, very fast), .380 = average sedan (middle weight, not much speed), 12 gauge slug = SRT10 Dodge pickup (big and fast). Take care. Tom Worthington


I think you are overthinking the response. LOL
 
all that and I guarantee you that the 380 is what you want to be shot with if you had a choice in being shot with those three

the other thing is I have different results with my jug shooting....but generally the same results. All my pistol loads penetrate more jugs than my rifle loads. they are slower, less resistance, makes perfect since when your talking water....but even my Nosler Custom Comp 556 loads blow up two jugs and for me fmj 556 is good for 3 sometimes 4 jugs depending on the charge.....but I shoot them at 10 yards
 
^ This.

Penetration aside, go back and watch what happens to the first jug with all three shots. The .380 may have penetrated farther but the jugs themselves were very much in tact. The round held its energy longer, but transferred very little into the target.

The 12ga slug or the .556 round may not have penetrated into the second jug, but the first jug was utterly destroyed. Both rounds rapidly transferred all of their energy into the target and the expansion created one helluva mess.

A .380 round might make a clean, deep hole in a torso but a 12ga slug or a .556 round will turn the surrounding chest cavity into hamburger...
 
I bet a 22LR would penetrate a lot.
 
On a similar note, I also remember an old mythbuster/swimming pool test.

I think the 50 bmg went the least farthest.

But I think we all can agree, never tangle with a fifty.
 
I did my own penetration testing with some very cheap PPU 180 grain .40 S&W hollowpoints. Mostly, I wanted to see if they would expand. They don't...at all. Firing them from a 4" barrel, they not only penetrated all five milk jugs that I set out, they kept right on going. I never recovered any of the projectiles for examination. I never thought to try the same test with shotgun slugs. I just assumed they would kill all five jugs.

Sure makes a really good case for not using handguns for home defense, if you are concerned about stray projectiles leaving your house.

Here is another test of projectile penetration. This one using interior walls as the medium:


Take care. Tom Worthington
 
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