I've been meaning to do a test and recovery of an expanded bullet from one of the pistols I tote. I've done water-filled milk jugs but that is pretty far from realistic. And I've shot into water-saturated phone books but I am currently out of leftover phone books. So I had to look to something that would make a funny and entertaining test medium that didn't take a lot of time to set up.
Enter....
An 8-lb bag of forgotten Large Russet Potatoes, complete with sprouts all over 'em!
I lined them up on some heavy wooden boards and packed them as tight as I could and gave them some 3x3 side barriers.
Then I covered them up with more heavy wood to form a "test tunnel" (patent pending).
The cartridge was a .45 Auto 230-gr Winchester Ranger RA45T which I fired from my 5" 1911A1 and it travelled about 16" thru the scientifically calibrated test medium.
I shot straight enough that my recovered bullet didn't appear to have struck the side of the test tunnel (patent pending). Looking at it "nose-on" makes it appear to have expanded pretty well thru the taters....
And when flipped, it really begins to look pretty damned interesting.... About an inch in diameter maybe more....
And here's a side oblique view of the Winchester Ranger RA45T, which is the successor of the famed Black Talon with Winchester's engineered reverse taper jacket thickness (thickest at the tip, getting thinner toward the base) minus the black Luballoy coating.
These results are not remarkable; they are exactly as I expected and are easily found elsewhere online from Winchester and other sources who tested the Ranger ammo.
This is what I've been carrying for a few years in one of my guns, and will continue to do so with complete confidence.........
I like this round. I also really like Federal HST. And Speer Gold Dot is very good, too.
Thanks for looking!
Best,
nitesite
Enter....
An 8-lb bag of forgotten Large Russet Potatoes, complete with sprouts all over 'em!
I lined them up on some heavy wooden boards and packed them as tight as I could and gave them some 3x3 side barriers.
Then I covered them up with more heavy wood to form a "test tunnel" (patent pending).
The cartridge was a .45 Auto 230-gr Winchester Ranger RA45T which I fired from my 5" 1911A1 and it travelled about 16" thru the scientifically calibrated test medium.
I shot straight enough that my recovered bullet didn't appear to have struck the side of the test tunnel (patent pending). Looking at it "nose-on" makes it appear to have expanded pretty well thru the taters....
And when flipped, it really begins to look pretty damned interesting.... About an inch in diameter maybe more....
And here's a side oblique view of the Winchester Ranger RA45T, which is the successor of the famed Black Talon with Winchester's engineered reverse taper jacket thickness (thickest at the tip, getting thinner toward the base) minus the black Luballoy coating.
These results are not remarkable; they are exactly as I expected and are easily found elsewhere online from Winchester and other sources who tested the Ranger ammo.
This is what I've been carrying for a few years in one of my guns, and will continue to do so with complete confidence.........
I like this round. I also really like Federal HST. And Speer Gold Dot is very good, too.
Thanks for looking!
Best,
nitesite
