Homemade Ballistic Gel vs 9mm Loads

Good evening.

I have always been interested in internal, external and terminal ballistics. As a shooter and reloader, it was only logical to try dabbling in ballistic gel.

I have previously used 10% synthetic gel from Clear Ballistics but have always been curious about the real stuff. Well, I figured it was time to try my hand at making a block of 10% gel.

I used grocery store gel packs and used one kilogram of powder to 9 liters of water. Water was measured at 126° from the kitchen faucet. Powder was added slowly and the mixture was mixed the entire time until all the powder was added and there were no clumps. The mixing process took about an hour including stirring the mix gently until the foam was gone.

Next the liquid and mold went into the refrigerator for about 50 hours before it was removed and placed in a Coleman cooler for transport to the hills.

Transport time was about an hour. I set up my chronograph and fired three BBs into the block to check calibration. I think, due to the time of day and the onset of dusk, my chronograph wouldn't register BB velocity. Anyway, I've found my little BB gun registers somewhere between 570-600 fps.

After this I fired two different 9mm loads into the block. Two rounds of each load were fired into bare gel and two rounds of each load were fired using the heavy clothing layers sold by Clear Ballistics.

Loads tested were ASYM 115gr +P loaded with Barnes Bullets and the Wilson Combat 95gr load also using a Barnes bullet.

Both loads are running just under 1,200 fps (chronograph registered these) from my Ruger Officer Model.

The ASYM 115gr load feels pretty snappy. Penetration was good with both bullets reaching just over 13 inches.

The Wilson load is quite mild and would probably be a nice choice for something like a SIG 938 or Shield although penetration was a bit short with this load. Both bullets punched to about 9.5 inches in my block.

Clothing appeared to have little effect on either bullet/load with penetration nearly the same regardless of barrier VS no barrier.

Overall, a fun experiment and one that I'll try again soon!

BB calibration. Right at the edge of failure
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115GR ASYM loaded with Barnes Bullet
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95GR Wilson Combat loaded with Barnes Bullets
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All bullets removed from the gel
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Thanks. If you have any SBR’s and an interest in testing all copper bullets, let me know.

I'm not sure yet just what I plan to do. I don't know how often I'll make these blocks and what I will test. But it would seem logical to go through the effort and test ammunition that hasn't previously been tested or has only minimal test data.

This block wasn't extremely hard to make but it does take some planning. The block itself takes up quite a bit of space in the refrigerator. Ideally it would be best to have another refrigerator dedicated just for gel. Also a bit of scheduling is in order. Making a block or two on something like a Wednesday or Thursday evening and then giving the blocks a chance to chill for a couple days would be ideal. That way the blocks would be ready for use on a weekend.

I also would like to come up with a source for bulk powdered gelatin. Buying the Knox powder in little packets at the grocery store is probably not the best approach. It takes quite a bit of time and care to tear open and measure four boxes of powder. Also the boxes are kind of expensive and run about $12 apiece. Total cost to make a block is about $50 so I'll have to be pretty selective with what I test.

One option for gel might be to buy food grade gel from Amazon. I see several different options there although "bulk" for food use and "bulk" for range use are two different things.

The best option is probably to just buy 10 lb of powder from Custom Collagen. They have a 10lb box for $130. That should be enough powder for almost 5 blocks.

Another thing I want to look at is making the liquid in a big bucket or something and then pouring the gel into the mold to cure. While making the gel right in the mold seemed to work okay it might be a little less messy to use a big bucket. Less chance of slopping liquid over the sides during the stirring process.

The other thing I need to figure out is a good way to get the cooled gel out of the mold. This time I took a bread knife and slid it all around the outside edges of the block. Even then I still had to sort of pry the gel from the mold and I wound up tearing one corner of the block.

Overall it wasn't terribly difficult but there are a few things I'll try next time.

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The block in use. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...06e4c91ca0.jpg

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The 95gr. Note that the bullet fired through clothing has a slightly larger diameter. Could mean nothing though since my test sample is too small to draw conclusions. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e8101a7360.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...30e2d08d96.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2608a89f98.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...aef5d44cbe.jpg

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I whipped up my second batch of gel today. I used grocery store gel again but this time I weighed out the powder and the water using two pounds of powder and 18 pounds of water. My previous batch was one kilogram of powder to 9 liters of water.

Something else I changed was the mixing container. I mixed the last batch right in the mold but this time I used a bucket. Once the goo was mixed I lined the mold with a trash bag and poured the gel in. I'm hoping the bag will make the gel easier to remove from the mold.

After pouring I let the block sit at room temp per some instructions I found online. I think this might have helped allow all the little bubbles to come to the top. After sitting for about five hours I put the block in the refrigerator. It will stay in there about 24 hours. I'll then take it out of the mold and let it cool for another 24.

If this mix and pour method works well I will see about getting some 250A ordnance gel. It is fairly expensive so I want to play with grocery store gel first.

Here are a few photos. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...38ea7a92eb.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c4c313110c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...fa7b9f9639.jpg

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Nice, I started out with the store gel as well, easy to get and buy but it's a pain to mix and store in refrigerator.. I tried to save a block once but it got old and started to mold, so I ended up buying the clear gel when they first started out, I'd love to get the 250A gel, but like ya say it's expensive... plus I wasn't doing testing for anyone but my self .. what rounds you plan on using in this new block ?

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Originally Posted by lyodbraun

Nice, I started out with the store gel as well, easy to get and buy but it's a pain to mix and store in refrigerator.. I tried to save a block once but it got old and started to mold, so I ended up buying the clear gel when they first started out, I'd love to get the 250A gel, but like ya say it's expensive... plus I wasn't doing testing for anyone but my self .. what rounds you plan on using in this new block ?

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If it calibrates I want to try some Berry 124gr HHP bullets. I tried these in Clear Gel and they failed to expand through clothing. Will they still fail in organic gel?

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