7.62x39mm gel test: TulAmmo 124 gr soft point

[AndrewWiggin]

Video link for phones





TulAmmo 124 gr soft point fired from 16" SAR-1 into calibrated 10% gelatin.

BB: 597.1 fps, 3.4"

Impact velocity: 2,526 fps
Penetration: 11.3"
Retained weight: 89.9 gr
Max expansion: 0.809"
Min expansion: 0.514"

[TomMcC]

Impressive expansion. Looks like it would cause a nasty wound. The penetration looks a tad shallow though.

It looks like you hit the block a hair high, do you think that's what caused the rip out?

[AndrewWiggin]

Yeah. I'm not as familiar with the sight offset on my AK as I am with my AR. Impact was about ones inch high of center.

[bfoosh006]

As always Thank You for sharing.

that is quite good performance ! thank you for including the lot number.

[Alpha-17]

Interesting. I've always heard that the expansion/performance with 7.62x39 soft points and hollow points wasn't particularly good, at least with the cheap imported stuff. This would seem to indicate otherwise.

[AndrewWiggin]

It's not conclusive, of course, but it is encouraging.

[bfoosh006]

Interesting. I've always heard that the expansion/performance with 7.62x39 soft points and hollow points wasn't particularly good, at least with the cheap imported stuff. This would seem to indicate otherwise.

Frankly this one of the few times I have seen that good of performance in a post Soviet Bloc SP 7.62x39 round..... so what you've heard is still, IMHO, pretty darn valid. The various post SB producers do not consistently use the same suppliers for components..... so it can be kind of a crap shot when it comes to actual repeatable performance from lot to lot.

I also think that if the 7.62x39 SP ammo available would perform like that "always" and that inexpensively, it would truly be a very formidable round.

But alas... I won't hold my breath.....

[AndrewWiggin]

Yeah, it's not very reassuring that they constantly switch bullets. I think that if a person wanted to stock a pile of this for SHTF, they could buy a couple boxes to confirm reliable function and fire one or more rounds through a row a of water jugs to be sure that the bullets in the batch they're looking at are capable of expansion. Odds are that most soft points will expand, I think.

[mr h]

Yeah, it's not very reassuring that they constantly switch bullets. I think that if a person wanted to stock a pile of this for SHTF, they could buy a couple boxes to confirm reliable function and fire one or more rounds through a row a of water jugs to be sure that the bullets in the batch they're looking at are capable of expansion. Odds are that most soft points will expand, I think.

i bought 1000 rounds of barnul soft point for a rainy day. guess i'll have to break some out and water jug them, since i dont have gel.

i'm in Az too and could mail you a box if you want to try them on a gel.

[AndrewWiggin]

I'm down. I can't promise when (or even if, for sure) but I'll try to get to them. I'll pm you my address.