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


115GR ASYM loaded with Barnes Bullet


95GR Wilson Combat loaded with Barnes Bullets


All bullets removed from the gel


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