Light and Fast VS Heavy and Slow for Barrier Penetration

[wrinkles]

I've been looking at some of the ATK, and Winchester data of 124gr 9mm vs 147gr, 155gr .40 vs 180gr on barrier penetration and heavy clothing. Seems to point to heavy bullets performing a bit better. Is there any other info or links on barrier penetration auto glass, sheet metal? Links to data on how does the 357sig do vs heavy 9m and .40?

[Marcus L.]

All testing is done in accordance with the standardized FBI protocols. The bare gel test involves 10% ballistic gel calibrated to mimic human muscle tissue. The other tests involve placing various materials in front of the bare gel to demonstrate what it would be like to shoot someone through such materials. After the bullet punches through these barriers it may become damaged /deformed or plugged with material(wood/cloth) which will reduce its expansion capabilities. When a hollow point expands it acts like a parachute reducing penetration. If it is damaged or plugged it may not expand very well which results in deeper penetration with less expansion. The FBI has done continued testing of ammunition for two decades and they take into account the results of actual street shootings and how that ammunition behaved against an actual person and/or barrier. With that knowledge, they still recommend that you use ammunition that achieves a minimum penetration depth of 12” in bare gel. They also conclude that good penetration is always more important than expansion, but as long as 12” of penetration can be maintained every bit of expansion improves terminal damage effects.

FBI Test Protocol:
Bare Gelatin = covered with T-shirt, Shot at 10ft
Denim = 4 layers shot at 10ft
Heavy Clothing = shot at 10ft
Steel = 2 pieces of 20 gauge, shot at 10ft
Wallboard = 2 pieces of 1/2" gypsum board, shot at 10ft
Plywood = 1 piece of 3/4" AA fir plywood, shot at 10ft
Automobile Glass = 1 piece of 1/4" laminated safety glass set at a 45 degree angle with an offset of 15 degrees, shot at 10ft

Winchester Ranger Talons:

.380 95gr(1000fps): (Penetration/Expansion)
Bare Gel: 7.65”/.65”
Through Denim: 7.95”/.64”
Through Heavy Cloth: 7.85”/.64”
Through Wallboard: 15”/.36”
Through Plywood: 15.5”/.36”
Through Steel: 9.3”/.36”
Through Auto Glass: 4.5”/NA

9mm+P 124gr(1180fps): (Penetration/Expansion)
Bare Gel: 12.2”/.67”
Through Denim: 13.9”/.67”
Through Heavy Cloth: 13.3”/.68”
Through Wallboard: 14”/.66”
Through Plywood: 13.1”/.65”
Through Steel: 18.9”/.40”
Through Auto Glass: 10.6”/.48”

9mm+P+ 127gr(1250fps): (Penetration/Expansion)
Bare Gel: 12.3”/.64”
Through Denim: 12.2”/.68”
Through Heavy Cloth: 12.2”/.68”
Through Wallboard: 12.1”/.66”
Through Plywood: 12”/.68”
Through Steel: 20.5”/.40”
Through Auto Glass: 9.4”/.48”

9mm 147gr(990fps): (Penetration/Expansion)
Bare Gel: 13.9”/.63”
Through Denim: 14.5”/.66”
Through Heavy Cloth: 14”/.66”
Through Wallboard: 15”/.67”
Through Plywood: 14.8”/.62”
Through Steel: 17”/.45”
Through Auto Glass: 10.8”/.52”

.357sig 125gr(1350fps): (Penetration/Expansion)
Bare Gel: 10.9”/.63”
Through Denim: 12.1”/.66”
Through Heavy Cloth: 10.7”/.69”
Through Wallboard: 15.4”/.48”
Through Plywood: 12.2”/.66”
Through Steel: 23.4”/.41”
Through Auto Glass: 10.3”/.49”

.40S&W 165gr(1140fps): (Penetration/Expansion)
Bare Gel: 12.7”/.66”
Through Denim: 13.2”/.70”
Through Heavy Cloth: 14.3”/.68”
Through Wallboard: 11.4”/.69”
Through Plywood: 13.1”/.71”
Through Steel: 20.4”/.48”
Through Auto Glass: 11.3”/.61”

.40S&W 180gr(990fps): (Penetration/Expansion)
Bare Gel: 13.1”/.64”
Through Denim: 13.8”/.70”
Through Heavy Cloth: 13.4”/.64”
Through Wallboard: 13.1”/.66”
Through Plywood: 15.1”/.64”
Through Steel: 17”/.52”
Through Auto Glass: 12.2”/.61”

.45acp 230gr(905fps): (Penetration/Expansion)
Bare Gel: 11.6”/.75”
Through Denim: 12.7”/.72”
Through Heavy Cloth: 12.3”/.75”
Through Wallboard: 15.2”/.69”
Through Plywood: 18”/.453”
Through Steel: 16.5”/.53”
Through Auto Glass: 12”/.58”

.45acp+P 230gr(990fps): (Penetration/Expansion)
Bare Gel: 13.2”/.79”
Through Denim: 15.2”/.78”
Through Heavy Cloth: 15.7”/.78”
Through Wallboard: 13.8”/.75”
Through Plywood: 14.6”/.77”
Through Steel: 20.6”/.53”
Through Auto Glass: 13.6”/.60”

The general rule of thumb is, light and fast tend to penetrate hard and elastic substances like sheet metal and car tires better, and slow and heavy tend to penetrate soft and cushioning substances such as heavy clothing, wood, tissue, and windshields better. If you want to improve on your ability to penetrate hard and elastic substances, increase your velocity and choose a smaller bullet diamter.....ie 9mm, .357sig, 7.62x25, 5.7mm. If you want to improve your ability to penetrate soft and cushioning materials, increase your caliber size and your bullet mass....ie .40S&W, 10mm, .45acp, .45gap. You might also notice from the above tests in regard to pentration in bare gel, mass and sectional density effect penetration more than velocity.....the same applies to actual tissue.

When you take into account realistic scenarios in a gun fight, whether you be a civilian, law enforcement, or military.....the majority of the time heavier and larger calibers will be more useful given the likely barriers you might encounter. Heavier bullets with good sectional density also do better at breaking internal bone structure as light and fast loads use up a lot of their momentum in the initial stages of penetration. The 1994 Canadian study proved this. There is also a measurable advantage to using larger calibers on soft targets as the wounding ability is greater.

[DocGKR]

Don't forget about the tests Dr. Lane presented at the FBI 1993 Wound Ballistics Seminar. Dr. Lane is an orthopedic surgeon, he and Ted Hollabaugh performed testing where swine femurs were inserted into 8.5" blocks of 10% gel and then were shot with 9 mm 115 gr JHP and 147 gr JHP loads, as well as .45 ACP 230 gr JHP projectiles. The high speed video of the experiment shots demonstrated that the .45 ACP shots created significantly more damage to the bone and were the only ones to penetrate all the way through the bone and gel block, while all the 9 mm loads were stopped by the bone and failed to penetrate through the bone. Dr. Lane also presented a variety of handgun wounds to human limbs that he had treated. The proceedings of the conference have been published by the FBI.

The Canadian info you mentioned was done by Kramer Powley and Dean Dahlstrom at the RCMP crime lab--pretty good stuff for that time period; their material was published as a CPRC report and also in the IWBA Journal.

[wrinkles]

Thanks guys.

I'll do some searching for the articles mentioned.