JCN’s Taurus 380 Snubbie review

[JCN]

@Navin Johnson

Organic ballistic gel varies a LOT in penetration if not perfectly at 4 degrees Celsius (40 F).

Even at 50 degrees F the results are much different.

That’s not easy to control outdoors at a range.

Looks like the clear gel might be pretty good (far from meaningless or “not real”) even as it is, but might be even better if it were adjusted to pass the lower end of a calibration standard.

I’ll probably skip organic gel and just use an HST as an internal control. If ammo penetrates more then it might be too much. If less then maybe it’s too little.

[JCN]

@Navin Johnson

Some people aren’t curious and like to just regurgitate what they’ve heard without understanding the nuances and “why.”

There are some ammo like Gold Dots that are incredibly velocity sensitive with regards to expansion and penetration. The visible differences between a G26 and a G34 are quite striking.

But HST isn’t. It expands quickly and consistently across a wide range of velocities.

Which makes it a better internal control than a Gold Dot if density of the medium is an issue.

Without testing and learning, I wouldn’t know that. Even hand pulling apart gel blocks and cutting up wound tracts is illustrative. I’d rather have that education knowing it’s just an alternative medium that’s semi but not perfectly applicable.

Doesn’t have to be black and white or binary to get some good learning in.

Just like a Glock 20 versus a Glock 43. There’s a difference.

[JCN]

@Navin Johnson

Here are some of the non scientific extracted bullets from gel in different tests. Different velocities, different calibers, different barriers. Fun stuff.



For example 9mm +P 124gr Gold Dots out of 16”, 5.3” and 3.4” barrels.



That’s not even a “short barrel” version of the ammo.

[MandoWookie]

Ahh......thanks. so now I know you're a fucking troll.

If you're going to quote somebody don't make up your own words.

Please never reference me again and don't worry I will never reply to any of the stupid shit you post.

Thanks

This seems unnecessarily hostile response to an admitted format error. From context it was clear he was paraphrasing your statement.
At no point have I seen any malicious intent in any of these threads, but for some reason this particular subject seems to have aroused a great deal of vitriol.
At no point has JCN advocated or presented anything as other than him sharing his experiences with his experiments.
I personally find it interesting to follow along, because it's not my money and time being spent, and along the way the discussion about the merits or lack thereof can present interesting information that might not have been brought up if the topic had not been presented.
Personal attacks detract from meaningful engagement, and lessens my respect for the forum at large as a helpful source to alleviate my own ignorance on questions for things that are not found in the stickies.

[Clusterfrack]

@JCN, if you haven’t seen the SME thread below, and the rest of the ‘sticky’ threads in the ammo section, I recommend it highly. My defense ammunition caliber and type are based on this.

Service Caliber Handgun Duty and Self-Defense Ammo
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....f-Defense-Ammo

[BehindBlueI's]

A few posts culled and moved to Romper Room. Can we just fucking not today?

[JCN]

@JCN, if you haven’t seen the SME thread below, and the rest of the ‘sticky’ threads in the ammo section, I recommend it highly. My defense ammunition caliber and type are based on this.

Service Caliber Handgun Duty and Self-Defense Ammo
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....f-Defense-Ammo

Thanks! I like the SMEs other material very much in the stickies.

For 9mm I use HST and Gold Dots as they are well vetted.

Most of the testing is me just trying to understand what goes into one thing versus another.

And most of my testing is doing some nonstandard things with nonstandard nonduty calibers (like the 380/38/357mag).

Some of my IIIA armor testing was quite interesting to me and I learned some things that aren’t rigorously tested or documented on the web. I used virgin plates for each shot to not bias and compromise.

If I get motivated, I might post a summary thread. But probably not because I don’t care to raise the hackles of the @Navin Johnson types of the world.

[BehindBlueI's]

Can we just fucking not today?

I guess not. Thread locked for the day.

[BehindBlueI's]

I guess not. Thread locked for the day.

Reopened. Keep it technical. If you need to snipe at each other, take it to PM or Facebook or what have you.

[Flamingo]

JCN,

I enjoy reading your testing and your challenging the norms. Keep it up.