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Thread: 38 Special Lead Bullet Gel Test

  1. #1

    38 Special Lead Bullet Gel Test

    Long overdue but I finally shot a couple 38 Special lead bullet loads into 10% organic gel. I used a Ruger LCR for the test. Gel was shot from ten feet.

    The first load is a full wadcutter from Double Tap. This is not billed as a +P load and is loaded with a cast double ended bullet not a swaged or hollow base wadcutter.

    Velocity of the Double Tap was pretty low, not surprisingly. My Caldwell chronograph showed an average of about 735 feet per second. Recoil, as expected, was mild.

    I fired three rounds of the DT load. Two into bare gel and one through FBI clothing. The bare gel bullets passed through my 20" block while the bullet fired through clothing went to about 15.5 inches.

    Note the dark smudge pictured behind the bullet. This is a plug of clothing that was shed as the bullet neared the end of its travel.



    Next up is the 158gr LSWCHP loaded by Remington. This is billed as a +P load and appears to be a swaged bullet. I had been looking forward to this bullet and was expecting some decent performance.

    I only fired two of these. One into bare gel and one through clothing. Both bullets went a little over 14 inches. Neither bullet showed much evidence of expansion.

    Velocity with this was surprisingly low. My chrono showed 775 FPS with these. Recoil, again, was pretty mild.






    As far as "tissue damage" to the gel; I tried to photo the tracks in gel but my cellphone camera really struggles to focus. I guess that's why Hornady and others squirt die into the gel after firing. Anyway, I really didn't note anything spectacular with one bullet over the other. Maybe that's because the SWC and full WC produce similar results in gel.
    Last edited by Tokarev; 06-23-2018 at 06:14 PM.

  2. #2
    I believe the Remington bullet might work well from a 3" barrel. Most people seem to agree that this load is at its best for 3+ inches of barrel. It looks like the bullet might actually mushroom well if pushed to 850 or a little more although the higher velocity will probably produce less penetration.

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  3. #3
    Interesting, thanks for the test data. I discontinued carrying the Remington load in my snubs after a ballistic gel test put on by Mike Shovel of Cor-Bon at my dept. The Remington load bounced off the sheet metal in that particular test, startling me. The DPX load, meanwhile sailed on through, and performed like a service pistol load in the 4 layer denim test, going 12" and expanding to .60"ish. All of my friends who carry snubs carry the DPX load.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Williams View Post
    Interesting, thanks for the test data. I discontinued carrying the Remington load in my snubs after a ballistic gel test put on by Mike Shovel of Cor-Bon at my dept. The Remington load bounced off the sheet metal in that particular test, startling me. The DPX load, meanwhile sailed on through, and performed like a service pistol load in the 4 layer denim test, going 12" and expanding to .60"ish. All of my friends who carry snubs carry the DPX load.
    Good point about penetration of barriers. Neither the 148 nor the 158, running at 750ish fps, are likely to do well against windshields or car doors. Still, as a BUG, the 38 with either load will probably get the job done.

    I tested the newer DPX (non-Barnes bullet) a while ago. It did okay against glass. I don't recall penetration specs off the top of my head but I believe it went something like 11" through clothing and glass alike.

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  5. #5
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    I'd be interested in you doing five or more shots with the WC load through the heavy clothing test. I wonder if the 4.5" + loss of penetration with the one round was an anomaly or if that barrier is that hard on that projectile. 15" of penetration is about perfect on a self defense bullet.
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  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Wayne Dobbs View Post
    I'd be interested in you doing five or more shots with the WC load through the heavy clothing test. I wonder if the 4.5" + loss of penetration with the one round was an anomaly or if that barrier is that hard on that projectile. 15" of penetration is about perfect on a self defense bullet.
    At some point I'll probably re-visit the wadcutter since one bullet isn't enough to determine anything. I also have a couple cast bullets I want to try.

    On a related note; I'm going to cut up a gel block and melt it down at low temperature on the kitchen stove. See how well it works the 2nd time around. The blocks are expensive so I'm hoping they'll be fine with a couple cycles.

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  7. #7
    GT Bullets' 160gr LSWCHP loaded in 38 case with 5.3gr of Unique. This should be a +P max load according to my Lyman book.

    Surely this will work better than the factory Remington stuff????

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  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Tokarev View Post
    GT Bullets' 160gr LSWCHP loaded in 38 case with 5.3gr of Unique. This should be a +P max load according to my Lyman book.

    Surely this will work better than the factory Remington stuff????
    It's going to depend on bullet hardness. GT says 2-2-96 alloy which would probably be great for punching a deer. I thought the softer the better for expansion in defensive non-barrier situations. I'm curious as to the results though.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Spartan1980 View Post
    It's going to depend on bullet hardness. GT says 2-2-96 alloy which would probably be great for punching a deer. I thought the softer the better for expansion in defensive non-barrier situations. I'm curious as to the results though.
    I've tried GT's 130 RN HP and 145 LWSCHP in gel. The 130 opens rapidly but doesn't do more than about 9" or so. I'm still playing with my load and am hoping to find a velocity that allows for 12" of penetration. It may not be possible with this particular bullet.

    The 145 is a different story. It seems to perform better at high speed. At 1,000 fps the bullet goes to about 11.5" in bare gel and about 14" after clothing. Backing it down to about 900fps might help a little with penetration at the expense of some expansion.

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  10. #10
    Now this is more like it!

    This is two of the GT Bullets LSWCHP fired through heavy clothing. Muzzle velocity is right at 850 fps.

    Both bullets performed nearly identically in terms of penetration, expansion and recovered weight.

    This load certainly warrants more experimentation, that's for sure.

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