sighting in on Understanding Bullet Performance
The Proof is in the Gelatin After Boden’s
lecture portion was com-
pleted, the class headed to the range where gelatin blocks would be fi red upon to dem- onstrate penetration, expansion and bul- let performance. ATK only shoots Federal and Speer ammunition during the test but will allow offi cers to bring in their own am- munition to fi re. On their website www.
le.atk.com, ATK posts the results of diff er- ent Wound Ballistics Workshops conducted over the years and you might fi nd your own ammunition’s results.
During the testing, we saw bullets fi red into bare gelatin, through clothing, sheet rock and auto glass, per the FBI Protocol. T e Protocol is explained in detail at the ATK LE website. A crowd of over 40 offi cers packed the indoor range during the testing. T ere would have been even more if the class size had not been limited.
Bullets fi red through two layers of denim cloth over ballistic gel. When the cloth gets stuck in the base of the hollow point, it can cause bullets to act like full-metal jacketed rounds when shot through cloth, sheet rock or metal.
.45 JHP vs .45 FMJ, the expansion of the JHP creates a larger wound channel and controls penetration. FMJ rounds have a tendency to go through the target due to a lack of expansion.
28 The Police Marksman May-Jun 2014
A combination of .380 ACP, 9mm, .40 S&W and .223 Remington ammunition was tested as several offi cers provided their own ammunition for comparison in the gelatin. T e testing provided some startling results for a few of the offi cers. As already mentioned, pistol ammunition fi red out of a submachine gun showed a dramatic reduc- tion in penetration. T e most dramatic results came when shooting the .223 ammo out of a patrol rifl e. Several brands of hollow points and/or polymer inserts in the tips did not penetrate the gel to the designated depth required and performed even worse when passing through barriers like auto glass. T ese rounds were originally designed as varmint rounds. T e bullet was meant to shoot 20-pound ro- dents and expand dramatically. However, when used against 200-pound humans, their rapid, almost explosive expansion failed to penetrate deeply enough to hit the vital or- gans. T e theory behind their use and devel- opment for LE was to reduce the likelihood of over penetration. However, in the real world, the hollow point design resulted in a lack of meaningful penetration. Auto glass proved to be the toughest barrier due to its lamination. Some bullets broke up completely, with a resulting loss of penetration. Boden advised that begin- ning in 2012, all glass used in cars will be
www.policemarksman.com
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