Ballistic gelatin test results : .22 Magnum rifle

[Brass Fetcher]

Firearm : .22 Magnum rifle with 16.0" barrel length

Cartridge : Various .22 Magnum

Block calibration : 592 ft/sec @ 10.8cm (all depths uncorrected, unless noted otherwise)

Shot 1 - Remington 40gr JHP (part #R22M1) impacted at unknown velocity, penetrated to 9.8" and expanded to 0.355" average diameter (severe fragmentation).

Shot 2 - Winchester 34gr JHP (part #S22WM) impacted at unknown velocity, penetrated to 6.6" and expanded to 0.369" average diameter (severe fragmentation).

Shot 3 - CCI Maxi-Mag HP +V 30gr (Part number 0059), impacted at 2001 ft/sec, penetrated to 6.4" and expanded to 0.407" average diameter (severe fragmentation).

Shot 4 - Remington 33gr V-Max, impacted at 1964 ft/sec, penetrated to 6.3" and expanded to 0.450" average diameter (near-total fragmentation). Track outlined in lime green.

Shot 5 - Winchester 40gr JHP (part #X22MH), impacted at unknown velocity, penetrated to 13.5" (corrected) and expanded to 0.311" average diameter. Recovered weight was 29.1gr. Track outlined in red - if I had to choose a .22 Magnum rifle for self-defense... this is the round that I would use.

Shot 6 - Winchester 40gr JHP (part #X22MH), impacted at unknown velocity, penetrated to 11.5" (corrected) and expanded to 0.370" average diameter. Recovered weight was 30.8gr.

Shot 7 - CCI 40gr TMJ (FMJ) (part #0023), impacted at 1703 ft/sec, penetrated to 16.0" and then exited the rear of the block. The bullet tumbled at approximately 13" depth and then, likely, traveled base-forward out of the remainder of the block. This was an interesting part of the test - I was spotting the shots while the owner of the rifle was shooting. Dirt from the berm would kick up after each shot - as these shots were placed towards the side and edges of the gelatin face, I thought that he was missing the block completely, and called 'miss' after each sand spout came up from the berm. Only after looking at the block up-close did we realize that the FMJ bullet hit the berm with the authority of ~ a CB cap, after penetrating 16.0" of ballistic gelatin!

 

[waynedm]

Cool! Somebody at work brought in a gel test he did with .223 the other day and it was pretty darn interesting to look at. Thanks.

 

[Dr.Rob]

That CCI +V load will clean decapitate a prarie dog. It's a good varminting bullet. The Remington 40 gr bullets I tried didn't have near the 'explosive' effect.

(Marlin 922M @ aprox 100 yards.)

Looks like I might have to pick up some V-max too.

 

[griz]

Thank you for that info. I have been wondering about 22 mag performance but don't shoot enough of it to find out.

 

[hagar]

Interesting.. I found the 40gr Winchester hollow point to be the best as far as killing coyotes. It is the only metal jacketed bullet that was available 10 years ago when I was seriously chasing after them. It also seemed to be the most accurate.

 

[Brass Fetcher]

@hagar - That is great to know. How big would you say the 'average' coyote was that you were shooting? Like I said earlier, this is the only .22Mag tested that I would say was 'very good' for SD, so I bet that it was pretty good against a coyote, as well.

 

[petej]

JE223,

I have noticed that you have being posting some new gel shots lately, pretty cool, thanks!

I would be very interestd to see the gel after a Wolf MV 7.62x39 JHP was shot into it, and also Wolf 7.62x39 FMJ. I would be willing to mail you the ammmo samples ( sitting on 8,000 )if you would be willing to gel test them.

If you are interested any, let me know.

Either way, I appreciate your time and posting the info, thanks.

 

[Brass Fetcher]

petej - Thank you for the offer. A test like this may be in the works, as I realize that Wolf is what a lot of 'bulk shooters' own and I certainly understand that. Like I might have said in an earlier post, I personally own 2 pistol, 1 rifle and 1 shotgun. 7.62x39mm is unfortunately not one of them - the rifle used in the test was owned by someone else and brought to the range for the test.