Homemade ballistic gel

Ok - I'll ask. Do you care to share the recipe? That's a reasonable price.

Interesting...is it "calibrated" similar to 10% ballistics gel? I'm not trying to be a smartalec...just curious how it compares to the commercial stuff.

One thing I found the hardway, if you don't add sone type of anti mold type additive, it will turn into a disgusting and stinky science experiment.

I use a tablespoon of Consan20 (available everywhere) in my mix and it stopped the mold.

Its just too big to keep in the fridge.

Hmmm, if someone put that stuff in my fridge he would be in trouble plenty. I think part of the project should include building an ice chest.

LocoGringo said:

Interesting...is it "calibrated" similar to 10% ballistics gel? I'm not trying to be a smartalec...just curious how it compares to the commercial stuff.

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Steel Hayes said:

I’m sure it’s very similar, but commercial made has a few more ingredients in it.

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Without calibrating or making direct comparisons, there is no way to know how similar or dissimilar it is.

Steel Hayes said:

I’ll shoot a bb at 4’ and see how far it penetrates, if it’s the 3.5”, it’ll be very close.

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That is only if your BB is fired at 590 fps (+/- 30 fps). Calibration is only valid for that batch and must be repeated for every batch.

Regardless of the calibration you can test different rounds in the same media that you can replicate over and over with very similar density. The other cool part is seeing the wound channel of the various loads and being able to keep a photo journal for reference.

Double Naught Spy said:

Without calibrating or making direct comparisons, there is no way to know how similar or dissimilar it is.

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I am sure your right but i made it just for the fun of it and not necessarily a scientific experiment.

I teased my wife about her gravy last week ,,, “Would make great ballistic gel “ I said ...

Pop tarts for breakfast .. next morning

Steel Hayes said:

I’ll shoot a bb at 4’ and see how far it penetrates, if it’s the 3.5”, it’ll be very close.

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You ever get around to validating your gelatin with a BB? Kinda interested in seeing how your home-brewed gelatin fares.

I have used the same recipe to make ballistics jell. The 1oz gelatin to 8oz water is pretty damn close to calibrated 10% ballistics jell. This is perfectly fine for DIY'rs that want to do their own testing.

What are you using to shoot a BB at 590fps?
Most Red Ryders are in 350fps range.

Steel Hayes said:

I’ll post pictures later today, I used my Crossman with 3 pumps(chrono’d at 600 FPS) and it went in 4”.
Like I said before, the gel is pretty close.
Even if it’s not FBI specs, finding out how different ammo acts, it’s just another tool.

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Excellent. Looking forward to it.

4'' is just over the maximum specified validation depth of 3.94'', so what you have is pretty close to the standard.

The best thing about the OPs jell is that it is affordable to anyone who wants to make it and it will let you compare different rounds side by side like in the original post and get an idea of how each rounds compares to other rounds. I like it.

From the sound of it your using powdered gelatin,correct? Check out a restaurant supply place or the internet for sheet gelatin. Could save you some money.

ThomasT said:

The best thing about the OPs jell is that it is affordable to anyone who wants to make it and it will let you compare different rounds side by side like in the original post and get an idea of how each rounds compares to other rounds. I like it.

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It's not all that terribly expensive to test in ordnance gelatin. Larger bulk purchases will help to 'economize', but it is especially important to make sure that you get 250 Bloom strength. I've done quite a bit of work with it, but never really messed around with remelting blocks like the OP, but I might mess around with the technique that he uses since it seems to eliminate some of the difficulty that I'd envisioned in doing so.

The important thing is that after remelting that the ''new'' block must shear-validate correctly. If the remelted block meets that standard, then it is a valid medium.

OK, it's not "good enough" for "serious" testing due to calibration. We get it. But perhaps the OP is just trying to get a rough idea of projectile performance. Validation, calibration and standardization is really just an illusion anyway. Are the wound channels going to be the same in ordnance gelatin as it will be in a whitetail? Or a brown bear? Or a human being? Will it be the same as a creature with a thick layer of subcutaneous fat as one that is lean muscle? I remember my uncle telling me of an army officer that used human cadavers to come up with formula for relative stopping power. (The name escapes me atm) Having visited 3 morgues I can tell you there is no uniformity in dead bodies.

The gelatin described is a good "hack" and I applaud the OP's imagination. If accuracy is needed just use a second block with a known caliber, bullet and velocity and make the comparison.