Here are some of the latest tests using the Clear Ballistics gel. We made two 16" blocks and laid them end to end with the hope that we'd be able to catch pretty much anything fired at pistol velocities.
We fired one HHP of 124 and 147 grain weights into bare gel followed by a shot using the new heavy clothing barrier. This new barrier was bought from Clear Ballistics and consists of two layers of cotton, a layer of fleece and a layer of denim. Results with this barrier vs. four layers of denim were pretty much the same.
Here's the 147gr in bare gel with an impact velocity of 1,007fps. The bullet penetrated 11" and opened perfectly. The bullet fragments in the second pic are pieces of the 124 HHP that fragmented in the block.
The same bullet/load was a pass through after clothing. There is some disruption visible in the first 12" or so of gel but after that the bullet settled down and left a tiny track through both of the blocks.
Next up was the 124 HHP with an impact velocity of 1,132. Interestingly this load is .4 grains less than my +P load but is still trucking along. I was hoping this load would have given me muzzle velocities in the 1,050-1,075fps range.
The 124gr against bare gel penetrated to 10" but the bullet broke apart.
Next we tried the clothing barrier. The bullet penetrated 16.25" and just barely poked into the second block. The bullet lost one petal and showed minimum expansion. But at least it did expand and didn't over-penetrate.
A third shot with the 124gr HHP through clothing resulted in a complete pass through.
All in all, I have to say I'm pretty disappointed in the Berry's HHP. They look nice, as far as JHP bullets go, and are priced well. They also seem to show some good accuracy. But the terminal performance just doesn't seem to be there. Granted, they can and do work well in bare gel and will probably work okay after passing through a light barrier like a shirt but they just don't expand with any reliability after a heavy clothing test. My guess is the 124gr bullet would stay together pretty well if downloaded to 1,000-ish feet per second. But, if I'm going to drop the velocity that much I might as well stick with the 147's.
Berry's in still on to something with the HHP even though it isn't where it needs to be yet. With a bit of tweaking I think they'll have a nice bullet.