So I have this big basement, a lot of phone books, and waaaay too much time on my hands (the wife was out shopping), so......I decided to do my amateur (very amateur) Stephen A.Camp impression.
So I marched down there loaded with a bucket of water, phone books, P-3AT, 90 grain Hydrashoks, ear protection, shooting glasses, Santa Barbra open nose FMJ's, contrary to popular belief they are NOT expanding rounds, my Grandmother could see that. So as to be very efficient I had all this piled up in one big armfull so as to not have to make a return trip.
It was at this point that the dog decided he wanted to "hang" with me, and helpfully waited - silently - at the top of the basement stairs. So it was that I finally bettered my personal best time for descending the basement steps, and arrived relatively uninjured. I was at least happy that my treacherous mutt was on the receiving end of a good proportion of my test water. Shooting is indeed a dangerous hobby, and the dog and I are no longer on speaking terms.
Anyway I dusted myself off and set up to shoot. I put the phone books and some assorted newspapers into a large recycling container and poured in the water, I also had a one gallon water container for a single expansion test.
I obvioulsy didn't use half enough water because after I had let rip with rounds #1 and #2, I discovered that the water had not penetrated beyond an inch (note to self, next time shoot the soaked dog), more worrying was the fact that the unexpanded Hydrashocks had not made it past 4 inches, the Santa Barbaras faired somewhat better managing between 5 and 6 inches, but neither was very impressive.
I tried one last round into the one gallon jug which I shot from above with the jug lying on its side, i.e. the short way through. That was with another Hydrashock, which expanded reasonably well, but just made it out the far side of the jug and was found just lying on top of the first phone book underneath the jug.
My final test (Soprano style) was with a single phone book (Baltimore issue) and one Hydra point blank - amazingly, for those of you who saw that particular episode, the bullet did indeed stop at the Rs.
So all this left me thinking that maybe lighter hollowpoints are not the way to go with .380ACP, and that a 100 grain truncated cone solid would probably make more sense for self defence.
And anyway, what is the comparison ratio for dry phonebooks vs. tissue penetration, anyone know.
Newton
So I marched down there loaded with a bucket of water, phone books, P-3AT, 90 grain Hydrashoks, ear protection, shooting glasses, Santa Barbra open nose FMJ's, contrary to popular belief they are NOT expanding rounds, my Grandmother could see that. So as to be very efficient I had all this piled up in one big armfull so as to not have to make a return trip.
It was at this point that the dog decided he wanted to "hang" with me, and helpfully waited - silently - at the top of the basement stairs. So it was that I finally bettered my personal best time for descending the basement steps, and arrived relatively uninjured. I was at least happy that my treacherous mutt was on the receiving end of a good proportion of my test water. Shooting is indeed a dangerous hobby, and the dog and I are no longer on speaking terms.
Anyway I dusted myself off and set up to shoot. I put the phone books and some assorted newspapers into a large recycling container and poured in the water, I also had a one gallon water container for a single expansion test.
I obvioulsy didn't use half enough water because after I had let rip with rounds #1 and #2, I discovered that the water had not penetrated beyond an inch (note to self, next time shoot the soaked dog), more worrying was the fact that the unexpanded Hydrashocks had not made it past 4 inches, the Santa Barbaras faired somewhat better managing between 5 and 6 inches, but neither was very impressive.
I tried one last round into the one gallon jug which I shot from above with the jug lying on its side, i.e. the short way through. That was with another Hydrashock, which expanded reasonably well, but just made it out the far side of the jug and was found just lying on top of the first phone book underneath the jug.
My final test (Soprano style) was with a single phone book (Baltimore issue) and one Hydra point blank - amazingly, for those of you who saw that particular episode, the bullet did indeed stop at the Rs.
So all this left me thinking that maybe lighter hollowpoints are not the way to go with .380ACP, and that a 100 grain truncated cone solid would probably make more sense for self defence.
And anyway, what is the comparison ratio for dry phonebooks vs. tissue penetration, anyone know.
Newton
