Phone book test

[Tomahawk674]

Hey guys, I was out on a farm with some friends shooting today. While we were out I conducted a super non scientific penetration test.

It takes 3 phone books (around 3 inches or more?)to stop a .36 cal ball from my '61 navy at close range. Load was ~17 grains 777 fffg. I also discovered that if you shoot them at too close a range, they will eventually catch on fire, even after you have picked them up and opened them to dig out the round. The recovered round was completely flat, maybe tomorrow I will measure the diameter.

For comparison, it took 7 phone books to stop a 9mm FMJ. This round when recovered had virtually no deformation.

 

[BHP FAN]

Great! There's nothing ''non-scientific'' about that....but next time you should try a cast lead bullet from the 9mm, for a more ''apples to apples'' test.

 

[ZZZ]

I like shooting dry phone books with my 10 gauge Pedersoli confetti maker.

 

[junkman_01]

How thick were your phone books?

 

[mykeal]

Is it phone book season in Missouri?

Any recipes?

 

[JohnM]

3 inches of phone books?
It'd take 20 years worth where I live!

 

[SAA]

but next time you should try a cast lead bullet from the 9mm, for a more ''apples to apples'' test.

Exactly!

 

[Pancho]

The computer age has made encyclopedias obsolete and books, including phone books make great comparative test beds. You can compare all the way down to the page number.

 

[junkman_01]

In this day and age, maybe it would be more relevant to shoot through computers?

 

[Arkansas Paul]

3 inches of phone books?
It'd take 20 years worth where I live!

That's like the entire state of Wyoming isn't it?
I can't say much though. Arkansas only has about 2 million.

 

[JohnM]

Heh heh, yeah.
The phone book from the local company is ALMOST a 1/4 inch thick.
Course it's only 6X9 and they have a lot of advertisements and some free post cards stuck in.

 

[mykeal]

My phone book was mailed to me on a postcard.

 

[Cinaed]

What about soaking sopping wet phone books? I hear that's a pretty good approximation for body fluids in a chest cavity.

 

[jtscuba02]

Now I know that if I have to shoot somebody with my '51 navy and the person has phone books around himself to aim for the head.

 

[Oyeboten]

Sopping Wet and then frozen solid Phone Books would be another variation...


Too, no reason who one could not take an empoty 9mm Primed Case...fill it with 3F BP, push a .36 Calibre Ball into it, crip it even at the Ball's equator, load it carefully, and, fire it.

Not saying anyone would feel it was worth doing, or worth cleaning up after, but, jus' sayin'...might be fun...


I just threw away a few Phone Books yesterday too...I looked at them hard, thinking maybe to try using them at the range, but, I was in a Clean things up and get rid of stuff I do not need around here mood, to, I tossed 'em.

 

[WALKERs210]

I had always remembered the Western movies and TV shows where in a bar room shoot out some one would grab a table and flip it on its side, hiding behind it. My thought on that was you could get lead poisoning and serious infection from wood splinters. Few months back I was shooting my 36cal 51 and 44cal Walker at a piece of 1" x 12" pine. To my surprise one of the 36cal rounds actually was stopped by the wood. It was close to a knot but the other rounds went straight thru. Now the Walker that was a HOLE different story, clean holes almost like it was drilled by a bit. Years ago a friend of mine used the Yellow pages to testing his loads.

 

[martysport]

In this day and age, maybe it would be more relevant to shoot through computers?

 

[J-Bar]

Martysport, thanks for the heartwarming photo...got my day off to a great start!!

 

[batjka]

Your load is puny. 17 gr doesn't do the gun any justice. How many grains fit in a .36 chamber? To compare, try loading a full chamber and re-test. Hopefully, the results are going to be more impressive. I would also like to see results of a .44 loaded with 45 gr behind a RB.

 

[mykeal]

His load was accurate, and as such it does the gun/shooter combination justice, which is far more important. Full chamber loads are fine for showing off smoke and noise but are universally inaccurate. Some believe it's more important to know where the ball is going than to make a lot of noise.

And the results prove it was far from 'puny'.

 

[Foto Joe]

Apparently martysport succombed to the urge which all of us have had at least one time or another. The other modern item which would make a fantastic penetration test would be none other than the "Cellularized Telephone"!! To be fair though, you should remove it from the hand of the person using it to text while driving before firing at it.

Sorry, I was just thinking out loud again....

 

[J-Bar]

Maximum loads increase the probability that cap fragments will be blown back off the nipples, even when using Tresos...troublesome.

 

[Noz]

I actually measured my phone book and it would take 15 years to accumulate 3".

 

[Tomahawk674]

Mykeal is correct, my load of 17 grains of 777 fffg is exceptionally accurate in my gun. It equates to around 20 grains of "real" black powder, so I think it would be considered an average Colt Navy load.