Retained Bullet Weight

[ruger1228]

I did some experimenting today with a 44 magnum rifle. I shot the Hornady 240gr XTP into a row of milk jug filled with water. I wanted to see how the expansion on this bullet was.
I found the bullet in the 6th milk jug. Expansion was very good. I weighed the bullet after I retrieved it and it retained 85% of it's original weight.
My question is: What is considered a good percentage for retained weight? Is the 85% good, bad, or ugly?
Any information would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Dentite]

I think the answer may be "it depends".

I've done the same with a 168gr TTSX and after going through the water it opened nicely and weighed 167gr. Not a surprise considering it's all copper construction. Good for deep penetration in a large animal.

Alternatively shooting a 55gr Hornady Vmax into a javelin at 140 yards resulting in no visible exit wound and only a couple tiny fragments of copper jacket found. It basically disintegrated and it worked great. Javelina took two steps and went down.

So basically varmint rounds will typically explode, cup and core bullets may separate lead from jacket and will lose some weight, bonded bullets will stay together and retain weight better, and all copper bullets will retain most all their weight.

 

[ruger1228]

The copper jacket was still attached to the to the lead core.

 

[rcmodel]

Good enough then.

Water jugs are much harder on a bullet then deer are!

rc

 

[Big7]

Put some "store brand" jello in the jugs. (cheap)

Headspace a little above the top of the handle.
You need a head space to simulate organ tissue.
Heart, lung, etc...

That will tell you what you want to know.

Close enough to ballistic gelatin without the cost.

 

[jmr40]

Retaining a lot of bullet weight is neither good nor bad. It really depends on the the conditions and what you are trying to accomplish. Generally more weight retention results in deeper penetration. But more penetration is not always desirable.

Generally centerfire bullets retain anywhere between 10% up to near 100% of their weight, so 85% is on the high end. But that is probably more typical of slower moving heavy bullets. The faster moving, lighter, smaller caliber bullets are the ones that are more likely to weigh less after impact.

 

[stiab]

I've recovered lots of bullets from deer, and weighted two of them, a .243 and .30-06, and they both retained about 73-74%of their original weight, IIRC. Traveling now, but have the actual numbers at home. Both were Remington CoreLokts. I did this after reading an article about the down side of eating animals killed with lead core bullets.

Testing with jugs is a lot of work, but if you hunt, it's not that difficult to have real world results.

 

[Art Eatman]

From reading ads and articles, 80% to 85% or better seems to keep those folks all happified.

 

[gamestalker]

I've done quite a few weight retention tests using tightly rolled up soaking wet denim in a 16" cardboard box lined with a trash bag, then filled with water.

With full house .357 mag. 296 loads as follows:

158 gr. XTP completely expanded, penetrated through all the material, and then embedded in the soft soil behind the box. Weight retention with rounds was from 94% to 97%, 148 grs. to 153 grs.. One round hit a small rock behind the box and sheared off about 18%, retained weight was 129 grs..

With 158 gr. Gold Dots retention on all 6 rounds was consistently 99% +. I didn't weigh them prior to shooting them, but assuming they weighed the same as the loose unfired bullets, retention was on the edge of 100%.

So I took it up a notch, and shot both XTP's and Gold Dots through two shoulder blades of a deer, wet denim in box of water thing. I was truly amazed at how much better the Gold Dots held up. The Gold Dots expanded of course, but they retained between 92% and 94% of their weight. The XTP's still punched completely though, but didn't fair as well as the GD's with only a retention of 82% - 88%. Looked like mostly because of jacket fragmentation, cause the core appeared to be in good tact.

Gold Dots get my vote every time, with XTP's runnng a close second. I've had nothing but exceptional performance with GD's though and have seen what they do to mule deer.

GS

 

[gamestalker]

To add to my previous post, and in line with rifle projectiles, I had an opportunity to confirm weight retention with a 130 gr. Speer Hot Core on a bull elk many years ago.

It was the last day of elk season for me, so I shot a bull, but the only shot I had was with the butt facing me. I got lucky, and the 130 gr. Speer Hot Core amazingly traveled straight up the spine, busting through every single vertebra and finally coming to a stop at the base of the neck. When I cleaned all the bone and flesh off the bullet, it weighed 119 grs., that's 92% retention! Not an ounce of back strap was ruined either.

GS