RetiredUSNChief
Member
The problem with water setups, especially if you don't live on the shooting property, is sourcing and carrying all that water in the first place.
Water is cheap, yes. But in the quantities needed, it's bulky and heavy.
A 5 gallon bucket weighs in at about 40 pounds. Setting up a water trap of some sort to shoot into is going to require a few gallons of water right off the bat. Shoot it full of holes, now you've just lost all that water and need to refill. Refill a couple times and suddenly you're talking hundreds of pounds of water.
Not to mention whether or not your water trap needs repairing in the process.
Making some form of ballistics gel at least has a few other things going for it. It can be sized to suit your needs, you can prefabricate several blocks, and you can get several shots per block.
Now, if it were me, I'd design my own water trap to capture nearly all the water drained from it so it could be reused repeatedly. It wouldn't be difficult, but it would add some complexity and weight to the setup.
Water is cheap, yes. But in the quantities needed, it's bulky and heavy.
A 5 gallon bucket weighs in at about 40 pounds. Setting up a water trap of some sort to shoot into is going to require a few gallons of water right off the bat. Shoot it full of holes, now you've just lost all that water and need to refill. Refill a couple times and suddenly you're talking hundreds of pounds of water.
Not to mention whether or not your water trap needs repairing in the process.
Making some form of ballistics gel at least has a few other things going for it. It can be sized to suit your needs, you can prefabricate several blocks, and you can get several shots per block.
Now, if it were me, I'd design my own water trap to capture nearly all the water drained from it so it could be reused repeatedly. It wouldn't be difficult, but it would add some complexity and weight to the setup.