ballistic moose

[Grousehunter]

I want to build a ballistic moose during the winter to test weight retention and over all performance in a few different bullets Im currently shooting. I have seen how to build these in a magazine but cant find the magazine any more. Just wondering if any body knows the proper combination of wet papper and wood to simulate a moose or deer.Any help would be great.

[DUKE2]

i use 2 large pails filled loose with paper and a couple phone books... fill the pail full of water night before.. keep water in the pail.. 2 pails at 100 yrds should stop most bullets.. or go to costco and buy 2 inside rounds whole tie them togethor. ummmm alittle expensive though .

[StoneChaser]

Just use dry phone books, as duplicating the EXACT characteristics of animal tissue is likely impossible.

As long as you're using the same medium (dry paper), you'll get an idea of how they perform against eachother (able to weed out the poor penetrators, and get a look at the wound channel created by each).

Comparing the bullets as % of penetration/expansion/retention will tell you enough (ie. The TSX was 27% deeper than the NP, but 15% smaller wound channel etc...).

This becomes especially useful if you have an old standby for comparision (your old moose load for example... shoot it for a baseline).

StoneChaser

[the rifleman]

Here is a recipe for ballistics gel. I suppose you could add some 1/4" plywood to recreate a bone hit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_gelatin

[Orangethunder]

I second the phone book idea. Its just too hard to get consistent results from gel or bones or old cow parts etc. Just for fun you could take some hide, a big bucket of gel full of cow bones and crap and see what happens.

[Grousehunter]

thanks guys for the help I think i will give them all a try this winter.

[470 Mbogo]

If you have a go at the ballistic gel please let me know. I've always been curious how much gelatin it would take to stop a 300 mag shooting a 180 grain high end bullet like the Tripple shock. I would like to try out some big bore bullets but I'm not sure how much gelatin and what sort of chamber it would take to hold it in. I tried dry wall mud but a 450 Ackley spread it out over 35 feet in a beautiful spiral pattern.
Take care,
Dave

[Mauser98]

Originally Posted by 470 Mbogo

If you have a go at the ballistic gel please let me know. I've always been curious how much gelatin it would take to stop a 300 mag shooting a 180 grain high end bullet like the Tripple shock. I would like to try out some big bore bullets but I'm not sure how much gelatin and what sort of chamber it would take to hold it in. I tried dry wall mud but a 450 Ackley spread it out over 35 feet in a beautiful spiral pattern.
Take care,
Dave

Welome to Huntshoot, Dave. It's about time

Paul