Brass Fetcher Ballistic Testing

9x19mm JHP Performance through Bone Simulant Plates with Ballistic Gelatin Backing

Abstract

Six different brands of premium Defensive and Law Enforcement hollowpoints were evaluated in 9x19mm. Tested ammunition was Aguila 117gr JHP, Cor-Bon 115gr +P DPX, Cor-Bon 100gr +P Pow’R Ball, Federal 105gr Expanding Full Metal Jacket, Federal 124gr +P+ Hydra-Shok and Speer 124gr +P Gold Dot.

The ammunition was fired from a Glock 19 handgun, through a bone simulant plate backed by 10% ballistic gelat in blocks. Of the six brands tested, four of the six ammunition types failed to expand in the bone plate/gelatin target. The Cor-Bon 115gr +P DPX and Federal 105gr EFMJ projectiles performed effectively, by functioning similarly through the bone plate as they did in bare gelatin. The Aguila 117gr JHP jacket stripped off of the lead core in 66% of shots, after impacting the bone plate and failing to expand.

Introduction

Ballistic gelatin is an industry-standard medium used for evaluating the terminal performance of hunting and self-defense ammunition. Gelatin blocks offer many advantages in this role – it is a highly viscous liquid, offering a density close to that of human body fluids and the low-velocity characteristics of muscle tissue. It is a highly consistent material, which makes it very useful for making accurate measurements of damage done to the gelatin by a bullet penetrating soft tissue only.

The critical areas of the body are generally protected in some manner by the presence of bone immediately behind the skin. The large percentage of the vital areas of the chest that are protected by the rib cage and sternum make it desirable to simulate bone and then the soft tissue behind the bone. A priority of this report was in choosing a caliber and ammunition that was relevant to both civilian law enforcement and civilian gun owners. We evaluated several popular 9x19mm JHPs from a common CCW firearm – a Glock 19 with 4.0” barrel length.

Bone simulation was effected by placing a bone simulant plate, produced by Synbone AG of Switzerland, in front of blocks of 10% ballistic gelatin (Figure 1). Tested plates were 6mm ( 1⁄4” ) thick and covered by a rubberized ‘skin’ layer. Product number of these plates is PR0114.G. Density for the tested samples came out to be 814 kg/m3 and the failure mode for these was ‘brittle’ failure, similar to bone.

Six different brands of premium Law Enforcement and Defensive hollowpoints were evaluated in 9x19mm Luger. Tested ammunition was Aguila 117gr JHP, Cor-Bon 115gr +P DPX, Cor-Bon 100gr +P Pow’R Ball, Federal 105gr Expanding Full Metal Jacket, Federal 124gr +P+ Hydra-Shok and Speer 124gr +P Gold Dot.

Figure 1: Bone Simulant Plate and Ballistic Gelatin Block

Figure 2: Bone Simulant Plate

Result

Aguila 117gr JHP

Figure 3: Aguila 117gr JHP Recovered Bullets (Shots 1-3 through Bone; Shot 4 Bare Gelatin)

Cor-Bon 115gr +P DPX

Figure 4: Cor-Bon 115gr +P DPX Recovered Bullets (Shots 1-4 through Bone; Shot 5 Bare Gelatin)

Cor-Bon 100gr +P Pow’R Ball

Figure 5: Cor-Bon 100gr +P Pow’R Ball Recovered Bullets (Shots 1-3 through Bone; Shot 4 Bare Gelatin)

Federal 105gr Expanding Full Metal Jacket

Figure 6: Federal 105gr Expanding Full Metal Jacket Recovered Bullets (Shots 1-3 through Bone; Shot 4 Bare Gelatin)

Federal 124gr +P+ Hydra-Shok

Figure 7: Federal 124gr +P+ Hydra-Shok Recovered Bullets (Shots 1-3 through Bone; Shot 4 Bare Gelatin)

Speer 124gr +P Gold Dot

Figure 8: Speer 124gr +P Gold Dot Recovered Bullets (Shots 1-3 through Bone; Shot 4 Bare Gelatin)

Relevance to the Tactical Situation

Figure 9: Adult Male Rib Cage with Circulatory System Visible (0 degree obliquity)

Figure 9 shows a ‘head-on’ view of the human weapon system. Note the size of heart relative to the rib cage and sternum.

Figure 10: Adult Male Rib Cage with Circulatory System Visible (30 degree obliquity)

Figure 10 shows the adversary turned at a 30 degree angle to represent the Weaver shooting stance.

Figure 11: Percentage of Circulatory System shielded by rib cage (Adult Male, 0 degree obliquity)

Figure 12: Percentage of Circulatory System shielded by rib cage (Adult Male, Weaver stance)

Table 1

Summary

Of the six brands tested, four of the six ammunition types failed to expand in the bone plate/gelatin target. The Cor-Bon 115gr +P DPX and Federal 105gr EFMJ projectiles performed effectively, by functioning similarly through the bone plate as they did in bare gelatin. Notably, the Aguila 117gr both failed to expand and stripped the jacket after impact with the bone plate. This effect was deleterious in that the lead core presented a smaller surface area than it would have if the jacket stayed in place, lowering the lethality below that of a conventional JHP that fails to expand.

The wounding mechanism of a jacketed hollowpoint is the crushing of tissue through bullet expansion. Failing this, the lethality of a JHP is oftentimes lower than a full metal jacket which wounds through tumbling. FMJ bullet shapes lend themselves more readily to tumbling than a JHP that failed to expand – though many of the unexpanded JHPs did tumble, it was far too deep into the track to have influenced the lethality of the bullet to any extent.

We recommend using the Cor-Bon 115gr +P DPX and Federal 105gr EFMJ if bullet expansion after a bone hit is a priority. It should be said that the human body consists of many different bones, with shapes other than flat, so these results should be considered as generally indicative of the performance that you can expect in an actual target. In any event, the bullets that failed in these tests will not perform better against living bone.