Brass Fetcher Ballistic Testing
John Ervin
Brass Fetcher started in 2004 in response to the lack of information on the internet about bullet terminal performance. I emailed a large ammunition company asking if their 380 Auto JHP would expand when shot from a pistol with a shorter than standard barrel length. Their answer was "that's proprietary." That was motivation enough for me to buy an Oehler 35 chronograph to compare velocities out of the shorter barreled pistol with the miniscule amount of terminal ballistics test data that was publically available.
What this meant back then was a test report from the International Wound Ballistics Association, Shawn Dodson's work at Firearms Tactical Institute and a website called Golden Loki. None of the velocities from their tests were close to what my gun was shooting so I had to shoot my own test to figure this all out. A fortunate email exchange with Dr. Martin Fackler gave me an IWBA article on how to water test bullets and this is how I started testing ammunition.
Water testing doesn't tell you how far a bullet goes into a gelatin block and penetration depth is one of the metrics of success when evaluating bullet performance. The first check I cut for ballistic gelatin powder was in 2004 to the Vyse Gelatin Company. With instructions from Firearms Tactical, I started making ballistic gelatin blocks and posting the test results on The Firing Line and The High Road internet discussion forums. The Brass Fetcher website started in 2006 to consolidate these test results.
The shooting public's familiarity with wound ballistics today is far better than it was in 2004. This has lead to a steep decline in market introductions of gimmick bullets endangering shooters and emptying their wallets and has led to ammunition manufacturers more freely sharing terminal ballistics data on their products. The mission for Brass Fetcher today remains the same: perform ammunition testing and objectively inform the shooting public to guide them in decision making regarding ammunition selection.