Ballistic testing service, open soon

[Carbon_15]

I have been testing my own defesive/hunting ammo for peace of mind for as long as I have been shooting. Over the years my methods have gotten more refinced and I have noticed more and more friends asking me to test their 'working' ammo for terminal ballistics. I have also noticed quite a bit of interest on TFL when I post the latest results of my own personal testing. I have been working hard the last few weeks makeing and calibrating ordinance gel in the anticipation of starting a terminal ballistics testing lab. Setting up a properly calibrated block of geletin is a long and involving process and most gun enthusiests dont have access to the facilites or the time to do their own testing. It seems the only place to turn for scientific ballistic geletin testing is the gun magazines, and you just have to hope they test your load and caliber. I use the term scientific loosly as they have ammunition manufactures as paying advertisers. After looking around on the net, I found one independent testing facility for terminal ballistics, but they charged $600 for a 6 round evaluation. $600 is a new pistol to me, and I understand most wouldnt be willing to pay such an inflated price.
If I opened my service to TFL memebers at cost, how much interest would there be.




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[Snowdog]

Isn't doing it yourself half the fun?

 

[cpileri]

I'd beinterested.

Assuming I sent the ammo to you, whayt would the cost per rd be?
What parameters are tested? expansion? bare gel vs clothed gel? penetration bare and clothed? etc.
Carl

 

[Carbon_15]

Indead Snowdog. But lots of folks dont have the time (it takes about 48 hours to make a proper block of ballistic gelatin) or access to the chemicals, molds, refrigiration (must maintain 39degress +/-one degree throughout cureing and testing to be accurate) chronographs, facilities to conduct the tests etc. Its easy, and pretty darn fun, to shoot at water filled milk jugs. But to do a proper scientific evaluation takes time and quite a bit of work. Doing it to FBI specs is not something you would want to do in your kitchen...especialy if you married folks want to stay that way. The first time I rusted the botom out of one of my wifes stainless steal pots with Propionic acid, I discovered thiswas not a kitchen counter project.

 

[OF]

Sounds like something I'd pay for. If the report had enough detail and the tests were handled professionally for a reasonable price, I'd do it.

- Gabe

 

[glock glockler]

I might be interested but I don't know if you'd have 1) the guns chambered for the oddball rounds I like, and 2) any handloading capabilities at hand.

I've wondered about various flavors of 45 super and how they would perform, not to mention a 75 gr 223 @ 3000fps (22-250).

 

[Carbon_15]

My general evaluation would consist of 6 rounds minimum (10 rounds recommended) for expansion and penetration. I'll send you back the recovered bullets, cartridge cases, photos of the gelatin blocks, chronograph printouts, and a full written evaluation including recovered diameter, retained weight in grains, accuracy, reliability, and any other general experiences and observations during testing. I am going to leave the test parameters open. Customers can specify bare/clothed gelatin, the type and layers of clothing, distance from the block, and barriers such as drywall or wood.
For TFL members I'll do it at my cost to kinda kick things off. Generally the cost of materials to make one block a gelatin is $45 (one kilo of geletin powder, 10cc's of Propionic acid and 20cc's of Thymol)..times 10 or 6 rounds. I have been getting a pretty good deal on gelatin powder lately, so as long as that supply lasts, I should be able to do a 10 round evaluation for $200. That is absolute cost of materials. lower round count evaluations are a possibility, but 6 rounds is the minimum for a fair evaluation (2 rounds bare 7yards, 2 rounds medium clothed 7 yards, 2 rounds heavy clothed 7 yards...I would really like to include some data from 12 and 15 yards, which is were the extra rounds come in)

 

[Snowdog]

Carbon-15,

Are you planning on posting the results on TFL?
Collective knowledge, you know?

I must say that I am interested in a non-bias report on Cor-Bons Powerball.
I test against Playdough for expansion, but this medium is absolutely useless in finding expected penetration.

 

[rock_jock]

$200 for all that work? You must really enjoy that stuff. Personally, I don't think I would have any need right now, but that's not to say I won't in the future. Your best bet might be independent testing for LE departments. They have a need and the bucks to pay for it. What do you LEO's say?

 

[cpileri]

Another great service would be

to post all results either here or on a site somewhere. I may be willing to pay a couple bucks for a one-time or yearly membership to view the compiled results!
Esp for the factory loads which so many of us have. For example, I load my Sig 220 with Buffalo Bore 45 ACP 230gr Flat Nose FMJ, and I'd love to see the penetration and deformation of this round.
just a thought.
Carl

 

[C.R.Sam]

I hope you are not planning on testing other people's handloads. In your guns.

May your project go well.

Sam

 

[Long Path]

Sounds good, but how do you keep paying customers coming in, once all of the common tests have been made, and the information's been disseminated?

 

[Carbon_15]

Glockler, .45 super..I can handle that, oddballs and odities have always had a special place in my heart. 10mm is my specialty and personal favorite.

cpileri, I plan to do just that sometime before the end of the year. But it takes time to compile enough data on a variaty of loads and calibers. But there again, you have to just hope I chose to test your load and caliber. To tell you the truth, I never would have thought of the buffalo bore .45 ACP even though it seems like a great round..there is just so many differnt loads out there. The way I'm doing it in the mean time, you get to chose caliber, load, distance, cloting type and layers, etc, to get data taylored to your needs. But I will have a website with a large compiled data base of penetration/expansion/velocity/ME data along with pictures of the bullets and block up before to long. I have been saveing my personal data for quite some time now and I'm just waiting till I have enough..and the time to learn HTML. Membership fee's would be quite modest, again with deep discounts to TFL memebers.

Snowdog, see above. It would hardly seem fair to post the data I get from a test someone payed for. However, I do and have done lots of jello testing for myself. The results of which have been and will continue to be posted on TFL.

rock_jock, its going to cost the general public a little more than that, but still quite less that the going rate of $650 per 6 rounds. But i enjoy TFl so much, I thought it would be nice to give a little back. Not to mention, get a customer base.

C.R.Sam, Thats what range rentals are for Factory ammo only through MY babys. Even after all the prep work I have been doing, My wife still swears I'm doing this as an excuse to by more guns...and write them off at tax time.

Long Path, new ammo and hollowpoint designs come out all the time. Even then, you might want me to test your loneRangerRhinoTallons against clothed gelatin at 7 yards and someone else might need data for the same bullet from 20 yards against auto glass. When I have tested every bullet against ever test variation, I'll be too old or dead to worry about it anymore anyway. In all honesty I dont see this being a huge money maker anyway. The labor is to tedious and the materials to costly to turn much of a profit. I like doing it, and this is a nice way to help defray the cost and provide folks with valuable eunbiased info.

 

[Carbon_15]

NOW OPEN


www.dvc-labs.com

Well it took a little longer than I had hoped to get everything set up,but I'm done and ready for business now.
Feel free to e-mail me with any questions or comments.
TFL memebers get a 40% discount. Thats just above cost folks!
Thanks,
Jason Weaver