I got tired of watching performance videos on ballistic gel. I am not stating that my way is better or right, just an alternative way to examine things. I understand that the FBI has calibrated ballistic gel standards, and they have made recommendations on a lot of things. I have also seen that there is now NATO standard 20 percent gel. My problem with those, is that, I am not allowed to have running gun battles across city streets, hide behind various vehicles and doors, I cannot shoot out thru my house structure at bad guys outside, and if I am outside already, I can’t shoot bad guys in my house, as I have removed myself from the imminent threat.
I understand that there are many experienced down range folks that state that ballistic gel is the way, as it is a baseline standard that is calibrated and you can repeat it. Well i think if you watch gel tests you will notice that it is never 1 shot per block. There is almost always multiple shots into the same block, many times 6 or more. When you watch the first round impact we often see large expansion and secondary ballooning and when really cool, we get little jet pulse engines looking fire and smoke in the cavity. That means the second and on rounds are being shot into compromised gel. There is no way that with that large secondary, that the gel is reacting the same way or that the medium is not in a different state then pristine 1st shot.
I respect that people feel the same way about meat labs. I have seen people state that the meat labs are never repeatable and vary shot to shot. Well….. yes, and every person is different in size and composition as well. Personally, i want to see interaction with a simulant that is closer to the real thing. If i define a standard of x and repeat that to the best of my abilities, then the tests are equitable within a range. Does the meat lab have the same volume of fluids in the meat as living tissue might? No. Does grapes or oranges or etc etc equal this or that internal spaces? No. Does the scapula or rib bones of the pork rib exactly match? No, but we use pig parts for human parts so they have to be close. I am only stating that gel tests to me can be validated by going thru actual meat which is our real question.
I understand we all want everything at the same time and that this or that should behave like this or that always. Cue Mr Murphy. I am only trying to see what said projectile will do against a fleshy target that simulates what I am expecting to encounter. I personally don’t foresee multiple assailants leaping and bounding across my yard in full kit. If you think we are going to zombie apocalypse, none of this matters, as it only has to ventilate a brain case. We already know that drugs in the system can adversely affect reaction of the target. We also know that some may or may not have chest plates on. Soooo…. go back to skinnys chewing khat, two to the pelvis, fold em up and stop the mobility and the large arteries and veins, then reevaluate. Honestly, i don’t think I will ever face these situations, and if i do… all bets are off.
i looked up the average male chest thickness which is 9 to 11 inches or 20-22 cm . the average male pec muscle is 6.5 to 8.63 mm which is 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch and the superficial back muscle not the intrinsic spinal/erector muscles are on avg 1/2 inch.
This led me to the following base line for my meat labs. I chose something repeatable that was readily available. Gel Blocks appear to be selling for around $100 dollars today. i made this for under 20 dollars. I chose 1 flour tortilla, then a thick porkchop (pec) around 3/4 inch cut, then some uncooked unsauced pork ribs, then a zip lock bag of mandarin oranges slices that i pulled into individual wedges for the chest cavity/lung/fluidy bits. I filled up half a gallon freezer bag and when I folded over the top and took out the air it was about 6 inches thick. Then another pork rib , then another pork chop thinner cut around 1/2 inch thick (back muscle), then another flour tortilla. I then wrapped this horizontally with 1 wrap of seran wrap, and vertically with 1 wrap of seran wrap. This is and will be my base line chest cavity replicant moving forward. Will there be variances? yes. Will it matter? no. I have yet to see perps of identical specs as of yet.
I AM NOT capturing the bullet after pass thru. Regardless of the method used, gel block, water jugs, newsprint etc etc., the bullet would continue to deform or upset and would actually tell me nothing at that point. By having the backing foam or paper behind the meat stack, i can get a view of what diameter the projectile might look like, and that is good enough for me.
is this a waste of the smoker? yes.