waterman wrote on Feb 25
th, 2014 at 8:57pm:
I just googled "sweeping compounds". There are many different types, but my bet is that was what Dr. Mann used.
As a kid, I was the clean-up boy in a large commercial building. The boss had sweeping compound in big barrels, maybe 30 gallon size, maybe 4 to a pallet. IIRC, it was colored oiled sawdust or maybe shredded wood. The individual grains were much heavier than paper, but lighter than sand.
I would build a box 30" wide, about 30" deep and about 8 feet long. Only cover the bottom, sides & back end. Put target paper over the open front end and pack it with sweeping compound about 2 feet deep. Put a tarp over the box when you shoot, that will keep the sawdust inside.
Shoot so that the bullet enters the long axis of the box, right in the middle of the sweeping compound. Getting set up for the tests would probably cost $250 to $300 for everything. With some experience, you could make the box shorter than 8 feet.
I built such a box & filled it with sand (dug from a sandbar in a river, but screened to get rid of the gravel) to test penetration & deformation of jacketed bullets from .470 NE, etc., fired from rest & over chronograph, range about 50 feet. I learned a lot, but the sand scratched up the surface of the bullets. Greatest penetration was about 4 feet. Bullets might go a lot further in sawdust.
This to me looks to be on the right track but I wonder how long that box has to be. Seems like I saw something like this in some kind of a FBI or G man movie years ago. Tried water. It does deform and with the higher velocity the more deformation you get . I think it was at about 3000 fps, the bullet shattered.
Going back to the oiled sawdust in the box. I wonder if shavings from a planer might work then oil them with a lightweight motor oil. Use a cheap ( Radio Shack ) metal detector to locate the bullet position ?????
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How best to catch fired bullets WITHOUT deformity? (Read 19639 times)
