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Head Cheese test

1K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  jpwright 
#1 ·
HUH?
You say? Has anyone tried this? Why not get a block of this stuff and shoot it with various loads? You would probably get some interesting results from it, as it varies in density (I have always wondered why they use 10% gelatin, it's too homogenous)

Head cheese has gelatin in it also, by the way. Heck, stick a few chicken bones in it for curiosity's sake.

If you're wondering how to measure penetration, just slice it in inch increments and put a piece of newspaper between the slices?

Plus, if you get hungry, you could have lunch.


Maybe I'll try this if I get the nerve and can find it in block form, and a range will allow me to try it?
What made me think of this was looking at a picture of ordinance gelatin and placing various organs from chicken, cows, etc. in it. Then Head Cheese immediately came to mind.

I know this is'nt too scientific ("Better psuedo ballistic science thru lunchmeat!" ), and I can hear the moans already on this.....
 
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Discussion starter · #5 ·
Well, I would NOT wait until a hot and humid day to do this test! 70 deg F would be nice, as that is the standard test temperature for most experiments.

The point of this mental exercise was to try to think of a way to better approximate what would actually happen from a ballistic standpoint under real world conditions. Shooting a dead animal carcass just would not do it from this standpoint.

The more that I think about this, the more I lean towards standard ordinance gelatin. But from what I've read, this is only one way to examine ballistic performance and correlate it to real world conditions, and many say that this viewpoint of using gelatin is flawed. I hold no degree or anything in any ballistic science at all (obviously, when trying to consider head cheese, for cryin' out loud.).

However, I think that there ought to be a way to better simulate real conditions. How about casting a torso of gelatin, and encasing "organs" made of different densities of gelatin inside of it? Perhaps you COULD use deer rib bones in it.

Maybe I'm just spinning my wheels. I'm sure this has been thought of before, but it does intrigue me though. Just my $0.02 to try to advance the science of ballistics and help the LE community..
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
INTERNAL ballistics? There are variations between primer manufacurers that would cause a difference? I know that there are different types of powders and burn rates, but primers?!?!?

I've got a lot more to learn......

The older I get, the less I know....
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
Where in the world did you guys get this info?!?!? This ain't in the Speer #11 book I got!!!! And I've never heard of some of these things in any reloading article in any magazine like powder position and freebore.

And I thought I was doing something special when I reloaded some 230 ball on a single stage and it cycled and fired ok...

Shoulder angle? on a .45? or are you throwing that one in to gimme a curve ball?

Now I REALLY feel uneducated.....There must be some school somewhere that teaches this. I now feel the need to go to a bookstore and get a PhD level book on ballistic engineering. Forget about the Jell-O and Head Cheese, this is more interesting!!!!!
 
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