Friday, April 4, 2014

Winchester PDX1 7.62x39 Gel Test


Ladies and Gentlemen... I'd like to introduce you to the Everyday Gunner Youtube channel!

This test was the inspiration for the whole thing. The videos, the site, EDG in general. I was looking for a home defense 7.62x39, and since I personally can't bring myself to treat anything designed to "kill zombies" as a serious contender, I was left with (basically) the PDX1 for my Arsenal SAM7SF as an expanding load designed from the ground up to stop threats in the home...

Unfortunately... I could find ZERO Ballistic Gel results of any kind for it anywhere on the internet. Maybe I missed something... but I couldn't find it. So, 2 weeks and probably 40+ hours of effort later, the test video is finally before you.

First off, here's a few notes I made while watching the completed video through for the first time myself with the corresponding video times.

:10 Sorry for the wind! Hoping to get a new camera. Used a hodgepodge of 3 cameras for just that single day of filming.
1:20 Someone trashed our range over the weekend. We'd picked up earlier but missed some back near the truck. Don't litter...
3:00 Didn't realize the extent of the damage at the time. Table top surface cracked, but more impressively, the energy transfer, even from a glancing shot, completely cracked the old EDG sawhorse! Remind me to never get shot, even "slightly" by a rifle.
4:25 Huge amounts of particle board blowing out all over the ground. Left a hole maybe 7" around in the table top.
5:20 Couldn't see any damage specifically from the first shot. Some of the wounding on the bottom of the block in the first cut was likely contributed to by the first shot. The damage up near the top of the block would be from shot #2 alone.
6:47 If you pause it just right (I forgot to look for it in the clip) you can see the tiny wound trail from shot #1 on the block I cut off.
7:00 See the huge hole in the table? Yeah...
7:48 What got edited? I'm gonna spell it out so you get the full effect "...and go to www [dot] com [slash] everyday [dot] gunner [dot] *wth*... *sigh* *snickering* lemme back that up here." (Joel's snicker is at 7:56)


Next, a quick Q &A segment with questions we get from Mrs. Everyday Gunner and our mystery contributor (secret identity to remain intact) "'Rob' in Texas". Can't tell you more about this guy, but while he's not as into the gun culture as the rest of the EDG team, he's a good one to have on our side.

Mrs. EDG:
Q - How far are you shooting from?
A - 10 feet.
Q - Why there? Are you supposed to shoot from that distance?
A - FBI testing protocol states that most of their tests (including the bare gelatin test) be fired from 10'.
Q - What is considered "good" penetration?
A - FBI passing was 12"+. I'd be happy with anything between 12 & 15". Beyond that and retained energy after exiting the threat would start to concern me personally, though many people think the more the merrier.
"Rob" in Texas:
Q -  Are you firing from a stand?
A - We just set up a folding TV tray table from Joel's living-room and tossed my Dewalt "range bag" on top as a rest.
Q - How closely does that gel simulate flesh?
A - Vyse is the company that makes the actual gelatin used by the FBI. They state that their 10% gelatin is "specially formulated to simulate human body density". (Did you know that gelatin is actually made from animal proteins?) The 10% gel we made is mixed from a lower food-grade gelatin, but we made it to the same density to create a similar effect.

So there you have it. A little extra detailed info, a look behind the (admittedly cheap and slightly too small) curtain, and some Q & A for the slightly less initiated. Check out the next blog post for several photo stills and a few more thoughts on the test.

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