Lehigh Defense 300BLK 194g Max Expanding bullet test in gel

[SwissyJim]

So... had some fun yesterday. I wanted to test some Lehigh Defense, LLC projectiles but, at $1.50 per PROJECTILE, do they perform and expand as advertised?

I found some recipes for homemade ballistic gelatin but I should note, this is NOT official ballistic gel, but rather kitchen gelatin made thicker, to *about* the 10% gel that the FBI recommends.

After making it up per the youtube vid and other online resources, and letting it set the required amount of time (day and a half) I took it out to the range yesterday. I had to transport it in coolers, but not to keep it from melting, but rather from freezing! It was a balmy 30 degrees when I was testing today but only 20 when I left my house.

My load was the 194g bullet, loaded with 10.5g of A1680 to a COAL of 2.185", using homemade case from LC brass.

I used my 8" 300BLK SBR with a SilencerCo Specwar762, and a  Primary Arms, LLC red dot sight that I had on my M&P 15-22 that was sighted in for about 15ft due to some squirrel issues. That proved to be a huge time saver, as it proved that it was also mostly sighted in for the 300blk at the same distance. After verifying the sights with some 208 HPBT Hornady subsonic ammo, I tried one round of the Lehigh Defense to make sure there was no shift in POI. There was not, so I let one loose into the gel.

I was expecting something cool. A block of gel to jump up. A loud POP in the gel. The whole table to wobble. Anything. But I had to get up and check to make sure I actually hit the gel, it was so quiet and calm. I found a neat little entry hole, and unfortunately the gel is not very clear, but an amber color. It took a few seconds to find the bullet, and the path was a little easier to see. I wish I had a cool high speed camera to do slow motion, but I didn't even have room to set up my GoPro. (Next time I'll take a tripod to use the GoPro)

I was able to locate and cut out the bullet...it was perfectly deformed, just as it should be. It penetrated roughly 15 inches of the gel - just into the second block. They are sold at 194 grain bullets, and the recovered weight of this one was 193.4 - and in all fairness, I do not know what it was before loading it. But it's pretty easy to see it did not lose much, if ANY, of its weight.

So curiosity got ahold of me. What would a Hornady 208 grain Hollow Point Boat Tail projectile do? Since the second block of gel was barely touched, I turned the sawhorses around and readied for a second shot, this time the 208g HPBT. I actually shot 2, just for the hell of it. And the results were interesting (at least to me)

The bullets did not deform in any way. They look like brand new, save the rifling marks from the barrel. Both the bullets was found backwards, meaning they tumbled when they hit the gel. They penetrated the same depth into the gel, roughly 15 inches. The path also showed an area spread apart (wound channel) that I can only surmise is from the bullet tumbling. But it looked to be roughly the same size path as the Lehigh, but more 'one dimensional' from the tumbling. The Lehigh path would take a cucumber to fill the hole, whereas the Hornady would take a small booklet due to it being a flat opening. I have no idea what the temporary channel would be... probably impressive.



these are the Hornady 208g HPBT


the 2 bullets side by side


Pretty cool, and lots of fun (was a GREAT conversation starter at the range!) but by no means an 'official' or scientific test. But, I wanted to test the bullets in MY gun with MY loads. Overall, I've super happy with the results. I actually was expecting the Hornady's to go thru the block, all nice and clean.I'm a little surprised they penetrated the same as the Lehigh Defense.  My plan is to re-melt the gel, then form it again and test the 208 A-May subs and if the gel is willing, some 110 Barnes supers.

[Toolndie7]

Thats pretty wild, as well as very interesting. thank for taking the time to document that.  You should try to make your own defensive rounds and see how they compare.

[planeflyer21]

THAT'll put some ouch down!

 

Thanks for posting!

[shibiwan]

Nice data... I guess you get what you pay for. :D

[survivalshop]

  Those Peddles opening, would put a hurt on tissue & internal Organs .

 

 

  Thanks for posting.

Edited October 8, 2014 by survivalshop

[sketch]

Great info thanks Jim

[98Z5V]

My load was the 194g bullet, loaded with 10.5g of A1680 to a COAL of 2.185", using homemade case from LC brass.

I used my 8" 300BLK SBR with a SilencerCo Specwar762, and a  Primary Arms, LLC red dot sight that I had on my M&P 15-22 that was sighted in for about 15ft due to some squirrel issues. That proved to be a huge time saver, as it proved that it was also mostly sighted in for the 300blk at the same distance. After verifying the sights with some 208 HPBT Hornady subsonic ammo, I tried one round of the Lehigh Defense to make sure there was no shift in POI. There was not, so I let one loose into the gel.

...(clip)

I was able to locate and cut out the bullet...it was perfectly deformed, just as it should be. It penetrated roughly 15 inches of the gel - just into the second block. They are sold at 194 grain bullets, and the recovered weight of this one was 193.4 - and in all fairness, I do not know what it was before loading it. But it's pretty easy to see it did not lose much, if ANY, of its weight.

So curiosity got ahold of me. What would a Hornady 208 grain Hollow Point Boat Tail projectile do? Since the second block of gel was barely touched, I turned the sawhorses around and readied for a second shot, this time the 208g HPBT. I actually shot 2, just for the hell of it. And the results were interesting (at least to me)

The bullets did not deform in any way.

the 2 bullets side by side

 

 

 

Any idea on the speed (fps) on your load, and on the 208 Hornady?  Your load was at sufficient speed to fragment, at the distance you were shooting.  The 208 Hornady was not at sufficient speed.

 

This is the exact same thing 5.56 loads do, through short barrels - there's a distance limit that you can depend on for the bullet to fragment, depending on barrel length and load.  Through a 7.5" barrel, it's not very far.

[SwissyJim]

Any idea on the speed (fps) on your load, and on the 208 Hornady?  Your load was at sufficient speed to fragment, at the distance you were shooting.  The 208 Hornady was not at sufficient speed.

 

This is the exact same thing 5.56 loads do, through short barrels - there's a distance limit that you can depend on for the bullet to fragment, depending on barrel length and load.  Through a 7.5" barrel, it's not very far.

 

I load both subsonic to run +/- 1050 fps. I knew the Hornady would not expand... most 308 will not at sub speeds. I use them for plinking and training. But what surprised me was it penetrated the same depth as the Lehigh that DID expand. I surmise it's due to the fact that it tumbled - I actually thought it would pass thru the gel in a nice, clean hole. Another test I plan on is hitting the gel at 100 yards and see what happens. I also plan on trying the 208g A-Max and the 203g coated cast bullets I just picked up, as well as the 110g Barnes. Provided I can melt and re-use the gel enough times to do so.

[SwissyJim]

So, a little addendum to the test/story. I'm cutting the gel up in chucks to re-melt and re-use for more testing this week. In doing so, I realized something my dog should have been able to figure out, that a cross section of the gel shows the bullet cavity very well. Sadly, I did not notice this until after the block I shot the Lehigh Defense into was in many little chucks.

But, I got a shot of the block the Hornady 208g HPBT went into. It shows the one dimensional, temporary cavity from both bullets pretty well. As the bullet tumbled, it opened up and re-closed as it passed. I like this view enough, I'm going to sacrifice another Lehigh round to take a pic of the permanent cavity it created.

 

Edited October 12, 2014 by SwissyJim

[unforgiven]

Great info brother Jim.The way that bullet opens up is really something.

[SwissyJim]

It is, isn't it? Nasty looking to say the least. And here's part of why they open. The guy at Lehigh said I may find this when I re-melted the gel - the plunger that is in each bullet to ensure they expand. Accounts for the weight missing... mine weight 193.4 when I dug it out of the gel.

[SwissyJim]

another day of fun!



Left to right:

All shot into gel @ 20ft with my 8", 1"7 twist SBR with Specwar762 attached
Hornady 208 A-Max, 1021FPS , 17" penetration, tumbled
Gemtech 187, 1011FPS, 23" penetration, did not tumble
Remington Hog Hammer 130g, 1987FPS, 26" penetration
Barnes 110g TAC-TX, 2123FPS, 17½" penetration

Thought this was neat too...   proper expansion  cavity vs. tumbled cavity
 

[Robocop1051]

Hotdamn. Look at that Barnes!

[98Z5V]

Yep.  Speed makes a difference.  <thumbsup>

 

That 208 AMAX through a 300 Win Mag would look like that 110 Barnes from the 300BLK. 

Edited October 15, 2014 by 98Z5V

[survivalshop]

  I load the Barnes 110's & Hornadys 110's for hunting in my 300BLK . That is impressive.    Nice work .

[Magwa]

Barnes bullets are da $hit been spouting that for years nice work thanks for sharing...

[dprice38444]

have you guys tried the larger bullets from the 30-30 line in ballistic gel?they are rated for slower velocties