Shot some phone books for fun

[jim8115]

I soaked a stack of phone books overnight to see how some different bullets would react. the books are about 1 1/2 inches each

.40 155 grain XTP 7.0 grains of unique out of a S&W sigma, went through 4 books and expanded perfectly, well over 1/2 inch

.45 LC 250 grain XTP 7.5 grains unique out of a 3" judge , 3- 4 books, bullet did not expand at all
Surprisingly, federal 000 buckshot penetrated almost as deep, well into 3rd book

.38 Hornandy LSWC/HP 4.0 grains W231 out of a 4" S&W model 67 , 4 books, no expansion at all

Are my 38 and 45 loads just too slow?

[GURU1911]

The load recipe for your .40 s&w is right at 1050 fps, while the recipes for your .38 special & .45 acp are closer to 800 to 850 fps.

Btw: After measuring the depth of penetration, the next step is to weigh the bullet on your powder scale to determine the "retained weight" vs. The original weight. Lastly, use a micrometer to measure the amount of expansion vs. The original diameter. Log the results of your personal experiments on to an excell spreadsheet.

Guru1911

[JACK308]

I use to shoot in bowling pins old tires just to see how far and deep the 357 would go.

[Civil War Life]

I would like to see some pics of the phone books.

[jim8115]

We cooked them and ate them !!!

[Saltydog235]

I did that one time. Taped about 6 of them together and shot them with a .300 WBY at 100yds and a 180 grn Ballistic Tip. What a mess that one made. Little itty bitty .30 on the front and blown up phone print all over the palce behind. Suffice it to say, it penetrated all of them with a nice 8" crater in the back.

FWIW, frozen pumpkins and watermelons are fun too. Those things absolutely explode. The funniest thing was that our range had a pumpkin and watermelon patch come up the next year. The melons didn't last that long though, too tempting a target I reckon.

[SRH78]

Are my 38 and 45 loads just too slow?

Apparently. I would imagine it wouldn't take much velocity for the 38 if it is soft lead but the XTP is designed for velocities up to 1600 fps.


I once shot a 5 gallon bucket full of concrete with a 300 grain XTP mag from a 454. Not a wise thing to do but very impressive. It knocked a large hole in the concrete and split it in half. The 454 and 45-70 also work really well for cutting down smaller trees.

[Jim243]

Are my 38 and 45 loads just too slow?

No, just buy better bullets!!

Jim

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

So there is still a use for phone books...

[jim8115]

I loaded a few more of the Hornady 158 Gr LSWC/HP , used 4.5 grains of W231 this time. Also, I noticed the hollow point is quite small in these. So i took a few and gave the hole a decent whack with a phillips screwdriver. It made the opening just a bit bigger, and cut a little "X" in the end.
Shot both into the wet phone books again. The unmodified ones still didnt open up, but the ones with the modified tips opened up pretty nice.....and retained 150+grains of weight

[jim8115]

stock and modified