Imagine how much energy it would take to push a needle through ballistics gelatin. It wouldn't take much, right? How much damage would it cause? Not much.
One formula I wanted to use is; penetration equals bullet weight times velocity divided by the diameter of the nose of the bullet divided by five. I don't really have the resources to acquire the data needed to make a chart which utilizes this formula.
The formula in the chart is; (the energy of the cartridge times it's bullet weight) divided by the energy of a 22lr divided by the bullet weight of a 22lr.
I'm attempting to chart a somewhat accurate comparison of penetration or damage for different cartridges from different firearms.
If you have a better formula, let me know. This data is in a database and I can easily add or delete records. I can also change the formula.
If I had the resources, I would purchase many types of cartridges and firearms, fire them into a custom made sternum simulate with gelatin backing, measure the velocity, the mass of the bullet, the weight of the bullet, the diameter of the nose of the bullet, the total diameter, and the expanded diameter for hollow points, penetration distance, and wound cavity. Now, wouldn't that be one hell of a chart?
I would then use that data to create a formula for calculating penetration and wound volume based on the velocity, diameter and mass of the projectile.
Some physicist probably already knows this formula. If I knew the formula, I could just make the chart but I don't know any physicists.
