Best Fruit to Test New Ammo?

[oldguyguns]

Yep--you read it right. Don't have nor could afford ballistic gel so thought I would plug some new ammo (Ruger ARX polymer bullet) thru a melon or watermelon along with my usual defensive ammo. Any thoughts other than laughs??

 

[SSGSAD]

Gunny uses watermelon !!!!!

 

[BehindBlueI's]

For fun? Sure, whatever blows up cool. I'd like to see a spaghetti squash. For real information on carry ammo...I'd stick with DocGKR's list or simply go with heavy for caliber bonded HP when in doubt.

 

[Mgderf]

Not a fruit, but "head" lettuce.

 

[MohawkSlim]

If you're looking for results, you're not going to get much out of fruit.

When bullets impact things full of water they explode. Fruit is full of water. It will explode when you shoot it. You can compare/contrast "how big the exit hole is" but you're not getting good data from that because all the holes will be relatively similar. Fast vs. slow ammo will make different size holes. FMJ vs HP will make different size holes. But the size of the holes in all cases will be "big" because of the hydrostatic shock and energy transfer. All the bullets will pass right through because there's no fruit big enough to stop bullets.

If you want to get results of what penetrates better, expands more, etc., you'd be better off shooting media that's more dense. Something like wet newspaper or plywood sheets makes it easier to recover your bullets and measure.

....or you could just watch box of truth.

For fun, I like shooting watermelons and pumpkins. Soda cans and spray paint are really fun too because they react. And a little tannerite on a propane tank could be fun. (Or so I've heard.)

 

[sloughfoot]

I like to shoot walnuts at 100 yards. Is a walnut a fruit?

 

[Woobie]

As others have said, the information is already out there on how various ammo performs out of various barrel lengths into gel with various barriers. So there isn't any need to test for the sake of testing. You do need toile sure it functions completely reliably. If you wanna blow some fruit up in the process, that would definitely up the enjoyment factor.

 

[BGDave]

Pumpkin (large size). Fill with jello, your choice of flavor. Very impressive splat. Optional to draw faces on the pumpkin. Doesn't tell a thing about terminal ballistics. But, shooting stuff is fun.

 

[Vamptepes]

Larger melons. Or why not the old clay block test? You don't see anyone use that method anymore.

 

[Broom_jm]

Hehe....he said "larger melons"....heh.

 

[patience0830]

Hehe....he said "larger melons"....heh.

Yes, he did.

As for fruit, I use the cheap kind. Veggies work ok too. Taters leave you pieces you can pick up and shoot again.

 

[bman1903]

kumquats

 

[Dead Duck]

Best Fruit to Test New Ammo?

 

[Woobie]

I need eye bleach

 

[Fullmag]

Dead Duck that is really funny fruit. I'm also really concerned about the web sites you visit. Some LGTB fruit

 

[Dead Duck]

Dead Duck that is really funny fruit. I'm also really concerned about the web sites you visit. Some LGTB fruit

Actually, I uploaded it from my personal stash....

 

[Fullmag]

Something that is really fun to shoot are really ripe tomatoes. When we put out a garden the wife gets really mad when I take a sack to the range. I'd tell her I was just planting more tomatoes.

 

[Fullmag]

Actually, I uploaded it from my personal stash....

Oh my....there goes the web site

 

[Fullmag]

Something else is a 223 and watching someone shoot an orange at 100 yards through a scope is just awesome. The higher the power on the magnification the better the show. My buddy had a 36 power then, so cool.

 

[Mgderf]

I'm not sure if that's a fruit or a nut.
Guess it could be both...