Question for Yada-Dad

[Crom]

Have you evaluated Barnaul 7.62x39 HP? I have a case of it, and I am wondering if is any good?

Thanks

[Yoda-Dad]

nope .

never any available in less than 1/2 a case quanities . if its anything like the SP it'll blowup-upclose and do nothing @100M but i think a HP version of the Barnaul SP could give smoother expansion out farther and not be so 'narrow' . i bad-mouth these steeljacketed SP bullets but really , they are OK for hunting at close ranges . its just that compared too the known good softpoints like Lapua , W-W , Federal , PMC etc. - there is no comparison

water may slightly over-state bullet expansion compared to humans but , if anything , it UNDER-STATES what you would see in deer . deer have muscle density and tissue tensile strength that put Arnold to shame . i once saw a doe do a standing high jump over a 8ft. cainlink fence like ,, no big deal . her fawn tryed twice , then got a running start and cleared it , imagine if your 6month old could do that !

dont wait for me , get buisy pilgrim

line up 5 - 1gal water jugs at 100M in a spot with a clean backstop , then come back and tell us about it . leave about 1inch space between jug #2 and Jug #3 to prevent the last 3 from being knocked out of the way of the bullet .

[Crom]

I'll do that, and post my results for all to see.

[Yoda-Dad]

5 (5.5" thick) milkjugs of water will sometimes catch the 124grn Barnaul SP , even though it only tip flattens . they will often catch 762x39 124grn SPs that expand to .50cal frontal

on second thought , start at close up if you can , 50ft./25yards or something .

or whatever ? be safe/have fun

[Crom]

Ok went to the range the other day and decided to do the test. Set up 5- water filled gallon milk jugs at 100 yards.

First thing I noticed was my sights were off and I was missing high and to the left. After adjusting I hit the column of jugs and only the first three or so burst, the last two were intactMaybe I hit it at an angle, and the rear jugs were out of the line of fire, I don't know.

Anyway I was unable to recover the slugs, so my test was basically a waste.

[Yoda-Dad]

were the last 2 jugs untouched or 'holed' through ? it could be that the bullet opened way up and then frisbied off to the side ? this happens reliably with bullets that do that and sounds to me like thats what happend to you .

some little tricks i take for granted from years of doing this ...

mark the jugs with black marker as to place inline and F-(front) B-(back) L-eft R-ight to aid in sorting any confusion about how it hit a particular jug .

i place the jugs with 1" of space between #1 / #2 and also #3 / #4 . this seems to prevent the jugs in front from knocking the others out of line before the bullet gets to them .

if i can i shoot the jugs on and in a big cardbord box , open in the front . it catches bullet fragments stopped by the water but washed out in the splash . at the least it tells me what direction pieces and the main bullet went .

i shoot in a spot with near vertical 'playsand soft' walls that are pristeen . finding the bullet is no problemo even if it vears off . any bullet not laying on the surface after the jugs , like i hand-threw it there , is rejected from measurement . barring this a stack of wet newspapers will catch a slowed , 'coasting' bullet with very little MORE damage .

your sites probly wernt 'off' . the varience in point of impact with 762x39 ammo 'make to make' or 'lot to lot' can be eye opening .

cant tell ya how many times i've come 'home from the office' (ahh-err , range) info-starved

[Crom]

the last two jugs were not punctured at all, and while I had set the jugs about 1" apart, they were still knocked about from the first hit.

I shoot at a public range, the land slopes gently upward toward the quasi-mountain that is the ultimate backstop. The ground is covered in rough gravel and the lead from hundreds of shooters insures that any search for my slug would be futile.

[Yoda-Dad]

that settles it then ...

you may not have recoverd the bullet (this time) but your description of the rear jugs being "knocked about" tells me it opened up large and frisbeed off to the side , due to low terminal sectional-density . only the bullets that expand like that knock the rear jugs outa place because all the energy is 'dumped' in the the front jugs .

cool sounds like another suitable S/D round on the cheap side --- maybe .

[ July 18, 2004, 21:15: Message edited by: Yoda-Dad ]

[Crom]

When I get the chance I'll try it again, just to be sure.