What Bullets Do In Real Life

Authors Ballistics S.H. Blannelberry

From Iraqveteran8888:

In this video we showcase several different Lehigh Defense handgun offerings as well as Federal and Hornady offerings and put them to the test against real life obstacles. Lets face it, if you have to shoot at someone in self defense they may not be standing there “naked” as is the scenario with most ballistics gel testing.

Ballistics gel testing is simply a baseline as to what you can expect from a given round in an ideal situation. Also keep in mind that not all rounds are created equal, sometimes a given situation calls for a more specialized round than a standard hollowpoint or FMJ.

What we are testing today is less ideal situations involving obstacles such as auto glass, plywood and drywall mediums. Will the rounds perform as advertised? Stay tuned to the video, you may be surprised by some of the results.

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  • Hamchuck April 26, 2017, 2:46 pm

    Geez! All you crying whiny babies are experts at everything. You “what if” everything to death.

    I seriously doubt all you critics have ever been in a situation, combat or otherwise where you shot at a windshield or dug a bullet out of a corpse to see what it did. I thought his tests were great. At least he got out there and did them. I didn’t read anybody else conducting similar tests. If you dumbasses are so goddamn smart, do the test yourself.

  • Joseph Maese December 8, 2016, 9:28 am

    I watch several videos online including Iragveteran. My biggest concern, is the effect that someone might be mislead to think that it’s OK to shoot through media at someone who they don’t identify as a threat. Anyone having real life or law experience, would view this as well. In some aspects, not only is this a bad advertisement, it gives firearms support personal such as myself a bad image.

  • Xanadu May 20, 2015, 11:03 pm

    What kind of moron shoots at things he can’t see? The same moron who thinks it’s a good idea to start a gunfight while sitting with his feet propped up in a recliner?

    The windshield would behave differently (much stiffer) if actually installed in a car. The performance of the material he shot at changed after he shot it the first time. (It became, “Let’s see what happens when we shoot through this windshield that has been weakened by shooting it a bunch of times,” after it was shot the first time.) Similarly, the other media he shot.

    The plywood and wallboard he demonstrated on was a small piece, loosely held in a small frame. There is no way the materials would have performed the same as they would if they had been built into a house. The tests show nothing.

    Anecdotally, I was a medic for 30 years and have worked in pre-hospital and hospital emergency departments for 30 years. I’ve never seen any kind of projectile expand more than 10-15% in a human body and then only after the projectile struck bone. Ballistics jell is cute, but it is not analogous to a human body-bodies have bones, connective tissue, hollow organs, adipose, etc and aren’t consistent all the way through. Impressive primary cavity in ballistics jell does not equal behavior in a human body. If you shot someone in the abdomen with his super-expander-which I know wouldn’t behave that way in a human body-even if it super expanded, it wouldn’t have killed and, certainly, not stopped a person. They would exsanguinate or die of peritonitis-eventually. After the bad guy shot at you three or four more times.

    Lehigh’s magic expanders, as shown, clearly don’t work unless fired under perfect conditions into a perfectly configured target. They clearly do not work as advertised and, in this demonstration, perform no differently, (and surely not better), than any other product. If you wanted to make a commercial for Lehigh, you would think they would show one of their rounds actually working in their (ridiculous attempt) at a ‘real life situation.’

  • John W. December 26, 2014, 9:10 pm

    3….2….1……Really!

  • Russ December 23, 2014, 8:59 pm

    Great information.
    Thank you, S.H. BLANNELBERRY

  • Duffy Altermatt December 23, 2014, 9:25 am

    I really enjoy watching your videos, i believe them to be truthful and non bias. Please keep making great videos they are very important in my decision for personal Def. rounds.

  • Mark N. December 23, 2014, 2:31 am

    I don’t get the part about shooting through walls. Maybe because I haven’t developed x-ray vision yet, and I’m not wasting bullets until I do. All this really tells you is that your average HP will act as a FMJ and will massively overpenetrate–so you had better be aware of what is beyond your target if you have neighbors. On the other hand, I am very impressed with the Lehigh extreme penetrators–absolutely wicked wound cavities, barrier or not, and as far as I have seen, outperforming HP ammo.

    • Xanadu May 21, 2015, 11:15 am

      This video was an advertisement for Lehigh ammunition. Except for the super penetrator, none of the Lehigh rounds performed as advertised. They are marketed as bullets that expand to around 500% of the original diameter. After the Lehigh rounds penetrated any solid object, none of them expanded, at all. Only when fired straight into ballistics jell did one expand as advertised.

      Furthermore, they didn’t test any of the comparable super-expanding anti-personnel rounds manufacturers from other sources-like Federal Hydra-Schock. They didn’t even shoot the Hornady, etc rounds they tested straight into the ballistics jell to see how they expanded.

      This was, simply, an advertisement for Lehigh ammunition. An advertisement that showed that Lehigh ‘super-expanders’ only work under PERFECT conditions. I suggest you replicate the walls on my house for this test-no sheetrock, no 2x4s, no conduit–just 10-12″ diameter solid log walls. It would take something like a .338 Lapua Mag or Barrett .416 to penetrate them. I could use a cal. .44mag and it wouldn’t penetrate a wall. No Lehigh is going to penetrate or expand to any degree in that material. Nor have enough energy to harm someone after hitting a log wall.

      I recommend that people stop messing with a ammunition that will pass through walls and start upgrading to walls that projectiles can’t pass through, no matter what.

      • Vincent November 20, 2016, 9:51 am

        I’m pretty sure a cheap 147gr 7.62×51 would zip through softwood logs (such as those found in log homes) rather easily if fired from close up.

  • Stephen A Espe December 22, 2014, 8:49 pm

    I would really have found the exercise more illuminating if each phase was initiated with a military ball round to act as a metric for the other rounds. All in all a very impressive study.

  • Jerry December 22, 2014, 7:25 pm

    Good video; Seemed a little biased in favor of Lehigh Ammo. Was a little surprised that shooter was not aware what happens when shooting thru glass. What I got from the video was that most self defense ammo is good for stopping bad guys.

  • Dick December 22, 2014, 7:04 pm

    I would caution against using the term “Kennedy head effect” when describing the effects of bullets. The Antis love playing clips like that.

  • Tom K December 22, 2014, 2:33 pm

    Would definitely like to see this with a 357, maybe a 3″ barrel.. Many of us carry revolvers for concealed carry, as well as home defense..

  • Doc Loch December 22, 2014, 11:54 am

    I love your videos. Keep up the good work. One thing to keep in mind in your conclusions, however, when shooting through glass, bullets act very differently than in other materials (sheet metal is actually somewhat similar). Glass tends to flatten and compress the initial portion of the projectile because of it’s semi-liquid (or amorphous solid) characteristics. This is why you see most hollow point and frangible type projectiles close up when impacting glass. Glass is not the same barrier due to it’s unique characteristics. Sheet metal is also one to watch. Check it out sometime.

  • Teacher December 22, 2014, 10:19 am

    Very impressed with your video. Nice job. Will look forward to more video reviews.

    Thanks.

  • Stephen December 22, 2014, 9:46 am

    I appreciate your offering. How did you come to pick the 45 and not 9mm ? I’d like to see 5.7 x 28mm and what it has to offer..
    Do wet phone books offer the same information as gel blocks ?

  • Mack December 22, 2014, 9:45 am

    I would like to see you add 230 FMJ to the mix.

  • Tyler December 22, 2014, 9:39 am

    Excellent video! Very informative. That maximum expansion bullet is wicked! After seeing its results in the auto glass vs the gel only test, it seems like a great load to carry. I’m curious what that bullet would have done in the last scenario? Any idea?

  • Steven Philippy December 22, 2014, 9:25 am

    How about trying this with RBCD’s ammo.
    http://rbcd.net/

  • Jay December 22, 2014, 9:05 am

    Nice job and thanks for your time in making it. The information you provide is only proving what I have taught all my family! Hollywood will get you killed! If you believe the shooting scenes they put out you won’t last long in a real situation! I myself have tested the defense rounds I use in real animals like hogs and deer it’s about as close to human testing as one can get plus good eats afterward. Dress them in real clothing, behind barriers etc.. and test some rounds and BBQ afterward. Like you show though not all situations can be covered with one type of ammunition so variety is once again the spice of life! Good job!

  • Jim December 22, 2014, 6:59 am

    I enjoyed your video and am really impressed with the performance of Lehigh ammo. Nice job setting up the different scenarios with the different rounds.
    Thanks!

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