Friday, February 24, 2006

The Box 'O Truth Takes On A 12 And A 20...

When the Box 'O Truth guy(s) first began their backyard shenanigans I was ecstatic. Put an experienced gunster in his very own range and give him unlimited ammo to play with and test. Wowser. Use the knowledge gleaned from a decade of modern firearms experimentation and translate it to the visceral, everyman level.

Geez but was I wrong. Proof-positive that some people simply cannot generate data and be expected to arrive at an intelligent conclusion. They misinterpret ballistic gelatin information time and again, and make ridiculous assumptions from their shoddily done testing. I thought that as time went by they'd learn from their mistakes, refine the process, but such thoughts were in error. SOME "experts" believe that a minimum of 12" penetration is adequate for self defense purposes, but the Box-Boys translate adequate to mean plenty.

Case in point, and I'll type slow just in case one of them is watching. From the outer reaches of my right tricep, to the sternum or breastbone, is approximately 15". Using ballistic gelatin as the medium of determining the effect of a projectile fired into FLESH, the bullet would enter the first layer of skin...which translates to 2" of gelatin penetration...pass through 5" of upper arm, then exit through another layer of skin BEFORE entering the chest area. A bullet exiting skin is equivalent to 4 MORE inches of ballistic gelatin, so before the thing even reaches the boiler room it has expended 11 of it's terminal inches.Travel the additional 10" to reach the pump, and as the Kentuckians say, Viola!

That's 21 inches to get a heart shot on someone of my physiology if shooting them from the side. For you New Jerseyians, that's a lot more than 12. Which is why the REAL experts use the 12" mark as a minimum. Can't expect to hit every foe dead center so you should be using a bullet/gun configuration that accounts for arms and hands and whatever to get in the way.

Besides the obvious errors, the Box-Boys continue to use whatever old ammo is on hand when they COULD be using anything from ANYWHERE in the world. People practically beg them to test super-dee-duper ammunition. Free of charge. We'll send it, you shoot it. No strings.

So the latest offering is a duel between a 12 gauge and a 20 gauge shotgun. Forget the fact that they refuse to construct a Fackler box and STILL use water jugs because...well because. Forget the fact that the type of ammunition selected is not what has seen REAL world service and been determined to provide the maximum bang for the buck, because...well, because.

But, they do mean well. Still haven't a clue as to what this is really all about, but they try. Alla this here scientifical beeswax is a might troublesome on the old brain housing group, but lookee here, we done shot us some more water jugs!

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