I recently had the opportunity to have contact with a reader who had hosted a guest post, (Growing Mushrooms at Home), snoman8. But, it was about an experiment that I posted almost a year ago on Reusable Molding Material. (Here) He wanted to try this experiment with a pellet gun as the ballistic gel. My suggestion was to use the initial formula but to reduce the glycerin by about 50 % to more closely resemble human tissue (Photo above courtesy of snoman8). To my surprise the formula worked very well and comes close to the standard from the INS National Firearms Unit. The most commonly used formula is a 10 % ballistic gelatin which is prepared by dissolving 1 part of 250 bloom gelatin into 9 parts of warm water by mass. It is then chilled to 4 C (39F) for use.
Ballistic gel has been used for many years as a substitute for human muscle tissue and the effects of projectiles causing wounds. The material used is based on gelatin and the formulation is standardized against swine muscle tissue which is close to that of humans. Here is the formula used by snoman8 and the relevant data:
14 grams gelatin, 70 ml water, and 35 ml glycerin. The mixing process is identical to the video in my post listed above and really should be replicated for the best results. The completed material was molded in a plastic container 3 inches by 2 inches (76 mm X 58 mm). The pellet used is a .177 caliber lead shot from a distance of 10 meters (32 Feet). The muzzle velocity was approximately 400 ft/s. The pellet traveled 2.75 inches (69 mm) through the 3 inch direction.
My sense is that the use of glycerin as a plasticizer is perhaps a better choice than with gelatin alone and the completed gel is reusable by heating and recovering the pellets. As always, comments and questions are welcomed and a special thanks to snoman8 for his effort in expanding information…
Ballistic gel has been used for many years as a substitute for human muscle tissue and the effects of projectiles causing wounds. The material used is based on gelatin and the formulation is standardized against swine muscle tissue which is close to that of humans. Here is the formula used by snoman8 and the relevant data:
14 grams gelatin, 70 ml water, and 35 ml glycerin. The mixing process is identical to the video in my post listed above and really should be replicated for the best results. The completed material was molded in a plastic container 3 inches by 2 inches (76 mm X 58 mm). The pellet used is a .177 caliber lead shot from a distance of 10 meters (32 Feet). The muzzle velocity was approximately 400 ft/s. The pellet traveled 2.75 inches (69 mm) through the 3 inch direction.
My sense is that the use of glycerin as a plasticizer is perhaps a better choice than with gelatin alone and the completed gel is reusable by heating and recovering the pellets. As always, comments and questions are welcomed and a special thanks to snoman8 for his effort in expanding information…
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