Gel Balistico

minisi@pica.army.mil

PH: 973-724-4326, DSN: 880-4326,

Picatinny Arsenal, NJ 07806-5000

AMSRD-AAR-AEM-I, Bld. 65N

US-Army, TACOM-ARDEC

Infantry Munitions Division

Small Caliber Ammunition Engineer

Mark D. Minisi, MSME

Sponsored by: PM-Maneuver Ammunition Systems

Soft Target Terminal Ballistic
Testing Standardization
for the U.S. Military

AMC

•5.56mm
•77-grain
•2500 fps

•5.56mm•37-grain
•2900 fps

AMC

Ballistic Gelatin Impact Video

2

Ammunition
Engineering
Community

Charter Mission: To develop a standardized soft-target terminal ballistic test and evaluation
procedure for small caliber weapon systems, based upon the use of ballistic gelatin.

JSWB-IPT

Medical & Wound
Ballistic Community

Joint Service Wound Ballistics IPT

Ammunition
Manufacturing
Community

USSOCOM
USAICUS Marines
FBI
DHS

AMC

3

Wound Ballistics Basics

•Angle of Attack at Impact

•Target Composition

•“Uncontrollable” Factors:

•Projectile Configuration

•Projectile Velocity

•Projectile Mass

•“Controllable” Factors:

AMC

4

1

3

Dissection and Data
Recovery

Manufacturing

Temp Cav Max Diam (6)
TC Max Diam Location (7)

39 degF
8.5 in

Dynamic MTCD*

7 .13 in

4 .38 in

7 .31 in

3 .69in

7.13

4

7

3.75

0.5

16

16

1st

Side View

TopView

4.75

7.63

3.63

0.75

2nd

wt
37 grns

3.75 in

1:7

Mark/Laura
20. in

Note 1: Desir ed Depth Range for BB validation (10% mixing density) is 7.5 to 9.5cm ( 2- 15/16 to 3-3/4in) @ 575 to 605 fps
Note 2: Items designated with an * ar e r egar ded as O PTIONAL c har acteristics to r ecord.

Front View

Fragmentation Notes: Largest
fragments were found in the 13" to 16"
depth r ange. Medium and small fr ags
fr om TCMD out to 14 inches depth

Fragmentation Picture

General Not at ion s: char acter isctics seen in this shot wer e r epresetative of the whole set of shots

Initial Yaw (4)
Signif. Temp Cavity Length (5)

2 deg
67.6 grns

Temperatur e of Block

.63 in

Size of Largest Fr agment (3)

3005 est

Muzzle Velocity*
Angle ofattack at Impact*

16. in

Impact Velocity

Tot. Project. Wt. Recoverd

16. in

7 7 grns Maximum Penetr ation Depth (1)
2985 fps Penetr ation Depth to Largest (2)

Projectile Weight

Average

605 fps

M16A2

5m

7/2/2003

BB cal, Veloc./Depth:

39 lb

Range

Date of Test / Data Collector:
Weapon / Barrel Length / Twist:

Ammo & Lot#: Sierra 77-grn experimental LotA

1 0.5 %

Bloc k Weight

13.1Block Density

Block#

Ballistic Gelatin Test Data Collection Sheet

2

Shooting

4

%*
0.0
-73.2
55.4
67.4
%*
0.0
-41.1
3.0
9.7

Re lative Volume (9.0) Cu. In.
A059 37.2
AA48 21.9
AA53 38.3
BLH2 40.8

M4A1
in.
%*
2.55
0.0
4.15
62.7
2.10
-17.6
1.50
-41.2
Re lative Volume (7.3) Cu. In.
A059 22.4
AA48 6.0
AA53 34.8
BLH2 37.5

De pth to Yaw
A059
AA48
AA53
BLH2

%*
0.0
-17.2
- 7.0
3.3

Re lative Volume(9.0) Cu. In.
A059 54.2
AA48 44.9
AA53 50.4
BLH2 56.0
50M

%*
0.0
-47.5
4.9
16.5

M4A1
in.
%*
2.75
0.0
3.40
23.6
1.70
-38.2
1.45
-47.3
Re lative Volume (7.3) Cu. In.
A059 41.9
AA48 22.0
AA53 44.0
BLH2 48.8

A059
AA48
AA53
BLH2

%*
0.0
2.7
16.8
3.6

%*
0.0
-30.1
38.6
30.1

Cu. In.
53.0
51.6
48.0
49.8

Cu. In.
29.9
20.7
44.6
47.4

%*
0.0
-2.6
-9.4
-6.0

%*
0.0
-30.8
49.1
58.5

M1 6A2
in.
%*
3.100.0
3.10
0.0
1.40
-54.8
1.15
-62.9

Cu. In.
55.0
56.5
64.3
57.0

Cu. In.
37.4
29.3
58.1
54.5

M1 6A2
in.
%*
3.05
0.0
3.30
8.2
1.25
-59.0
0.95
-68.9

A059
AA48
AA53
BLH2

A059
AA48
AA53
BLH2

%*
0.0
-33.8
67.8
28.4

Relativ e Volume (9.0) Cu. In.
A059 4.7
AA48 6.6
AA53 21.7
BLH2 15.8

%*
0.0
40.4
362.3
236.2

%*
0.0
7.1
797.9
935.7

M4A1
in.
%*
3.90
0.0
4.65
19.2
3.15
-19.2
2.65
-32.1
Relativ e Volume(7.3) Cu. In.
A059 1.4
AA48 1.5
AA53 12.6
BLH2 14.5

De pth to Yaw

300M

Relativ e Volume (9.0) Cu. In.
A059 22.2
AA48 14.7
AA53 37.3
BLH2 28.5

%*
0.0
-41.9
416.3
316.1

M4A2
in.
%*
4.10
0.0
4.45
8.5
1.85
-54.9
1.95
-52.4
Relativ e Volume (7.3) Cu. In.
A059 6.2
AA48 3.6
AA53 32.0
BLH2 25.8

De pth to Yaw

100M

Cu. In.
%*
4.6
0.0
1.6
-65.2
23.1 401.7
23.4 408.7

Cu. In.
%*
0.6
0.0
0.2...