#mbomb

I get e-mails all the time about bullet performance in regards to everything from bullet sizing, to ballistic coefficients, and bullet expansion. I try to answer everything to the best of my ability based on either actual testing or my best educated guess (which I always say is a guess if I have to do it). I test, if possible, to solve the inquiries if I have not done so already but there is a finite amount of time I have available to me. Luckily, inquiring minds also want to know and are willing to share their findings. Dave in Iowa sent me the results of his penetration test using Kinetic Performance LLC 302gn BOMB and 300gn M-BOMB so guys could see what they look like after impact. 

The bullets were launched by 78gn of BH209 from a CVA Optima. With his chronograph twelve yards from the muzzle (to protect it from sabot strikes) it registered right at 1900fps. A little backward math means the muzzle velocity is in the neighborhood of 1924fps which is representative of what you can expect these guns to do from any modern substitute blackpowder. That velocity would be representative of factory Savage ML-II with an MV of 2400fps shooting between  200 and 300 yards or a .45 SML with an MV of 2800fps shooting between 350 and 450 yards.

CVA Optima, 78 gr by weight of BH 209 302 gr BOMB with MMP orange 458 sabot shot from Caldwell Magnum Fieldpod:

The jugs were filled with water and placed at 100yds with a 2x6 board as a backstop in case the bullets passed through the jugs.

The jacket from the 302gn BOMB was recovered in the 2nd and 3rd jug (which is where the core separated and is twice the thickness of a deer's thoracic cavity) and the core passed through all jugs and the 2" thick wood backer but was not recovered. That means that the 213gn core just kept on going. The jacket also looks a lot like the only one recovered from a deer killed with the BOMB; all others have been complete pass throughs: 

Dave’s results pretty much mimic what we saw from Jeff Fisk last fall. As I mentioned above, this test is about what one could expect from a Savage ML-II or .45 sabotless gun using lots of BH209 and an MV of 2400fps would do at 200 to 300yds. Jeff shot this brute that field dressed at 231lbs through both shoulders at 236yds using a 302gn BOMB where impact velocity would have been about 1900fps:

Bullet entrance through shoulder blade:

Exit wound through off-side shoulder blade. Jacket caught under skin and separated hide from body all the way up the neck to the head. Bullet core exited the body and was not recovered as jug tested showed:

Jacket as recovered from buck:

The 300gn M-BOMB went through all jugs and the backer and the last time the spotter saw it was when it hit the 200yds berm. 

Unhappy with the fact that the BOMB’s core and the M-BOMB were not recovered Dave conducted the test again but added a high density plastic bale behind the board to catch the bullets as they passed through. 

This time the jacket passed through all jugs and stuck in the backer board. The core was found 4 inches into the bale. Total retained weight 278.7gn which is 92.3 percent of original weight;one ear of the pedal was broke off.

The second BOMB is shown with all pedals with the core with a total retained weight of 299.9gn or 99.3 percent of original weight. The pedals were found in jugs #3 and #4, and the core was 5 inches into the bale. 

Same set up as before, but was shooting the 300 gr M-BOMB with the MMP 458 sabots. One went thru 4 big jugs and 6.5 inches into the bale; the tip was the only thing missing, weight was 292.8gn for 96.9 percent. The next bullet opened up a little going thru 6 jugs and hitting at the base of the 2 x 6 and the backer board. 

Edit: 20 minutes after I posted this Dave killed a deer with the M-BOMB and e-mailed me the results.

Keith,  

Down by where I hunt, a farmer has a tree farm, and he gets special deer tags, so was able to do a hair test with the Optima, shooting the 300 gr Mono's 110 gr of BH 209, shooting out of a pop up blind, 83*. Saw the deer at 158 yards, watched it come thru the field and jump the fence onto our property, 132 yards, double lung ran 32 yards.Went to where I had shot him and found parts of the lungs 4 foot away from where I had hit him. The pictures are marked entrance 1 and 2, exit 1 and 2, and lungs. After we started to clean him up, took the pic of the lungs, there was nothing left of them. Then I noticed the size of the exit hole inside of chest cavity, looked like the bullet had tumbled, The bullet hole looks like it went thru the exit hole side ways.

Dave

Entrance 1

Entrance 2

Exit 1

Exit 2

Lungs

So a mate called me last night asking to hang out. I still had 2 tabs on me, and a joint's worth of bud. So we went to HJ's to borrow scissors to divie the tabs between 4 of us, and then broke into the local swimming pool. I didn't realize how much I was tripping until we got out and then topped it off with a joint. 

When I got home and had to sneak back in I convinced myself there was a dinosaur in a robe, guarding the back door so it took me ages to remember I was on something and it was all in my head. 

Laying in bed - my room looked alive. The light in my subwoofer was swirling and looked like there was a dragon trapped inside trying to get out, everything was moving and sliding up and down my walls with these giant colorful blobs floating around. 

Shit was cray.