S&W 38 Spl Water + Denim Test

[Josh Smith]

Handgun: Rossi M68, 1-5/8" barrel
Ammo: S&W 158gr +P LSWCHP

A while back I did a bare water jug test on some old S&W "FBI load" rounds. I got back good penetration and good expansion.

Today I set out to see what would happen when it passed through four layers of denim before entering the water.


The usual setup, but with four layers of denim.


A front view...

Here I've been including a movie of the shot. Unfortunately I was shooting by myself today and didn't have someone to run the camera.


This is the front jug after the shot. Not much disruption compared to the bare jug I shot before. Hmmm...


The second and third jugs seem relatively unaffected. When shooting without denim, the second jug showed quite a bit of disruption - about as much as the first jug in this test.


As it turns out, the bullet did pass through all jugs, stopping in the fifth, making a small hole and creating a leak.


Here is my revolver, a dime, the fired bullet and an unfired round for reference.


A closer look at the bullets. Notice the fired bullet is missing quite a bit of its nose. Upon closer inspection it looks as if it was chewed away by "something."


And another view.

When I went into this test I wasn't sure what the outcome would be. Modern bullets are designed to prove themselves against accepted testing protocol, but though this is an "old technology" round, I kind of expected a bit more to happen since water tends to cause cause the most bullet upset when compared to 10% gelatin and wetpack.

While I'd like to test further, perhaps against another manufacturer of the same style bullet, I don't feel too handicapped. First, this was a short barrel. Second, I have penetration, which is a good thing. Lastly, this bullet did a bit better against four layer denim covered jugs than a 125gr +P round that I tested did against bare water jugs. Though that round expanded a bit, it didn't penetrate well.

Josh <><