Oh, a 38" .62 caliber barrel can efficiently burn 131 grains of powder. A 42"barrel in the same caliber can efficiently burn 146 grains of powder.
I would NOT volunteer to be behind the butt of that gun firing such loads. I once fired 6 drams of powder( 165 grains) out of an 8 gauge( .835" bore) smoothbore shotgun, pushing 4 oz. of shot. That was enough GEE-WHIZ/ HELLO for me, thank you.
BTW, my 30"- barreled 20 ga. fowler can efficiently burn 105 grains of powder, but I prefer to keep those charges down under 80 grains. Its still basically a 50-70 yd. deer gun,and more velocity simply is NOT needed for that purpose. A friend shot a Wild Boar( russian) using a .62 cal. gun with a frontal chest shot from about 20 feet away. The soft lead ball went all the way through the boar's body, and was found under the skin of the ham on the off-side leg. The distance it penetrated flesh and blood measured more than 30 inches!
I grant that the shot was at almost point blank range, and that penetration is a bit less at 50-70 yds. But, Not much less, according to my own penetration, Comparison testing.
If you have a MV for your "Hottest hunting load", you can use computer programs to determine the remaining velocity at 50, 70, 100, or any other yardage you desire. Then its not that difficult to reduce the powder charge to obtain that downrange velocity at the Muzzle for doing comparison penetration testing, to find an approximate example of what your ball will do on live game at a given distance, using any load.
Without a chronograph, years ago, I tested both 60 grains of FFFg and 100 grains of FFFg powder in my .50 cal. rifle, with a 39" barrel. I shot a .490" ball, with .015" patch, and Young Country 101 patch lube. The penetration test was done with 1" boards, spaced an inch apart, and set up approx. 20 feet from the muzzle.
For comparison, I shot a 180 grain .30 cal. .30-06 Commercial JSP Remington bullet into the box, and it expanded and penetrated through 8 boards and spaces. My .50 caliber "target" load of 60 grains of FFFg penetrated 6 boards, expanding, and smacked into the 7th bd. My 100 grain Load also expanded, and penetrated 6 bds. smacking into the seventh, and hanging up on a sliver of lead. When I touched the lead ball, it instantly fell away and joined the other down at the bottom of my "box".
I had expected to see a lot of difference in the penetration of the mild target load, and the rip-snorting "hunting load" in that rifle. I was shocked to find there simply wasn't any. After discussing the results with more experienced MLers, and other friends who had done Years of penetration testing with lead bullets, I learned that the weight of the projectile has more to do with penetration than does velocity. Velocity is critical on very hard substances, like steel armor plate, but not on flesh and bone.
I have since seen and discussed Chronographed results from other people that matched the performance I experienced doing my penetration testing almost 30 years ago, now. You don't have to be a "Scientist" to do good "scientific" research, and you don't have to have the latest laboratory equipment to get usable results.
There is NO ACCEPTABLE substitute for living flesh and bone, with functioning internal organs.
Ballistics Gel is simply a medium that can be used easily in indoor AND outdoor ranges for testing. You can use most anything- including water, if you have a large enough container. The problem with water is figuring out How MUCH penetration you get- measured in feet and inches, or centimeters, and its re-usability if your containers are ruptured. Not everyone has access to a large, deep swimming pool, where you can hang plastic screens at measured distances to help you determine depth of penetration.
I knew that the Remington Commercial bullet I used in that .30-06 would penetrate an Elk on a broadside shot, based on many observations in the field by competent hunters, and writers. So, I used it as my testing "Standard".
After testing my .50 cal. rifle shooting RBs, for kicks, we fired both a commercial 405 grain JSP bullet out of a .45-70 rifle. It mushroomed as advertised, and penetrated 10 boards and broke the 11th. A .50-140-550 sharps rifle was used and it penetrated all 12 boards and spaces, keyholing the last 3 boards( #s 10,11, &12), and burying itself sideways into a RailRoad tie used as a Backstop behind the penetration box. [Elmer Keith once reported testing the old Sharps buffalo cartridge, using Gel Blocks, and the .50-140-550 penetrated through 4- 1 foot thick blocks, and kept on going!] The bullet was visible, but was more than 1/2 " into the wood. It took us about 20 minutes to dig it out, using axes and knives.it was a bit shorter in length, and smaller in diameter, but it failed to mushroom at all!
A very good friend of mine, who had designed bullets and shotgun slugs, and had been testing his designs for years, both on his backyard range, and in shooting deer, used sandbags for his penetration testing. He wasn't worried about how deep any bullet or slug would penetrate: He instead was interested in how it would upset, and "EXPAND" at ranges. He had an extensive collection of slugs he had recovered from deer he had shot over the years at various distances, and he used those spent slugs- all flattened-- to compare to any new slug he tested.
Any medium can be used for testing penetration, as long as you understand that you need to compare the "unknown" to something that is "known". I have test-fired into dirt, elm tree stump, pine, and oak boards, paper- both wet and dry bundles, magazine bundles, gypsum board( wallboard) 2 x's, water, sand, ballistics gel, Steel plates, Armor plate, and body armor. I even fired some rounds at cement blocks( cinder blocks to some). All will work if you understand their limitations, and plan your test accordingly. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :bow:
