You’ve heard the term “This ain’t my first rodeo”, I’m sure. Well, I’m here to tell you that, with gel blocks, this IS my first rodeo. I have, for decades, wanted to shoot into them to test my handloads and cast bullet performance, but I really couldn’t justify the expense.
Enter Clear Ballistics. They sent me a block to try, as part of an arrangement with them. I was truly grateful to get it… my first block ever, over right at 50 years of shooting. So you can read into that that I’m still learning about what to shoot, and how to shoot it, into the block.
The block they sent was their 10% F.B.I. block. This 16”x6”x6” block has one advantage, in my opinion, over competing products on the market… It’s clear. (I know, that’s what the company is called, CLEAR Ballistics, I get it), but it’s still nice that you can see into it easily.
The Tests
I like to carry a 2-inch Diamondback SDR .357 Magnum. (You can read my review of this revolver here.) Since I received that gun, and since Black Hills Ammunition is supplying me with review ammo, I have often wondered if their .38 Special HoneyBadger load would offer enough penetration to make carrying it, instead of the ouch-inducing .357 Magnum loads, a viable option. A gel block is the perfect place to check penetration and wound channel characteristics.
So, I grabbed some HoneyBadger ammo and went to the block. I got back the specified 10 feet and shot the .38 load. It penetrated 12 inches.
Here’s a shot, minus the ruler that I moved. You can see where the bullet stopped and its track. I’ve found that HoneyBadger ammo tends to go straight through whatever it hits with zero variation, and wound channels tend not to be overly huge, but are consistent.
Speaking of that bullet, here it is:
No deformation at all… just a very sharp corkscrew that cut through the gel.
OK. Now for the .357. I shot that block three times because I was hoping to catch a bullet, but that was not to be. All of them penetrated the block and departed for another zip code. That taught me something… the HoneyBadger .357 load is ferocious, even out of a 2-inch barrel. You would want to exercise a bit of caution when shooting it, to watch out for over-penetration. It is a very effective load, to be sure.
The real fun came when my son unboxed his H&R Handi Rifle in .45-70…
We knew that the bullets from it would penetrate all the way through the block, all right, but we wanted to watch the show as they did.
So, he shot two loads.
First, a HoneyBadger 325-grain, copper machined bullet, and then a 325-grain Hornady LeverEvolution FTX load.
Here’s what we found, after we picked the block up off the ground and his two small sons picked up the pieces of the shattered plastic stand I’d put the block on…
The HoneyBadger load traveled straight through, making a small to medium-sized wound channel all the way. This would be the one to use on tough critters, or if you only have a frontal or rear shot at a deer – the penetration would get the job done.
Here’s the LeverEvolution result:
We found the polymer tip from the bullet, but no other bullet pieces remained in the block. Both of the shots knocked the block off the stand and table. This wound channel is something truly impressive.
Entrance holes and the red poly tip of the bullet
Do You Need Ballistic Gel Blocks?
Only you can answer that. But, if you’re a reloader in particular, or if you only shoot factory ammo but have always wondered about bullet performance, gel blocks can be informative. I had guessed at what bullets were doing inside the game I was hunting for decades… shooting into the ground or a pile of sand doesn’t cut it. And, even though gel blocks are not the true equal to a deer (or a bad guy), at least you’ll get a pretty good idea about terminal ballistics.
Once I could see the results in this clear block, even if the bullets did depart for parts unknown, I was able to understand more about the loads. Like I said above, you can tailor loads to specific game or hunting conditions once you understand what the bullet is going to do when it hits whatever it hits.
So, to answer the question I asked above, I would say a qualified “yes”. When you factor in the ability to re-use the blocks several times, it becomes obvious that the cost of the block keeps dropping each time you use it.
Here are some links that will provide more information about the products mentioned here.
Clear Ballistics Gel Blocks
Hornady LeverEvolution Ammunition
Black Hills HoneyBadger Ammunition
MTM Case-Gard High-Low Shooting Table
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