Pumpkin Test: Ranger .40 and GS 180's

[hsuCowboy98]

Well, I walked out of my house this morning, and noticed that the pumpkins left over from halloween were begining to get a little "ripe".

What to do, what to do?

Well I threw them in the back of the truck, headed to my shooting spot, and decided to see how my .40 carry favorites performed against the dreaded jack o lantern canvas.

The ammo I used was my carry favorite, Winchester Ranger 180's; and the trusty standby, Remington Golden Sabre 180's. A bonus is that someone is always asking how these rounds perform etc....so maybe these pictures will help.

I brought along the 686 .357 just for fun, and to try some handloads on the targets.

All shots were fired at 15 yards, using a .40 XD service, or the S&W 686 .357.

The results were pretty dramatic. Pumpkins have a thicker shell, and less fill than other similar items, such as a watermelon. This allowed them to stay together longer, and showed some very good stellar fracturing around the entry and exit points (very similiar in appearance to what a gunshot does to the human skull.)

This first pumpkin met its fate at the hands of 5 rounds of Ranger 180's. I placed the shot far apart so that the exit wounds would be well defined. I think the picture speaks for itself.

Entry:

Exit:


On the third round into this one, the Ranger literally blew it up...raining down pieces of pumpkin all around:

Entry:


Explosion:


The Golden Sabres performed as well as the Rengers, having almost identical holes in the pumpkins, so I wont bore you with more pictures of the same thing.

But the .357 made one particulary impressive entry I had to share. This was from a handloaded 158 grain SJHP.

Entry:


Exit:



Bottom Line: Shooting pumpkins is fun. Its not scientific, nor is it really even applicable, but it does show pretty graphically the damage our weapons can cause. Besides...I hated to just throw those things away, especially when they were such tempting targets. Maybe next time I will remember to bring along some jugs so I can recover some of the bullets and check them out.

Next week, Ill turn loose the .45 on whats left of the pumpkin harvest. Maybe even some .223's will find their way into the orange.

Stay Safe!

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[HotGuns]

Good job with the pics...
and a good article...






I've never seen a white pumpkin though....

[levi333]

VERY cool pics. I wanted to do the same, but never go around to getting some pumpkins together.

[srfl]

Nice photos..thanks for sharing.

[hsuCowboy98]

I've never seen a white pumpkin though....

Yeah, theyre pretty cool.

These were all free pumpkins from a local farmer. They have a big Pumpkin days fest, then all the pumpkins are pretty much useless.

Ive got them laying around everywhere.

The ones that fall off the trailers and are still in the fields are pretty fun to shoot with the rifles, as they are usually mushy and blow up easily.

[Superhouse 15]

Thanks for posting. I'd like to see the .223.

[frankmako]

looks like fun to me

[dr_cmg]

Wish I had some. I would like to the S&W 1066 with some 10mm hollow points. But I think the most fun would be the Taurus 44 Ten with the 000 Buckshot (.410). At 15' all three projectiles from the .410 shell should hit the pumpkin. When I shot a 5 gallon bucket full of water all three projectiles went all the way through. Three small entry holes - one very big exit hole. I'd like to see what would happen to the pumpkin.

Thanks for the info and the idea.

[hsuCowboy98]

Ill take the 870P out with 3'' 00 buck loads, along with the AR next week, and see what they do to em.

[sixgun]

Very good pics. It proves that those little slugs can do some serious damage. And it looks like you had a fun day at the range.

Sixgun

[Superhouse 15]

Give this a look if you hate pumpkins. I note the 2006 winner was named "2nd Ammendment"

[MountainPacker]

I shot a grapefruit with a .454 Platinum Tip once. It was 260gr. expanding to about 1.0 (I'm guessing) and travelling at 1,800fps for 1,870fpe.

I would have taken a picture if there was anything left. The nearest pieces were about 30 feet away and only about 1.5 inches in diameter. The juice became a momentary fog. There's a pressure wave for you.

Shooting stuff is fun.

[.45acp]

Pumpkins are fun, shot some yesterday, also fun is cheap shaving cream like Barbisol

[afeazell21]

nice pics

[alan0269]

Nice job! I wish I had someplace close that I could try the same thing out. Thanks for the pics.

George (dr_cmg) love the avatar!