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!

__________________
Fear No Evil.

HotGuns

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






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

__________________
AR. CHL Instr.

To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men, their individualism, loyalty to family traditions, national patriotism, and religious dogmas.'
Dr. G. Brock Chisolm

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.

__________________
USAF: Loving Our Obscene Amenities Since 1947

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.

__________________
Fear No Evil.

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.

__________________
George

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe. Albert Einstein

hsuCowboy98

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

__________________
Fear No Evil.

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