The Box O' Truth #40 - Deflected Bullets and the Box O' Truth

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The Box O' Truth #40 - Deflected Bullets and the Box O' Truth - Page 1

Many of us are hunters and some are combatants. We all know that if a bullet hits a hard object, it can be deflected in a completely different path than the one it was traveling before the hit.

A question we want to test today is this: Are some bullets more resistant to being deflected than others?

Sometimes a deer will be behind a brush and only allow a narrow area for a hunter to place a bullet through. Even then, that bullet may hit a branch. Some old deer hunters used to say, "Those high velocity spitzers will be deflected by branches, but not my old .45-70. It’s a brush-buster!"

Are they correct? Or all bullets effected by hitting branches? Or are some heavy bullets really "brush busters"?

We will use this set-up. I obtained a cardboard box that a king-sized mattress came in. We will set it up about 10 yards behind our target.

The target will consist of a paper target over a set of 1/2 inch wooden dowels, spaced so that the bullets cannot go between them without hitting at least one.

Notice the dowel set-up.

We will fire from about 50 yards into the dowels and see where the bullet ends up on the cardboard, which is 10 yards behind them.

First I will shoot through the paper target without the dowels present to mark where the bullet strikes the cardboard with no branches in the way.

As a side note, my two 4 year old grandsons saw this after I built it and asked me if they could play with it.

I let them and they had such a great time, I plan on replacing the dowels and letting them play with it after the shoot.

Hundreds of dollars worth of electronic toys, and they think dowels and a wooden holder is the best toy they've ever seen.

I then marked the place the bullet hit on the cardboard and covered it with a orange dot. This is where it will hit with no bullet deflection.

Then we will replace the dowels and shoot through them and see if it moves the point of impact on the cardboard.