.22 Magnum slug expansion

[Astrosaint]

Greetings:

While going though some old books, I found some out of date phonebooks for a large city.  I taped them together and created a 8 inch thick target to test .22 Magnum slug expansion after impact.

I pulled several of the slugs that I fired from 15 feet out of a Mini-Master using Winchester .22 Mag.  The slugs were all deformed but there was NO expansion on any of them.

Most of the slugs penetrated 6-7 inches but did not escape the phone book pair I set up.  A few did escape from the side of the phone books after leaving a 4-5 inch channel.

For future .22 Mags, I will stick to lead slug. The penetration was quite satisfactory for self defense purposes.

Astrosaint

[Boisesteve]

Hey Astro,
Good stuff, doing one's own research.  It is said that every gun/ammo combination is an experiment, so we gather data and make choices.
Here's some more:
https://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/the-best-22lr-and-22-magnum-ammo-for-concealed-carry/

I want penetration from my 22mag; expansion would be nice but I don't anticipate it. I was carrying the CCI 30gr. sharp pointed plastic tipped ammo, but lately think the 40 gr. CCI jacketed flat point might be better, so a box of that came home and went into the NAA.
I hope I never have to find out if it goes deep enough, but it's there if I do.
Stay well, Steve in Boise

[barrytheprof]

I"m not sure shooting through phone books is comparable to shooting through meat or ballistic gel when it comes to expansion. There are videos online that show Speer Gold Dot and Hornady Personal Defense rounds expanding pretty consistently to .33 to .35 inches and still reaching 12" penetration in ballistic gel. The gel is designed to resemble the characteristics of meat. It seems to me that puts them on par with 32 caliber rounds.

Putting phone books in your walls and car doors might be useful though.