Bullet test media?

[kselkhunter]

I'm looking to test out some new bullets that I have on order.   What are ya'lls preferences for testing bullet performance?
Water jugs?
Ballistics gel?
Homemade bullet trap?

I don't want to spend an arm and a leg on the test medium.  I have a couple of different bullets coming in for muzzleloader and some rifle calibers, some with custom variations, and want to test the bullets for simulated on-game performance as best I can on a low budget.

Any suggestions? 

@yorketransport   
Care to share some details or advice from your experience on your custom bullet trap design from the "bullet trap results" thread?

[yorketransport]

I found that the wet leather scraps in a tub of water worked perfect. If you use just water, you get an ideal scenario for a HP bullet to expand. Shooting the dry leather is a torture test for an expanding bullet. Shooting into the leather soaked in water gives a good balance of fluid and a hide like texture to see how the bullets work when something possibly plugs the HP cavity.

I still have a pretty good stash of the leather that I used if you're in the Tacoma/Olympia area.

[kselkhunter]

PM sent.  Thanks.

[Stein]

I use elk.

[yorketransport]

I use elk.

I thought about doing that but the folks at NW Trek freaked out and asked me to leave the property.

[Stein]

Nice!

[shootem]

A box with old magazines lined up is easy and most of us already have it. Get ambitious and soak the magazines in water if you want.

[hunter399]

Water jug 250 yards 

[CP]

Home made gel.

My recipe is in this thread:

https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,212635.45.html

[yorketransport]

Home made gel.

My recipe is in this thread:

https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,212635.45.html

This combined with the leather may be the perfect combo.

[jaymark6655]

How about wet newspaper or homemade gel. I used a Seattle phone book once, that has some serious stopping power.

[jasnt]

Home made gel.

My recipe is in this thread:

https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,212635.45.html

This combined with the leather may be the perfect combo.

that would be a good test. Looking threw your bullet test thread yorke I see a lot of pics are messed up

[yorketransport]

Home made gel.

My recipe is in this thread:

https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,212635.45.html

This combined with the leather may be the perfect combo.

that would be a good test. Looking threw your bullet test thread yorke I see a lot of pics are messed up

Yea, Photobucket wants a ridiculous amount of money to keep using 3rd party hosting so most of my images don't work now. I just need to go back update the links in all of the pictures to a new site like Imgur and I'm just too lazy to do it.

[BNAElkhntr]

Wet phonebooks used to be great 15 yrs ago but good luck finding that relic

[kselkhunter]

Thanks for the great ideas folks.  I think the combination of the homemade ballistics gel and the soaked leather will make a good combination of media.  So I can get a picture of the wound cavity through the gel, and something a little more resistant to stop the bullet but not too hard to mess with deformation, like the leather.