Influence of bullet type and muzzle-to-target distance on trajectory deflection through a soft tissue simulant.

The influence of two different variables on deflection was studied with 9mm Luger calibre bullets, fired through ballistic gelatine. To test whether bullet type affects trajectory deflection, bullets of four different types were fired (20 shots per type) through 25cm of 10% gelatine at a 5m muzzle-to target-distance. A Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the deflection of at least one bullet type was significantly different (p<.001, significance level of 0.05) from the deflection of the other bullet types. To test whether muzzle-to target-distance affects trajectory deflection, additional shots were fired with one of the four bullet types (7.5g FMJ-RN) at 1 and 15m muzzle-to target distances (20 shots per distance), again through 25 cm of 10% gelatine. A Kruskal-Wallis test showed that there was no significant difference (p=.72, significance level of 0.05) in deflection between the three muzzle-to target distances of 1, 5 and 15m.