Recovered bullets- water vs. flesh
Like many others, I have shot water filled milk jugs to capture and compare bullets. Here are some examples of bullets trapped in water versus bullets recovered from animals.
First is the .327 Federal 100 grain American Eagle. On the left is from jugs, on the right is from a double shoulder shot on a deer at 30ish yards.
Next is the ever consistent 250 Partition from a .44 Mag. On the left is from jugs, on the right is from a double shoulder shot on a boar at 66 yards.
Next is the 240 grain Federal Fusion from .44 Mag. On the left is from jugs, on the right is from a close frontal shot on a bear.
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I believe the results are very comparable. In my too many years of trying to test bullets, I have settled on using a thin magazine paper stack to simulate the skin, then a paper carton milk jug (1/2 Gallon) filled with water to fully show the expansion then backed by a sand box to actually stop/capture the bullet. Other than the major bone variable, this has always at least told me that my handgun velocity would initiate the expansion and it would also show me if the expansion was too much. The sand is a little wet and packed so i can slowly peel back layers and find the bullet and try to draw some conclusions on the penetration depth. This seems to be comparable to performance I have witnessed on the medium sized WT we have around here. YMMV.
My sand box has cardboard separators and each of the 3 sand areas are about 7 inches in depth-backed by 2x8 back wall just in case