Military 5.56 rounds in Perma-Gel:
M855, MK318MOD0, and M193 fired into Perma-Gel at a distance of 10 yards from a Colt LE6920 (16 inch 1:7 barrel).

Video:


























Pictures:




Discussion:
The M855 and M193 displayed deep penetration prior to upset.  The MK318MOD0 began to break apart almost immediately and continued to penetrate in a linear fashion, unlike the M855 and M193 that yawed at an oblique angle.  I recovered the base of the MK318MOD0 round, which completely penetrated the gel, but the M855 and M193 exited the gel at an angle and I was unable to find them.  I was surprised at how similar the M855 and M193 performed.  

I contacted Perma-Gel about the discoloration of the gel and was told that the lifespan is only about 10 remelts before the product begins to degrade and change color.  The glare on the gel adversely effected the video quality, repositioning or a polarizing filter might help.

Previous Gels:
Copper Solid Rounds
Birdshot and Buckshot
Russian Ammo
Proof of Concept

Nice test.

Have to agree that the 193 and 855 perform the same here. History would suggest that there really isn't a difference until the test is from when there would be some harder medium to penetrate before the gel.

If there is enough harder medium to really mash the M193 in front of the gel compared to the 855, the M193 should blow up sooner while the 855 core should punch deeper.

Some contrast should start to show when the internal parts of the bullet's construction start to differentiate the two designs. Till then, they probably should look roughly the same.

I am really surprised at the almost identical results.  With a steel core, the 855 "should"  punch much deeper.  I have both, and my rifle likes the m855 better for whatever reason.

Really cool test, man.  I learned that my assuming sucks!  Thanks for taking the time to make the the test.  I am no brain child when it comes to ballistics, and I am sure that many out there will have questions that I would not know to ask.

I would be interested in seeing how the m855 would perform with kevlar in front of the gel.  Expensive to add the armour.  Maybe an older vest.

WTF was all that smoke coming out of the block after the second shot?

Not sure but I suspect it's a result of the round burning the gel.

I'd be curious to see what the M855 would do in the gel after going through a barrier of some sort.

I saw a thread that formulated the temperature of the projectile, seems like was based on velocity and barrel twist rate.
The temperature was much higher than I would have guessed.
That and the transfer of kinetic energy to the gel would be my guess (but why the MK318MOD0 smoked so much more)??
I noticed the smoke on each round on your copper projectile tests thread (more than the M855 and M193 here).
Thanks OP, these tests are interesting.

Maybe more then 1 test would show different results from all the rounds, but thanks for the time.

Nicely done.

I would be interested in seeing M855 after barrier penetration also!!!
Nonetheless, thanks again asicsaug, I am glad that I FINALLY found some ballistic information regarding the mk 318, it has until now been "non-existential" on the world wide web.

Great test. Just got Mk318, Mod 0 ammo today and loaded up my duty mags with it.

Not likely.  Others have obtained comparable findings using a number of different mediums, including ballistics gel.  I've fired each of these rounds into Perma-Gel on at least one other occasion and the results have always been consistent.  M193 and MK318MOD0 were shot into my first Perma-Gel thread (Comparision Gels) and the only significant difference was that the M193 round yawed down instead of up.