You were introduced to ballistic dummies through GarandThumb and Admin Results, and I was introduced to ballistic dummies through Spike TV’s masterpiece, Deadliest Warrior. We are not the same.
Ballistic dummies, with their striking resemblance to human bodies, serve as captivating entertainment. Crafted from ballistic gel, they feature organs, bones, and more. Their 1 to 1 representation of a person’s size and shape, coupled with the viewer’s ability to detach from the potential gore, adds to their fun factor.
These dummies have made a big splash in the YouTube world, but if you were a teenage male in the early 2000s, you were likely exposed to these fellas through Deadliest Warrior. In my teenage mind, I assumed and was led to believe that ballistic dummies were the closest one-on-one you could get to a real person. When that Navy SEAL tanked a ballistic dummy with a blade, I thought that’s how it would really work.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s still entertaining to see the head honcho of Cold Steel, Lynn Thompson, decapitate a ballistic dummy with a tomahawk, but that’s all it is: entertaining.
The Truth About Ballistic Dummies
I’m not calling anyone out or trying to degrade anyone’s favorite form of entertainment. I haven’t seen any YouTuber try to claim a ballistic dummy is an accurate representation of a real person. If they have, I haven’t seen it. What I have seen is people who watch that content assume it’s an accurate representation of what a weapon can do.
Ballistic Dummies are not accurate representations of a person. These dummies are made from ballistic gel, and the bones are made from high-density resin. There isn’t flowing blood, muscles, or cartilage. They can’t represent a human body because they aren’t real human bodies. They are an approximation of a person, but they aren’t a one-for-one replica.
Ballistic gel is not a one-for-one replica of a person’s flesh. Grab a block, sink your fingers in, and rip it apart. It’s not as strong or dense as a human body. It is simply a repeatable testing mechanism that allows you to have a consistent medium.
The FBI began using ballistic gel to measure bullet penetration and expansion and established standards based on it. The standard for modern ammunition is at least 12 inches of penetration through ballistic gel.
That doesn’t mean the round will penetrate through twelve inches of human flesh. It means that if the projectile penetrates through 12 inches of ballistic gel, it can penetrate deep enough to reach the body’s vital parts from many angles.
Look At Ballistic Dummies
Take a look at the various ballistic dummies on the market. There isn’t 12 inches of ballistic gel between the dummy and its heart, lungs, and spine. If you were to shoot the dummy with XYZ round and it hit the heart, you might assume that the cartridge is good enough for defensive use. Maybe you see a .308 completely remove the head of a target and think, “Holy crap, that’s power!”
It’s easy to reach that conclusion, but it’s wrong. The gel isn’t thick enough between the outside and the vitals to reach valid conclusions regarding penetration. It can still be a repeatable testing medium, but we’d have to adjust the conclusions we reach when shooting ballistic dummies.
Lights, Camera, Action
Seeing a ballistic dummy reduced to nothing more than bloody parts and pieces is good entertainment. It’s a reactive target taken to an extreme level. That’s great, it’s fun, it’s entertaining, but it’s not a good replication of the human body and what happens when a human is shot, stabbed, or hit with a flamethrower.
