I've heard soaking newspaper (I would guess using lots of it would be a requirement) would work, but I haven't tried it myself. Another option that a lot of people use is to line up milk jugs full of water and shoot through them. You would get a rough idea of how deeply it could penetrate, and would expand. However, as with ballistic gelatin, its a more perfect scenario than you would find shooting an animal or other target, so worldly results may well vary.
Save your milk jugs and fill them up with water, and put about 10 of them all lined up behind each other. If this does not work you still have strong healthy bones.
Never, in 59 years of reloading, have I worried about it. Anything I load, as well as anyone else, is going to penetrate sufficiently for the purpose for which the bullet was cast or swaged for, providing sufficient propulsion.
Max Prasec does an annual kill of a big animal and does expansion/penetration testing on the carcass. This is about as real results as you might ever find. Also, I get greatly entertained by Paul Harrel's "meat target" tests.
What are you expecting to shoot with your .223? Deer, Antelope or are you looking for a home defense load? I found that a tough mono bullet like a Barnes X works best for me on 4 legged animals, I haven't had an opportunity on the 2 legged ones yet. Perhaps sometime after November 3rd. LOL
Many years ago I shot bullet's into dry newspaper. I found what I think I wanted to know and all the bullet's except one brand performed great. Nice mushrooms and one, Hornady spire point's, had the jacket loose from the core but did not separate. Another, Speer Hot Core. retained the same weight as the Hornady, 85%, and the jacket and core were tight. Probably no target you can use and know that's whats gonna happen on an animal but ya got what ya got. I started using Hornady 75gr V-Max in a 243 for varmint's and at 200yds the bullet came completely apart shooting through a paper target and 2" foam backer. Jacket metal all over the ground behind the target. The oldHornady 22 cal SX bullet's did the same thing.
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