I took my phone off the hook. Had my 40 hours in on Tuesday and was in the office the rest of the week. Been a long week, and gotta go back for more later today.
Yay for overtime right?
The test isnt entirely valid, nor is it entirely invalid. First and foremost, I havent followed the whole incident that closely. As far as I see it, its another hunting accident. They happen EVERY year, the only reason anyone suddenly gives a shit is because it was the VP that had it. No one seems to give a damn if its Joe People that has it though, so I've been rather disgusted with the whole deal.
Anyways, its well established ballistic mediums are not a real world test for bullets. They give you a very good idea what might happen, what may happen and what should happen, but they fail to take into account things such as tissue density differences (fat, muscles, sinew), they dont take into account bones and organs....
In other words, they give you a good idea what happens, but it wont always be 100% exact science. People have in the past shot animals such as hogs to get a better idea what happens, or organs from animals and whatnot but the fact is you just cant say with 100% certainty what WILL happen by using ballistic gels as your basis of comparison.
But its close, so you dont entirely rule it out altogether.
They say they bought a 28 gauge, is that what Cheney was using? I would have thought he'd go with the 12 bore, but hey, who knows? Not me, I havent followed it. Additionally, what choke was Cheney using? Was Cheney using handloads? Cheney is a pretty experienced gun guy as I understand it, so he may have been using reloads. I dont know. Does anyone?
Ultimately though I see no glaring errors with the tests that were performed by this guy. Most of it, while not 100% reliable, are generally accepted as accurate.
Like I said, I havent followed it much because the whole issue disgusts me.