Mount & Blade General

[ChildServices]

I wonder if they use rotten meat for those tests. And if they don't, do they have a big epic barbecue after shooting?

 

[SnapSlav]

As far as ballistics are considered, yes they do. So no, testing blades on ballistics gel isn't as accurate as testing guns on it, but it's not incomparable to the human body. Ballistics molds which also contain artificial skeletons (like the above) are even more accurate for these tests' purposes. The balloons with red dyed water are just a visual bonus.

The problem with ballistic gel is that it is just one homogenous mass, while human body is composed of many tissues of varying density, viscosity and so on. Skallagrim tried to simulate it with his own target composed of several different kinds of gel. But the gel in the video is all one thing, and it looks very weak too.
So no, it by no means is this anywhere near an accurate representation of what a blade would do. And I doubt the have real bones, so they are most likely plastic, and plastic is nothing like actual bones.

You're answering an answer regarding a question that was never asked... I already explained that ballistics gel is highly accurate TOWARDS BALLISTICS, where penetrating various layers of fibers and tendons is irrelevant. That matters more towards other things, like the blade testing. Still, "not as accurate" is not the same as totally unrepresentative. In many senses (and note, these were NOT "one solid mass" tests of ballistics gel; they had simulate bones and organs and blood packets, the bones being the most important component to include for blades, not tendons) it's still accurately representative of the results you can get. Slicing a head in half has nothing to do with layers or tendons and fibers, because there ARE NONE surrounding the skull. Just skull and some flesh. Also, if you've never carved up some meat, trust me when I say that the blade's shape, sharpness, and your skill with wielding it makes ALL the difference when cutting through muscles. The muscles pose ZERO resistance if you do it right, whereas they can be tough to cut through if your tool is dull and/or you're swinging it all wrong.

Short answer, the ballistics gel is still accurate.

Not a 100% identical representation of what these things would do, but no one (that I saw) said "identical". Just accurate. It matters more for ballistics because projectiles have a tendency to splinter and fracture, where that's not really a common concern for large slabs of forged steel/iron, and the surface resistance of objects with large constitutions of water (like the human body) have a large impact on that. Thus the ballistics gel.

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Also the following pig carcass testing. Those are pretty damn close to identical simulates, although pig skin is MUCH thicker than human skin (so any success on pigs can be attributed to MUCH success on humans).