I'm sorry if this is not quite as technical as some of the experiments but it might cause more questions than answers.
Again this is a photo of a rabbit clay I picked up this morning - so not hot weather. Shot at around 20yards. The pellet measures 2.5mm but of coarse it could have been distorted by the impact.
Now this first photo shows the pellet from the side of the impact - surprising to me it is flat.
This second photo shows what would have been the exit side. I can confirm this by the direction the trap was throwing and the rib. As you can see the pellet is still rounded if just a little flattened. Now I am no scientist but this does not look like normal ballistics to me. The chances of a second pellet impacting squarly on the reverse if this pellet seems very remote as it was the only strike on the target. I would not have thought there was enough energy to 'upset' the pellet through the hole to form a dome on the reverse and flatten the tail but perhaps I am wrong. Having seen what air gun pellets, .22 bullets and larger rifles do when they hit fairly solid objects this does not look the same in any way.
If the pellet is trying to ‘ooze’ or 'upset' its way through the clay target then there will be considerable lateral forces as the clay will be acting like a die stretching wire for example. I'm afraid I have no answers - just an unusual observation as you don't get stuck pellets very often - and more questions.John
