Just out of curiosity.............

[Rams]

Just out of curiosity:

How many balloons filled with water do you think it takes to stop a 44 Magnum handgun bullet?  Make your guess before the test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlZRnpyZjBE

My guess was wrong.   

[..]

A hyperactive English plonker.

A woman who has no idea.

Another woman with a brain.

And a hipster doooooood whom I'm sure has NEVAH fired a gun.

[97ValkSteve]

Ok. That was cool. Then again, anything with .44 Magnums has to be cool.

[Jess from VA]

I'm surprised it only cleared 4 (and it only nipped the bottom of the 4th).

Would have done somewhat better with my 20"bbl Marlin 1894.

Water is pretty dense. 

[Gavin_Sons]

My guess was 5. Technically the question was how many baloons would the bullet pass through. It didnt pass through the 4th. But the 4th did stop it. Wonder what the results would be if they used a tipped bullet instead of a hallow point? I bet it would pass through the 4th and maybe the 5th and get stopped in the 6th. Would be a good test. And what would the results be if fired out of a rifle. I know a 44 out of a rifle is faster because it is more enclosed therefore more gases pushing the bullet out the end of the barrel and the powder has more time to burn in a longer barrel.

[gordonv]

I thought it would have been 7, but forgot how big that .44 would mushroom out to. And yes, it was the water/balloons that stopped the bullet.

I figured it would be about 3' of water, and thought those balloons where pretty narrow, so that was why 7.  But then the mushroomed .44 would have slowed pretty good after the first balloon mushroom it out.

I wonder how far a round head would do, or a higher velocity like a 9mm?

[Jess from VA]

 I wonder how far a round head would do, or a higher velocity like a 9mm?

Bbl lengths being equal, most (usual) 44mag cartridges are faster than most 9mm cartridges.  However, the 44mag (.430 Inch) is wider than a 9mm (.355 Inch), so the water imparts more sectional resistance.

There is always a tradeoff between smaller/lighter bullets with higher speeds and bigger/heavier bullets with lower speeds.  The traditional ballistics math has always favored speed over mass for computing terminal ballistic energy imparted to a target, but documented shootings of humans often reveal heavier slower bullets stop people better/do more damage (out of handguns) than lighter faster bullets.  

While humans are in large part made out of water, balloons full of water and humans full of bones and vital organs have some differences.  Men are more watery than women. A man's body is 60 to 65 percent water, compared to 50 to 60 percent for a woman. (I'm sure there is a joke in there somewhere)

In any event, I would rather get shot with a 9mm than a 44mag (not that either is my idea of a good time).  

You want to penetrate more balloons?  Go to a high powered rifle.  (Or a high power compound bow with broadhead, which is much slower but with tremendously more mass)

[Rams]

My guess was actually one short of the actual number.    It's a big slow bullet, water is dense.    Don't confuse that as my opinion on being shot with such a weapon/bullet.    It's meant to do damage and damage it will do.   

[musclehead]

mythbusters did something similar, they found that even the heaviest they could shoot, a 50BMG with full metal jacket, couldn't penetrate the water more than a couple feet. all super sonic rounds tore themselves to pieces.