Episode Details

State of the Second hosts Kaylee and John sit down with Chris from Ballistic Dummy Lab, the company behind the human-form ballistic dummies that have become a fixture in firearms YouTube. Chris explains the origin: he and his wife came from a special effects makeup background in film, and about 15 years ago a show called Deadliest Warrior asked them to build a ballistic dummy. It stayed a side project until 2019, when he made it a separate corporation. His company has been featured on Forged in Fire, Deadliest Warrior, and Hollywood Weapons, and the products have shown up as props on fiction shows like NCIS, CSI, and Bones.

Chris gets into how the dummies are built. He walks through the two main testing mediums, the FBI formula at 10% concentration and the NATO formula at 20%, and why Ballistic Dummy Lab chose 20% for better shelf stability with the internals. He talks through casting resin bones to match tensile and break strength using data from a biomedical engineer he met on Deadliest Warrior, and the difference between the organic gel and a synthetic gel that has no shelf life. The conversation turns to Hollywood getting firearms wrong, the continuity errors his wife catches as an on-set effects artist, and the Alec Baldwin case, where Chris lays out where he sees negligence on the armorer and on Baldwin as both shooter and controlling producer. He praises trainers like Taryn and Gary Tours, who put actors through live fire so they respect the guns.

The back half covers the industry. The hosts and Chris dig into the COVID gun-buying surge and an estimated 10 to 20 million new gun owners, the current powder shortage tied to NATO countries buying up the chemical to make powder for ongoing wars, the Vista Outdoor sale to a Czech group, and companies like CZ buying MagTech to control their own ammunition supply. Chris also shares the pop-culture side, how influencer videos from creators like Grand Thumb and Kentucky Ballistics made the brand recognizable to bank tellers and the UPS driver, his move from California to Woodstock, Georgia, and new products including a Vortex Optics commissioned bear head for testing bear defense rounds and a line of ballistic rabbits with bones and bleeding organs.

Links

• ballisticdummylab.com

Questions this episode answers

What is a ballistic dummy and how did Ballistic Dummy Lab get started?

A ballistic dummy is a human-form test medium used to study ballistics, blunt force trauma, and cutting. Chris, who came from special effects makeup in film, was asked to build one for the show Deadliest Warrior about 15 years ago, ran it as a side project with his wife, and made Ballistic Dummy Lab a separate corporation in 2019.

What is the difference between the FBI 10% and NATO 20% ballistic gel formulas, and which does the company use?

The two are testing mediums at different gel concentrations, the FBI formula at 10% and the NATO formula at 20%. Ballistic Dummy Lab uses the 20% NATO formula because it gives better shelf stability for the internal components.

How does Ballistic Dummy Lab make the bones and organs inside its dummies?

Chris casts resin bones tuned to match real tensile and break strength, using data from a biomedical engineer he met on Deadliest Warrior. The dummies are built to a single uniform density rather than replicating the separate densities of skin, muscle, and bone.

What is the difference between the organic gel and the synthetic gel?

The organic gel is the traditional medium with a limited shelf life, while the synthetic gel has no shelf life. Both let you see the same results as long as you test consistently in the same medium.

Where does Chris think the negligence lies in the Alec Baldwin shooting case?

Chris places negligence on both the armorer and on Ba