1" Bullet resistant glass Vs .22LR, .357 Mag, .44 Mag

[schapman43]

I had a chance yesturday to shoot at some bullet resistant glass with a .22LR 10/22, a Ruger GP100 6" barrel .357 Mag, and a Ruger Redhawk 5.5" Barrel .44 Mag. The glass is simply amazing! We started with the smallest caliber and worked our way up.

The bullet resistant glass that were were shooting at is made up of a 1/2" piece of Lexan with a 1/4" piece of tempered safety glass laminated on both sides of it. The piece that we shot at was about 2'x3'. All shots were taken at 20 yards

Ruger 10/22
The first shot was taken with a Ruger 10/22 using Aguilla high velocity ammo. As expected the shot really didnt do much. It did crack the tempered glass on both sides of the Lexan but that was it. The Lexan was barely scratched.

Ruger GP100 6" .357 Magnum
The second shot was taken with a Ruger GP100 with a 6" barrel using Winchester Jacketed Soft Point 158gr ammo. This did a bit more damage. A 2" area of the glass was blown away and a crater was left in the Lexan portion.

Ruger Redhawk 5.5" .44 Magnum
This is where things got fun. The third shot was taken with a Ruger Redhawk with a 5.5" barrel in .44 Magnum. I used Remington 240gr jacketed soft point ammo. This ammo blew holes right through the glass leaving a large hole. I recovered a slug that had mushroomed very nicely. This gun ammo combination was the only thing that we had out that went through the glass. Even after the glass was chewed to pieces with the .44 Mag the .357 Mag wouldnt penetrate.

We went on to try a few other things like round nose .38's which only blew away the top portion of safty glass leaving the lexan virtually untouched. The generic 240gr jacketed hollow points out of the .44 usually came apart in the lexan leaving chunks of the jackent embedded in it.

All in all it was a really good time. I think I may try making my own bullet proof glass and seeing how it performs. I was really amazed at how well the glass stood up to the .357 Mag and hollow points out of the .44 Mag. I would have liked to try some .45acp, and 9mm on it. I dont believe they would have done any better than the .357 though. I would feel very safe behind the glass when an attacker was yielding a .357 or anything smaller.

I will do my best to get some pics up in the next few days. I am going to hang whats left of the glass in my den.

 

[LeonCarr]

Cool test, Mr. Chapman.

I have a buddy that is the manager of a check-cashing place, and they opened a new location. He acquired some of the bullet resistant material that the check cashing windows were protected with. It was about three inches thick, alternating layers of Plexiglass and Lexan. I worked in Corrections for ten years, and I have been in Law Enforcement for eight years, and that is the toughest see-through stuff I have ever seen. We shot it with everything from .22LR to a .338 Winchester Magnum loaded with 250 grain Nosler Partitions. Nothing penetrated. I told my buddy that unless his store gets robbed by somebody carrying a Barrett .50, he should be ok.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[Standing Wolf]

I told my buddy that unless his store gets robbed by somebody carrying a Barrett .50, he should be ok.

I'll bet that happens a lot, too!

 

[C.R.Sam]

Just remember that Lexan gets brittle with age, heat and UV exposure.
In hot, dry climate....some replace it annually.

Sam.

 

[LeonCarr]

Standing Wolf,

You are right...I honestly don't see a run of the mill street turd robbing a check cashing place with a $7,000 rifle .

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[cpileri]

more

I love threads like this one! Thanks!
I'd like to see some of u test out one of those ultra lite ballistic plates- the 3/4" or 1" thick ultra high molecular weight polyethylene ones.
it would be cool info/
C-

 

[greyhound]

I told my buddy that unless his store gets robbed by somebody carrying a Barrett .50, he should be ok.

Say, isn't that why California wants to ban them? (You know, its the #1 weapon for the bad guys? Just like all the street crime thats being done with the new S&W .50 cal?)

 

[Hutch]

Great info, thanks! Did you experiment with different angles, or were all your shots "head-on", 90-degree strikes? Be interesting to see what happens wit' dat.

 

[DMK]

schapman43, did you try any FMJ? I wonder how some .357 125gr. FMJ would have done?

 

[bogie]

More layers = more strength.

I've seen a 1" thick piece, composed of various (trade secret) thin layers of tempered glass, plexi and interlayers, that would stop a .38 Super. That's something...

 

[Baba Louie]

Usually 20 mm of "bullet resistant" glass should stop a .357 and some .44 rds. 22 mm is usually req'd for stopping most all .44 magnum.

To stop rifle type rounds you usually get up into the 50 - 70 mm thickness material.

The 1 1/4" stuff I've specified in the past is good to stop up to .44 mag, tho I'd still hate to be on the backside of that barrier with someone lighting one off in my direction.

We set the glass in a wall assemby of 8" x 20 ga. steel studs w/ 1-layer 1/2" particle board and 1-layer 5/8" gypsum bd. on each side, infill the cavities with 3/8" pea gravel and you're pretty safe from armed bad guys w/ handguns or shotguns (no slugs allowed, play fair Mr Robber)

One sheet of the 8' x 4' x 1 1/4" stuff runs about $1800.00, so its not for just every-mans-house.

http://www.armorusa.com/bullet.htm

Adios

 

[AmericanFreeBird]

Maybe next time you could try a 12ga w/Slug?

 

[schapman43]

I completely forgot about the shotgun. We used a Remington 870 26" barrel with #4 shot but it really didnt do much of anything.

Here is a picture of some of the recovered slugs.

All shots were at about a90 gegree angle.

 

[SorenityNow]

I would have liked to see results from a 12 ga shotgun Slug. This thread is over 3000 day old . pretty cool what you can gooogle

 

[armoredman]

I drove armored trucks for 8.5 years, and the newest transparent armor, usually various polycarbonates, are far lighter than traditional laminate glass, and withstood more. The glass on my last truck was rated for 50 BMG standard slug, not SLAP. SLAP would get through after a few rounds.
The glass at one of the vaults I used to deliver to hung outside the frame inside and out of the frame, approximately 4-5 inches thick. No idea what it's protective value was, but I'd guess-rate it charging elephant strength.
Also remember, bullet resistant glass has a front and a back; it's generally not the same protection. As a matter of fact, there is one transparent armor that is bullet resistant only one way - the occupants of the vehicle can actually shoot out through it, but it stops incoming. Forgot where the link was. I don't think I'd be inclined to trust it in really bad situations, like that attack in Mexico where an armored Blazer, (I think), withstood a few thousand hits and the principal escaped injured, but alive.

 

[rbernie]

Necro-thread.