Alllen Bundy
Member
Continuation from:
Fanny Pack Holster - Proof of Concepthttps://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/fanny-pack-holster-proof-of-concept.897607/
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While working on the design of the fabric cover for my fanny pack holster frame for my P365X, I was thinking that when the P365X is in the holster, the barrel of the pistol is pointing sideways instead of the more normal down position.
And then I thought what if a person was in the way of the barrel?
What if the striker safety gets stuck and it cannot prevent an accidental discharge. (Yes, the striker safety has been known to get stuck on the P365 series.)
What if I forget to switch on the manual safety and I get careless during holstering or unholstering and have a negligent discharge?
So why not install a bullet stop on my holster in front of the barrel to greatly reduce the possibility of an innocent person being struck by an unintentionally fired bullet?
I'm sure many of you will consider this overkill. But the last thing I would ever want to do in my lifetime is to kill an innocent person. So I'm willing to make the extra effort to reduce the possibility.
I had to determine what would stop a 9 mm bullet in a very small space. I found the following test of different bullet calibers versus aluminum.
40 SW vs. 357 Sig vs. 9MM vs. 45 ACP (Part 2) (FMJ Aluminum Test) - by The Penetration Channel - Dec 11, 2016
A Winchester White Box 115 gr 9 mm FMJ bullet was able to punch through two layers of 1/8" (0.125") thick 6061-T6 alloy aluminum, but was stopped by the 3rd layer. So 3/8" (0.375") aluminum thickness should do the job.
I'm not 100% sure about the grade of aluminum sheets that I have, but I grabbed them from the scrap metal bin where I previously worked and we mostly used 6061-T6 alloy aluminum.
I used a stack of three 0.047" thick aluminum sheets separated by 0.075" diameter toothpicks glued at the edges of the sheets. This stack was glued to three 0.090" thick aluminum sheets, glued to the 0.087" thick U-shaped aluminum frame. Total thickness = 0.498" of aluminum, just a hair under 1/2 inch. That should be sufficient to stop a 9 mm bullet.
The bullet stop, weighing just under 3 oz, is 11 times more massive than the 115 gr bullet it needs to stop. The bullet stop would be 8.6 times more massive than a 147 gr bullet.
The surface area of the bullet stop is about 35 times greater than the bullet diameter, so that would spread the force of the bullet over a much greater area.
So even if the bullet stop was not restrained and did not deform, when the bullet stop was hit by a bullet and it went flying, it would not likely cause a serious injury to a person.
There is space behind each of the first 3 layers of aluminum for the bullet to deform the aluminum into. The intent is that the bullet either penetrate or deform the aluminum so much that it is trapped before it contacts the last 4 layers of aluminum.
The bullet stop is held in place with 17 screws and was also epoxied into the aluminum holster frame. But the frame has had a considerable amount of weight relieving that has weakened it. I'm not sure if the bullet's energy would be enough to cause breakage of the frame. But at the very least, any deformation of the frame before it breaks will absorb much of the kinetic energy of the bullet.
Adding the bullet stop was an after thought. In the next version I will not use the weight relieving near the end of the aluminum frame by the bullet stop.
Everything considered, I'm fairly certain that this bullet stop will work well enough to stop one 9 mm bullet.
Some people might complain about the extra 3 oz of weight added by the bullet stop. But I've got 35 lbs to lose. So what is an extra 3 oz to me?
Now that I've finished the frame I can sew on the water resistant Codura cover and make it look like a dorky looking fanny pack.
Fanny Pack Holster - Proof of Concepthttps://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/fanny-pack-holster-proof-of-concept.897607/
+++++++++++++++++
While working on the design of the fabric cover for my fanny pack holster frame for my P365X, I was thinking that when the P365X is in the holster, the barrel of the pistol is pointing sideways instead of the more normal down position.
And then I thought what if a person was in the way of the barrel?
What if the striker safety gets stuck and it cannot prevent an accidental discharge. (Yes, the striker safety has been known to get stuck on the P365 series.)
What if I forget to switch on the manual safety and I get careless during holstering or unholstering and have a negligent discharge?
So why not install a bullet stop on my holster in front of the barrel to greatly reduce the possibility of an innocent person being struck by an unintentionally fired bullet?
I'm sure many of you will consider this overkill. But the last thing I would ever want to do in my lifetime is to kill an innocent person. So I'm willing to make the extra effort to reduce the possibility.
I had to determine what would stop a 9 mm bullet in a very small space. I found the following test of different bullet calibers versus aluminum.
40 SW vs. 357 Sig vs. 9MM vs. 45 ACP (Part 2) (FMJ Aluminum Test) - by The Penetration Channel - Dec 11, 2016
A Winchester White Box 115 gr 9 mm FMJ bullet was able to punch through two layers of 1/8" (0.125") thick 6061-T6 alloy aluminum, but was stopped by the 3rd layer. So 3/8" (0.375") aluminum thickness should do the job.
I'm not 100% sure about the grade of aluminum sheets that I have, but I grabbed them from the scrap metal bin where I previously worked and we mostly used 6061-T6 alloy aluminum.
I used a stack of three 0.047" thick aluminum sheets separated by 0.075" diameter toothpicks glued at the edges of the sheets. This stack was glued to three 0.090" thick aluminum sheets, glued to the 0.087" thick U-shaped aluminum frame. Total thickness = 0.498" of aluminum, just a hair under 1/2 inch. That should be sufficient to stop a 9 mm bullet.
The bullet stop, weighing just under 3 oz, is 11 times more massive than the 115 gr bullet it needs to stop. The bullet stop would be 8.6 times more massive than a 147 gr bullet.
The surface area of the bullet stop is about 35 times greater than the bullet diameter, so that would spread the force of the bullet over a much greater area.
So even if the bullet stop was not restrained and did not deform, when the bullet stop was hit by a bullet and it went flying, it would not likely cause a serious injury to a person.
There is space behind each of the first 3 layers of aluminum for the bullet to deform the aluminum into. The intent is that the bullet either penetrate or deform the aluminum so much that it is trapped before it contacts the last 4 layers of aluminum.
The bullet stop is held in place with 17 screws and was also epoxied into the aluminum holster frame. But the frame has had a considerable amount of weight relieving that has weakened it. I'm not sure if the bullet's energy would be enough to cause breakage of the frame. But at the very least, any deformation of the frame before it breaks will absorb much of the kinetic energy of the bullet.
Adding the bullet stop was an after thought. In the next version I will not use the weight relieving near the end of the aluminum frame by the bullet stop.
Everything considered, I'm fairly certain that this bullet stop will work well enough to stop one 9 mm bullet.
Some people might complain about the extra 3 oz of weight added by the bullet stop. But I've got 35 lbs to lose. So what is an extra 3 oz to me?
Now that I've finished the frame I can sew on the water resistant Codura cover and make it look like a dorky looking fanny pack.