"Cardboard Kevlar" - FACT or FICTION? Can plain old cardboard stop 15 calibers?

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

beavermatic

Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
Messages
5
Did a youtube video to debunk a myth about "cardboard kevlar" - what some beleive to be as using several layers of thick cardboard to stop bullet penetration.

Moderator note: video is NSFW

VIDEO LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itx85XxSZY0


Yeah. I thought it was crazy too... but you should take a watch... kind of interesting what we came up with.

here's the overview:

In this video, we put 2ft of flattened desktop cardboard boxes to the ultimate test... to see if it can substitute for the mighty body armor that is Kevlar. Will cardboard holds its own? Or would you better off hiding behind a wall poster? Watch to find out! If your looking for shooting videos and pics of the shootout, skip to 20 minutes in the video. First 20 minutes is myself covering the topic at hand, outcome, ballistics, ammo, and weapons used.

Calibers tested:

.22 HP
9mm FMJ
.380 hp
.380 FMJ
5.7x28mm
7.62x25mm FMJ
.40 FMJ
.45acp FMJ
.45acp hydrashock
.500 s&w HP
5.56 nato / .223 FMJ
7.62x39mm FMJ
7.62x51mm / .308 winchester boattail FMJ
7.62x54r FMJ lightball

Weapons used:

Bersa .22
Bersa thunder .380
Walther 9mm
S&W M&P .40
FN Five-Seven
Springfield XDm .45acp
Yugo 7.62x25mm pistol - Tokarev model
Smith & Wesson .500 revolver
Bushmaster ACR enhanced
Robinson Arms XCR-L with 5.56 and 7.62 kits
Arma-lite AR-15
FN SCAR 17s (.308, or SCAR-H[eavy])
Yugo SKS
Mosin Nagant Rifle


Note: this was tested with corrugated cardboard (the usual type for packing and shipping stuff). There is non-corrugated, and some of the folks over at xcrforum.com have tested only a foot of it - stating alot more caliberzs actually failed to penetrate as well (awaiting video/photo confirmation of this though)

btw, the youtube info section for this vid explain which were passes/fails, but your going to miss some interesting information and shooting footage at the end if you skip the vid

hopy you enjoy!
-justin
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Didn't Mythbusters do that with phonebooks? Turns out they stop handguns pretty well. Rifles, not so much.
 
Er, at 2 feet thick, I don't think it'd count as body armor anymore lol.

About to jump over and watch it though.
 
what was intersting (and yes, mythbusters tested phonebooks), was that the .223 trajectory was falling considerably as it exited... that was one of the questionable rifles... it did "pass" per se... but how much power and drop it lost and succumbed to passing through that cardboard... hmm, makes me question its lethal potential after that...
 
It's good information but you should edit it back together with visuals throughout. (NSW language at the end for anyone watching).
 
Last edited:
Huntsville Prison Break, August 1974, "The Trojan Taco"

There was a Real World Failure of a similar devise....

There was a hostage situation and prison break at the Walls Unit in Huntsville, Texas. Prisoners taped and attached large numbers of legal books to boxes or blackboards as I remember, after taking hostages in the prison library. .. It was somewhat effective with handguns and shotguns... but two hostages died in the attempt along with several inmates.. This was one of the 1st incidents where most of the action was caught on news tape... August 3, 1974 The "Escape Module" .........For lack of better description....was later dubbed "The Trojan Taco"... Hey, not by me, but the Media and prison officials at the time...
 
 
@ dr. rob:


I just added annotations at beginning of speech for those who wish to just skip right to the shooting videos and pics. They'll link right to end 5 minutes of that. In future videos, though, I'll do exactly that... mix footage/pics with review.


@ apple:

Yes, we did shoot a couple of shotguns at it... buckshot, though, was failure to penetrate, and we did that after shooting everything else. Buckshot really wasn't in question... i've seen it fail to penetratre far less.
 
dr rob:

forgot to mention this as well:

there is the 5 minutes at the end with the footage and pics from the shoot, however how it was originally intended was slightly different. once we got out there, theres was ALOT to do and look at. instead of listening to 20 minutes of topic review, and then 5 minutes of footage... you'd of literally had over an hour of us shooting cardboard (which probably isnt the most exciting thing to watch) to have to go through, even after an edit. So I said what needed to be said, covered some intersting test points, and then let you see some of the footage and pics. This was more of a report than a video of shooting per se.

NOTE: i actually HAVE a 2 hour video of us shooting and picking through it and marking each shot. There was a laptop setup about 10 ft away recording it. Sounded alot better orignally than what it ended up being. You only hear the shot, see the cardboard and pumpkins getting hit... you enver actually see us shooting. You see us walk up and look at each shot and do our inspection. there's alot of other footage i didn't add... simply because i didn't hound my buddies to fork it over in time for the vid. The 2 hour shoot recording wouldn't have kept your interest, especially if the rest of it failed to do so.
Trust me... the review was better this way. Lol. You'd be very very bored if I'd added all that.
 
N003k said:
Er, at 2 feet thick, I don't think it'd count as body armor anymore lol.
Click to expand...



Yeah that's what I was thinking.


2 feet thick of just about any reasonably solid material is gonna be pretty bullet resistant.

2 feet of regular old pine boards is gonna stop just about any handgun round and a lot of rifle rounds.


2 feet of Kevlar layers would probably stop artillery shells.
 
Kevlar is proven technology and goes through extensive testing from the polymer state to the end use.Kevlar for ballistics is manufactured for that purpose only. I would not trust my life with other Kevlar "look-a-likes" and never with cellulose containing products.
Trust me on this.
 
Someone brought up that the exiting 5.7x28mm round left such a huge exit wound not from tumbling and yaw, but from fragmentation.

Thats what I originally thought... but the .22 HP should have left a similuar expansion pattern where it stopped in the cardboard. It did not, it was only slighlty larger. So my second guess was not fragmentation or expansion, but that it started to tumble.

I "beleive" the blue tip of the SS197SR that we are shooting is actually supposed to press against the bullet and cause expansion, is it not? correct me if im wrong? However I'm not so certain this round actually expanded and fragmented inside the cardboard, rather just pierce and tumble straight through?

anyone elses thoughts on that?
 
Enough of anything will stop bullets. Kinda obvious really.

The box o truth did this same basic test with books in a backpack a while back. i.e. Will a full backpack act as body armor?

But for most handgun calibers all you need is a few inches of sand to stop a bullet.
 
I have shot phone books a number of times. It seems to take only about 3 inches worth to stop all the pistol calibers I tried. 22, 38, 357, 44.

The 22 would not even penetrate a 1" phone book.
 
According to one member here, a single phone book will completely stop a Judge firing shotshells.
 
FIVETWOSEVEN said:
According to one member here, a single phone book will completely stop a Judge firing shotshells.
Click to expand...


Interesting, if you know the guy you're going up against is using shotshells.




Of course if he decided to load it up with .45 Colt that particular day you're screwed.

:D
 
I have some flat braeded kelar rope 1/2in wide that is stong enugh to pull a truck but wether louse or pulled tight youcan shoot BB or pelit threw it . all kevlar is not the same it is wouven diferent for each purpas .
 
I tried shooting some cardboard with my G3 a while back. It takes a lot of cardboard to stop a 7.62x51, but strangely enough, the hollow points didn't expand well after passing through.
 
2 feet of regular old pine boards is gonna stop just about any handgun round and a lot of rifle rounds.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be so sure on the rifle rounds. 1861/1863 Springfield Rifled Muskets were reputed as being able to send a 58cal Minie Ball through 11" of pine board at 1000yds.
 
Ole Humpback said:
I wouldn't be so sure on the rifle rounds. 1861/1863 Springfield Rifled Muskets were reputed as being able to send a 58cal Minie Ball through 11" of pine board at 1000yds.
Click to expand...


I'm sure a good FMJ .308 or a 30-06 would slice right through too, though not quite at that great of a range.


I was thinking more along the lines of smallish rounds like .223 or even intermediate rounds like 30-30 or 7.62x39mm would be hard pressed to get through two feet of wood, even up close.



Just speculation though I haven't verified it with actual testing....


....yet!


:D
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top