The Box O' Truth #36 - Frozen Clothing And The Box O' Truth - Page 1
I have had a number of people send me notes asking if I would test a rumor that they heard about the Korean War. It seems that it was rumored that the North Korean Commies wore thick clothing and that in the freezing rain, the outside, which was wet, froze. It was then said that the .30 Carbine would not penetrate this frozen clothing, but would bounce off like an over-cooked string bean hitting an anvil. (Okay, I just threw in that part about the string bean and the anvil).
Well, I don't have any authentic North Korean Army clothing from that time period, but I do have some cotton terry cloth towels. So, I did the following.
First, I folded the towel three times, making it 8 layers thick. Is this the same thickness as the clothing worn by the Commies? I don't know, but it looked like a good winter thickness to me. I then wet it down really well and wrung out some of the water. I left it pretty soaked so that it would freeze well. I live in Southeast Texas, and we don't see a lot of freezing weather here, but I do have a freezer.
So, I laid it on a tray and put it in the freezer for about a week and froze it good and solid. I took it out of the freezer and placed it in a cooler to transport it to the range without it thawing out. We then went to the range and set it up in front of the Waterbox O' Truth. I used some clamps to hold it in front of the gallons of water.
The frozen material was a little over one inch thick. The frozen material was a little over one inch thick. We will get back about 45 yards and shoot it with the .30 carbine and standard military Ball ammo. As we placed the frozen towel on the Waterbox, I told Tman, "This stuff is a lot thicker and tougher than I expected it to be. Maybe it will actually slow down a .30 carbine." It was as stiff as a board. Well, only one way to find out.
First, I shot a paper target to be sure I had the point of aim correct. It put two rounds into almost the same hole. I know when to quit. I then fired a round of standard .30 Carbine Ball into the frozen towel. We went down range and were amazed that not only had it easily gone through the frozen material, but had penetrated 7 gallons of water.
That is approximately 42 inches of water.
That means about 21 inches of ballistic gelatin or human flesh.
Since 12 inches is considered to be the minimum required penetration to reach vital organs, this round penetrated almost twice as far as needed. Well, maybe they meant it was the old .45 ACP that couldn't penetrate the frozen clothes. So, a good excuse to try out the newly refinished Sistema .45 ACP. I shot from about 15 feet.
How do you like the size of that entrance hole? Looks like the .45 makes a good ice pick. We were amazed that the .45 ACP also penetrated 7 gallons of water. Both the .30 Carbine bullet and the .45 ACP bullet were good old Ball ammo and the fired bullets could have almost been loaded into a cartridge and shot again.
Lessons learned:
1. If anyone shot at a North Korean Commie and he didn't go down, it was because they missed him. Because frozen clothing sure won't slow down a .30 Carbine.
2. The old warhorse, the .45 ACP Ball, isn't exactly "weak" in the penetration category either.
3. I don't know how this rumor got started, but it looks like it was completely false.
4. The .30 Carbine, as we have noted before, is highly underrated in many categories.
5. Shooting stuff is fun.
I would give anything to have one of them again. The Air Force had tens of thousands of them, where have they all gone.
