What caliber would penetrate a windshield?

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I know for a fact a .22 lr will go right through a windshield.:evil: I saw a buddy of mine do it from the passenger seat right thru his windshield...LOL BTW this will scare the crap out of you when it happens!! If it hits fairly squarely it goes right on thru...I'd think if there is much of an angle to the impact it would probably bounce off...dunno but a .22 lrwill with out a doubt ..."git 'er done!"
 
The Texas DPS used to issue .357 Magnums and they loved them. Worked well on people as well as car doors and windshields. They went to Sig P220s in .45, and liked the .45's performance on people, but it sucked on car doors and windshields. So they switched to .357 Sig, which replicates the performance from a 4" revolver of the 125g .357 Mag loads.

Apparently, it works just fine going through cars, windshields, and people. I know of one where the shot penetrated the rear windshield, the headrest and whacked the BG in the head. Sig P226, .357 Sig.
 
There are anomalies in every caliber, vehicle glass just exagerates this.

Some of you may have read about the shoot out in Marion Co. Indiana (Indianapolis) recently. The suspect was in a Chevy Tahoe with tinted windows. Out of a total 40 rounds fired (20 of .223, and 20 of handgun .40 cal IIRC) there was only one round that penetrated and hit the driver.

The one that hit was handgun caliber.

The tint on the side windows caused the same laminating effect as the safety coating on the front windshield. Several of the rounds fragmented. Shot placement may have been a factor as there were not enough hits in the same place to "blow out" any of the windows.

Your best bets are to go for the side glass, as deflection from the front is unpredictable. The only handgun round that I have read of consistent (100%) penentration of auto glass was 230gr ball, not JHP, ball.

While I am sure there are some rounds that will work as well, the only answer seems to be concentrated fire to open up the glass and allow a direct hit to the BG.
 
I was present at the tail end of a shooting (mistaken identity gangbanger hit). 8 shots fired, mix of 9mm and .40 by the casings I saw. Two shooters, or one guy doing a two-gun-Neo-imitation, but likely two shooters, about two feet back from the trunk lid of a Buick. Out of eight rounds fired directly through the rear windshield at a nonmoving, unsuspecting target, from all of three yards, only one hit,in the lower back (9mm). The others were either stopped by the glass, directed somewhere else after going through the glass, or stopped by the car seat.

He lived.
 
I had an old 258ci 4.0L chrysler I4 (check me on the Ci there) that was pretty much junk in my book. THe block itself wasnt too bad but it was out in the middle of a field and its not like theres any shortage of these motors about so being the responsible teenager I am, I deemed it that the most effective way of dealing with this problem included a rifle.


Using my trusty Bolt action Savage in .223 and a bulk pack've Barnaul hollowpoints, within 50 rounds the block was toast. Most of the rounds didnt achieve complete penetration when they struck but I had probably a tenth of all of the rounds fired bite through and through. A good deal lodged halfway inside the cylinder while still others penetrated one side but bounced off and merely impacted the other side.

Now there -are- several factors I feel that hasnt been addressed just yet. What effect does the bodywork itself have on a bullet, does that degrade/destroy the FMJ's jacket or does it merely take the wind out've its sails? How does the cylinder react to a bullet strike when pressurized? This is without really understanding the differences in metalurgy from year to year, and all sorts of other factors like metal fatigue on an older motor or perhaps spiderwebbing. What about heat, when the motor is up and thrumming along at normal temperature what sort've difference does that make in the metal's willingness to deform?
 
Personally I have only seen 1 case where a shot at a BG through the windshield didn't penetrate. That was some GI issue 130 FMJ that failed to penetrate a Jeep windshield at about 60 ft. 35 degrees or better angle.
Busted glass in the eye stopped the guy anyway.

Sam
 
Lots of interesting claims on this thread.... :p

As some have mentioned, angle has a lot to do with it as would bullet construction.

Again, some very interesting claims... :D
 
Window angle makes a huge difference, too.

I know very well an older cop who around 1970 was in a running car chase and shot a late '60's Chevy several times with a Browning HP with hot SuperVel 90g HP's (the passenger of the car was shooting backward at him at the time), and scored hit after hit on the back window, only to have 'em travel up into the headliner of the car and stop against the forward windshield frame over the bad guys' heads. The cars of the time had acute angles to the rear windows, which prevented penetration. He later moved to a .45 for increased momentum. Never got to test that out on a car, though.
 
The FMJ prob would penetrate more easily than HP of any caliber
Click to expand...
I wonder if the HP would have better 'purchase' on the glass by way of deformation, and thereby 'negotiate' its way through the glass?
 
I wonder if the HP would have better 'purchase' on the glass by way of deformation, and thereby 'negotiate' its way through the glass?
Click to expand...

Statistically, that doesn't seem to be the case. It appears to increase the fragmentation and/or deflection of the bullet. Remeber, JHP is designed to expand in soft tissue, not punch through the hard surface which also happens to be at an angle.
 
I think that when talking windshield glass, it's penetration not expansion that is the critical measure.

Hence my earlier post that sharp-edged bullets with a wide meplat (like a hard-cast SWC) are perhaps best.

I sincerely doubt a JHP would still expand even close to its designed performance after the edges of the cavity have been severly deformed.

Unfortunately, one cannot carry a magazine or speedloader loaded specifically for windshield penetration.
 
Five rounds of shotgun slugs would likely solve the problem though. :) .72 caliber chunk of lead makes a nice hole in most anything. Friend of mine shot up several "technicals" (Guntrucks) in Somalia with a Mossberg 590 full of slugs and apparently it went through doors and windows like they weren't even there, whereas the 5.56mm wasn't always getting through.
 
I sincerely doubt a JHP would still expand even close to its designed performance after the edges of the cavity have been severly deformed.
Click to expand...

Did you read my first post in this thread?

Expansion still occured, but was limited in all calibers.

All rounds did make it to nearly .50caliber, and on the order of 70% weight retained.

I carry the Winchester Ranger because of it's known performance on this and avariety of other targets. It's hardly a magic laser, but it is also not likely to do anything stupid like those 90grs above ;)
 
As a teen, I shot the web of a train rail with a .303 square on from 30 yds.
A soft point lead bullet left a crater .5 wide by .5 inches deep! These rails are WAY tougher than an engine block, being composed of 1% manganese steel.:rolleyes:
 
Yes, artherd, I agree

While the Ranger T is perhaps the best designed 9mm bullet out there, few shooters or concealed carry people have access to buying them. My statement was directed more toward the 99% of the other loadings offered out there like WWB (not that I'm trying to pick on that particular one). Look at the Federal 9BPLE, and I think you'll agree that it wouldn't take much of a sideways blow to close that opening up enough to hinder reliable expansion.

What makes the Ranger T so effective, I believe, is that its jacket is revese tapered. IOW, it is thickest at the nose and thinnest at the base. This design, in my opinion, prevents the hollow point from being crushed inward by the angled glass and thus allows it to still get some expansion in jello.
 
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well the best thing about shooting that car on page one is that we took video of it and it shows the penetration through the block, let me see if I can find that cd. If not we are going back in 2 weeks and the car is still there, ill have to take some more video.
 
I was told by a retired police sergeant that the Rhode Island State Police use the .357 Sig round because it is the only round that can penetrate a car's windshield.
 
A long time ago some buddies were fooling around with a 25ACP in a car. We heard a gunshot..and you guessed it..accompanied by a small bullet hole in the windshield. So at least from the inside, a .25 will go through a windshield.
 
Boy,

Homeland Security's GOT to be going "WTS?", on this one.

What practical purpose would this serve?

Are you talking penetrate the windshield ONLY, or penetrate AND hit a target behind the glass?

As to penetrating the glass, AND hitting a target behind it, IMO(Especially in a "cold shot" situation) forget it. This is a deflection heuristics/conundrum which baffles the world's best SWAT snipers.

As to merely penetrating the windshield glass, depending on vehicle speed, windshield angle(Pickups are much shallower than sports cars, generally, for example.) angle of your position, and other variables; it's arguable that almost any caliber in the right circumstances COULD penetrate the windshield. I personally would not trust most pistol rounds, possibly magnums excepted, to succeed in any general situation.

Also, if you DO penetrate on the first shot, that doesn't mean the next shot's going to be clear. The windshield may not shatter, and still provide protection from following rounds.
 
What about heat, when the motor is up and thrumming along at normal temperature what sort've difference does that make in the metal's willingness to deform?
Click to expand...

Heat increases a metal's tendency to deform. So shooting a hot engine block would be helpful to an extent if complete penetration was the goal.
 
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