Vertical Cover
Looks more like concealment to me. There’s generally no good cover in your house, unless you put some there.
Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.
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September 18th, 2012 at 9:50 am
Yep, but as I said in the comments… “I think I would have some unwanted attention if I used the concrete corner of the concession stand at the local park.”
The errors and technique are the same regardless what you chose to stand behind.
September 18th, 2012 at 10:48 am
All my doorways in my house have Kevlar plates embedded in the drywall.
I had spares from my days defending one of the largest shopping establishments in America. When you run the risk of multiple .338 Lapua shots to the back, you don’t just buy one or two plates.
September 18th, 2012 at 10:52 am
What Im curious about is what it takes to stop a round in a wall. I remember a test from quite a while ago (may have been box of truth, dont recall) wherein several surfaces were tested (all failed) but I dont know what would pass. For example, would 1/4″ cold roll plate stop a bullet, if installed behind drywall? Anyone know a study like that?
September 18th, 2012 at 11:21 am
Robb for the WIN!! There’s no cover unless there’s a washing machine or refrigerator (or a gun-safe) sitting on the floor behind the wall – plus then you can fold clothes or get yourself a refreshment (or a gun!).
September 18th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
I have read a bit about castles, and their defense design through use of false entryways, right angled hallways, kill rooms, and so on.
I have also read a bit about feng shui, the harmonizing of home design to keep good luck in and bad luck out (I paraphrase wildly here).
The two design philosophies look similar to me in many ways.
September 18th, 2012 at 2:08 pm
My hot water heater is in the wall opposite the front door. I always figured I could use it if someone is trying to come in that way. It’s about 3 ft tall.
September 18th, 2012 at 4:28 pm
In regards to walls and how much it takes to armor them…I can tell you that a 10mm 200Gr Hardcast Semi-Wadcutter Double-Tap round fired from a Glock 20 at 12 feet will easily penetrate the sheetrock, the stud, the other sheetrock and a metal cookie sheet…BUT NOT all those things when backed by a stoneware baking sheet from Pampered Chef. This will work to stop only one round since the stoneware functions as reactive armor.
So just add steel cookie sheets backed by stoneware, and you should be good for at least one full power round of 10mm.
Your wife will be pissed about the stoneware when the shock of what just happened wears off, however.
September 18th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
And she will be pissed about the hole in the wall after that.
September 18th, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Wolfman – 3/16″ mild steel at 10 yards will stop any handgun round I tried (didn’t try the FN 5-7, didn’t exist back then. 223 will punch through 1/4″ at 120 yards, 308 at 180. Interestingly, since penetration is a function of velocity it didn’t matter if it was FMJ, HP or SP. Didn’t try AP. 1/2″ at 300 yards will stop 308 but you can see the welts on the back side. Didn’t try it closer, so I don’t know if it would go through at 100.
Rigid construction – cinder blocks filled with mortar, concrete walls, etc. – will stop almost anything for a while, but thin versions (3.5″) suffer fractures with repeated hits, and after a magazine full (308 in this case) fissures open up through the wall, even with rebar holding the wall together.
But…
One of the mentions in the NRA Range Construction Manual references using pea gravel as filler in 2X4 panels hung overhead to keep projectiles from going through the roof of an indoor range. So, being curious, I tried it. Works. A 2X4 wall section filled with clean, dry, small pea gravel – you need to vibrate it to get it to settle tightly – will stop all handgun rounds to 44 mag FMJ (didn’t have anything bigger at the time) and 223. Didn’t try 308, but I know someone who did and they said it worked, for at least a few shots.
Pro tips: First, the 2X4 is the weak point in that wall. Don’t know about 357, but I’ve used 44 mag to punch through the 5.5″ dimension of a pine 2X6 so I could break it in half (didn’t have a saw with me). The fix is use galvanized steel studs. They’re C shaped so the interior of the C can be filled with pea gravel. Haven’t equipped a house with it, but playing with it suggests that 12″ centers would be better than 16″. There’s a fair amount of sideways pressure on the panels screwed to the steel studs, especially close to the bottom. And, if I had my druthers, and actually planned on using this arrangement in my house I think I’d re-engineer the wall to use 2X6 galvanized studs. Couple extra inches of gravel wouldn’t hurt.
Second, drywall won’t hold the gravel. 3/4 plywood is the trick. Didn’t try 1/2, so I don’t know about that. My guess is it would bow out unacceptably.
Third, almost anything will punch a hole through the outer plywood shell and well into the gravel. Several shots close together will allow some of the gravel to drain out, and then you’re hiding behind plywood.
It occurred to me that self-sealing roof membrane on one or both sides of the exterior plywood face (the side you expect bullets to come from) might combat the multi-shot leakage thing. Don’t know if it would, didn’t try it.
I suspect if one were truly concerned, it wouldn’t be a big deal to create a few wall panels in critical spots in a house. Imagine what will go through the minds of the next owners when they remodel…..
September 19th, 2012 at 1:19 am
My thought on the matter was working in layers- and the last layer would have to look just like regular drywall. I never thought of pea gravel, but ir makes sense. Ive not tested any of my suppositions, but I suspect that several layers of hard material (to initiate expansion and sap energy) would allow a sheet of mild steel to stop a bullet. Im not talking fortress grade, just a short duration safe room. Half inch plywood, 12″ centers, filled with a dense material, backed with half inch mdf and a 1/4 steel plate, then glue 1/2″ drywall to the face, and you SHOULD be in good shape. I just havent tested.
September 19th, 2012 at 5:46 am
Wolfman – A reasonable combination might be 3/16″ plate on the incoming side, 1/8″ plate on the back side, pea gravel in between. If the incoming wall is done with 5/8″ drywall except for where the 3/16′ plate is – that section is covered with 1/2″ drywall – a good drywall guy can blend the sections (5/8″ – 3/16″ = 7/16″ which is only 1/16″ less than 1/2″. Or, re-cover the entire wall with 1/4″ drywall). And, you probably don’t need to do the entire wall, just a portion. Saw a wall once where 5/8″ T-111 with 4″ spacing and narrow grooves was done as “budget wainscoting” right on top of 1/2″ drywall (a lot of work went into the sanding and painting….) and while it wasn’t real wainscoting it didn’t look too bad (IIRC, you can now get pre-finished wainscoting panels that have high quality finishes); wainscoting over steel plate would probably work, and that would give you protection for the bottom 3/8 – 1/2 of the wall. Putting a thick chair rail and moulding on top of the wainscoting would help hide some of the transition.
3/16″ plate might be all you need, but if you’ve got the wall apart I’d add the pea gravel. 223 will walk right through it, and 308 doesn’t even know it’s there, but 3/16″ will stop handgun and shot rounds up to 00 buck. Never tested it with slugs, but my guess is it might stop the first couple of them.
FYI, the pea gravel must be completely dry, and “dry to the touch” isn’t dry. The stone will have absorbed water that takes a couple months in a very low humidity environment to pass out. Anything less and you’ve got mold in the wall.
September 20th, 2012 at 12:24 am
According to the US Army, as recent as the previous to current field manual on physical security, a construction can be considered bullet resistant up to 9mm rounds if constructed with 2 1/2″ reinforced concrete, 5/16″ mild steel, 1/4″ armor grade steel, or 4″ grouted cmu or clay brick. 7.62/5.56 resistant is 9/16 mild or 7/16 armor. Considering that, and also considering that these specs are for military installations, I think a standard wall, filled with high density foam insulation, followed by 1/4″ of mild steel, and 1/2″ of fire rated sheetrock would give you sufficient cover for a short period of time without sacrificing the fire rating or building code. Unfortunately, I suspect that adding pea gravel to the wall may compromise code compliance. THAT is a separate rabbithole to dive down.
September 20th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
There are bullet resistant fiberglass panels that you can use in place of drywall. They offer protection ranging from class 1 (.380 and such 380-460ftlbs) to class 4(30-06, 2560-3160ftlbs)
Expensive but extremely useful.