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February 20, 2013, 12:26 PM | #1 |
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Hillbilly body armor test
In a thread on another gun forum, a user showed us that floor tiles could be used to stop rifle rounds. I decided to test whether it was possible to make homemade "body armor" that would actually work. I'm pleasantly surprised by the results.
I used three PEI grade V porcelain floor tiles with a coat of Herculiner on the front and between tiles and a thick coat (about a quarter inch) on the back to capture fragments. I placed a paper grocery bag behind (to see if anything came through) and shot it at about twenty feet with .223, 7.62x39mm, and .40 S&W. Unfortunately, I didn't know the close range POI on my AK as well as on my AR so I had to shoot it three times with the AK to get a hit where I wanted. The reason is that the first shot was too close to both edges and caused the whole corner to bend back into the paper. I don't *think* the bullet made it through but I couldn't be sure until the third shot. Afterward, I shot it with an additional ten rounds of .40 and not a single round made it through. This stuff did quite a bit better than I expected. Video of test |
February 20, 2013, 01:34 PM | #2 |
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Now you've gone and let the "cat out of the bag" and we know what going to be hanging all over the out side of the next generation of Iranian tanks.
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February 20, 2013, 01:52 PM | #3 |
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How heavy would that be if you put a slab on both sides of your body?
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February 20, 2013, 02:20 PM | #4 |
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Re: Hillbilly body armor test
Would you duct tape it to your back?
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February 20, 2013, 02:21 PM | #5 |
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Thats cool. What is Herculiner? I hope Gecko45 doesn't find out about this stuff.
On THR there is a thread about what to put in walls to stop penetration. Now we know what to tell him. |
February 20, 2013, 03:06 PM | #6 |
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I'm pretty sure it would not stop .300 Winmag.
Three tiles weigh about 12 lbs without the bed liner but for the next iteration, I plan to use only two tiles, less bed liner, and cut them to 10"x12" "shooter's cut." |
February 20, 2013, 06:20 PM | #7 |
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I am witness to some research involving another ceramic material that is widely used commercially. The idea is to back up the ceramic with something that will prevent it from blowing out the back. The ceramic grinds the bullet up while the backing stops the momentum.
This backing could theoretically consist of plastics, aluminum or plywood. It is amazing to see what windshield of car will do to most bullets. Even though a bullet might penetrate the windshield it loses a lot of its structure making its way through. |
February 20, 2013, 06:48 PM | #8 | |
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February 20, 2013, 08:12 PM | #9 | |
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Neat test, Andrew. Thanks for sharing.
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February 20, 2013, 08:23 PM | #10 | |
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February 21, 2013, 06:49 AM | #11 |
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Interesting, thanks for the video.
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February 21, 2013, 08:10 AM | #12 |
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Impressive, all you need now is a plate carrier. Two things, weight of an individual plate and have you considered trying ceramic plates?
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February 21, 2013, 10:48 AM | #13 |
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Ceramic is actually not as tough as porcelain. Grade V porcelain is the toughest you can get, so far as I know.
For the noobs (I know it looks like I'm new but I forgot my old login credentials) the comments about .300 Winmag and duct taped plates refer to the original mall ninja, Gecko45. Great story and worth a trip down the Google hole if you wanna kill some time. |
February 21, 2013, 05:44 PM | #14 |
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I think you mean to say that ceramic is not as hard as porcelain. Porcelain, or vitrified ceramic, is usually much harder than unvitrified ceramic, but is more brittle as well. So porcelain isn't very tough necessarily when it comes to fracturing.
Fracture issues have been problematic in the design of ceramic armor as well. The ceramic needed to be hard enough to stop incoming rounds, not completely shatter when impacted, and not break apart under normal wear and tear of handling and wearing. So upon impact with a ceramic piece of armor, the ceramic is formulated to stop the bullet, deform and absorb the impact and catch bullet spall, and do so without shattering the entire plate, thereby allowing the plate to be viable for multiple impacts. So the fractures and microfactures created on impact are prevented from spreading and as such, keeping the ceramic largely intact except for the directly impacted location.
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February 21, 2013, 05:50 PM | #15 | |
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"If plan A is for you to take multiple rounds of .308 in your back, I would come up with a plan B." |
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February 22, 2013, 04:00 AM | #16 |
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Didn't Myth Busters do some test like this?
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February 22, 2013, 04:53 AM | #17 |
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There is a bullet proof vest called Dragon Skin that works off the same principle. Rather than using large plates of ceramic, they use multiple ceramic disks that are arranged like scales (hence the name dragon skin). If a large plate is hit and shatters, it's ability to deflect bullets is greatly compromised. The force required to break the ceramic is what actually stops the bullet. It is similar to styrofoam inside a bike helmet. While the foam is actually pretty hard, it shatters on impact absorbing the energy of the impact.
I still don't think I'd walk around with flooring tiles duct taped to my body though...
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February 22, 2013, 06:57 AM | #18 |
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Wasn't Dragon Skin rather thoroughly discredited shortly after it was first introduced? Or am I getting it mixed up with some other personal body armor scammer?
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February 22, 2013, 07:50 AM | #19 | ||
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That said I hope I never get handed dragon skin even if it DOES work as well as it seems to. Why? It weighs 10lbs more than the plate carrier I wore in Afghanistan and the ESAPI plates work well enough. No thank you.
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February 22, 2013, 08:46 AM | #20 | |
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Nicely done, I love doing tests like that. Very impressive performance against the 7.62x39, which penetrated at least 12-15 inches of phone books/computer manuals in my testing.
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February 22, 2013, 01:48 PM | #21 |
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Interesting test!
Thanks |
February 22, 2013, 02:15 PM | #22 | |
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Typically they would have received a tasking to develop body armor with such and such requirements, "Not more then X pounds, water resistant, stop a Xmm projectile at XXXXXFPS, with a 85% or better rate of success. However they right up the requirements, that's what they design to meet or exceed. Once they have done this and the prototypes test out, a contract get's let out to produce them and companies bid for the work. The companies products also must be tested to make sure they meet the same requirements as the contract stipulates. Once the companies' products past testing then they can submit bids on the contract. Every day, all contracts that have been awarded, for $6.5 million or greater, are posted at this website http://www.defense.gov/contracts/. I like this site cause I can find out who actually has work and not just who is trying to get work.
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February 22, 2013, 07:24 PM | #23 | |
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Very interesting test, thanks Andrew.
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February 22, 2013, 08:03 PM | #24 | |
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Quote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Skin
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February 22, 2013, 08:11 PM | #25 | |
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Anywho, I think I might take a whack at this and test it against my M1A with 147gr FMJs.
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