From: towle%gunner.dnet.dec.com@nntpd.lkg.dec.com (Clark Towle Gunsmith)
Subject: Re: Can U explode bulletproof glass with a bullet???
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation

##From article <tonlun.747399492@Minsk>, by tonlun@minsk.docs.uu.se (Tony Lundstedt):
## Hi!
##
## I read in a book about two persons that were about to steal some
## diamonds from a safe. In the safe the walls were covered with
## bullet-proof glass. Behind the glass were the shelves with diamonds.
##
## These people took a lead-bullet, drilled a hole in it and put some
## water in the hole. They put a cover on. They shot at the glass which
## exploded on impact. It was supposed that the water couldn't be
## compressed. The lead behind the water was pushing it into the glass, and
## ... Is that possible in the real world?
##
## I'm just curious.......
##


 I had the opportunity to do some serious penetration tests on 3" thick bullet
proof glass a year or so ago. Glass was removed from a bank so the newfangled
lexan stuff could be installed so rather than see it go to waste the bank
Pres. who just happened to be a customer of mine decided to call me to see if
I (we) could make use of the 8 or so panels.. We did have fun...:-)

 To make a long story short; nothing we shot at it penetrated or caused the
glass to shatter and break up on the first shot.

 The closest to complete penetrate was a Remington 6mm magnum wherin a large
softball sized bulge was created on the back side of the glass.

 A 12 gage shotgun slug did an awesome amount of damage and caused the
largest spider web effect but was no where near to penetrating it.

 The 223 got it's attention and caused a lot of surface damage but never did
crack the glass all the way through like the other rifle calibers did.

 The 3006 with military surplus armor piercing ammo was stopped about halfway
through with the steel core actually bouncing backwards and out of the impact
hole and landing on the ground about 5 feet in front of the glass.

 It laughed at the 44 magnum and every other pistol caliber we tried. Most
pistol bullets would bounce back out of the impact crater especially the
45acp hardball loads.

 Most rifle calibers needed at least 3 shots into the same spot to penetrate
the glass and all of the pistols we tried needed a bunch more that that. The
38 special was a joke... after about 20 shots into the same spot all that
happened was there was a pile of lead embedded in the glass.. :-)

 The 6mm magnum went through consistently on the second shot.

 The 12 gage shotgun gave a good show but failed to penetrate after 5
shots even though it produced a pumpkin sized bulge in the backside of the
glass. Admittedly, tack driving accuracy with the slugs was hard to achieve so
it was hard to hit the same spot repeatedly.

 All firing was done from 50 yards and yes we did wear eye and face shields.

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 %	     construed as to represent the views of my employer.             %
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From: "Julius Chang" <p00302@psilink.com>
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: Bullet-proof walls (was Re: Home protection, shot size)

I once shot at 1 3/8" thick plexiglas using .38 Spl., 9mm, .45ACP, and
.357 magnum.  The first three calibers didn't put a mark on the plexi.
One shot of .357 introduced a small, subsurface annular fracture.
It took about 10 shots to break the plexi target (never penetrated in
the usual sense) into two or three pieces.

There was nothing special about the particular thickness that I
tested.  It just happened to be some scrap material I picked up.

You probably can find Lexan or plexi sheets at your local plastics
dealer.  Check the Yellow Pages.  You probably can even cut a small
sheet and insert it into your briefcase, backpack, or softside folio
to fashion a makeshift ballistic panel.

Other friends of mine conducted penetration tests on old IBM OS/2 SDK
manuals (they worked for a well-known software competitor).  I forget
the specific results, but you could try lining critical walls with
heavy furniture and bookshelves.

-Julius