Penetration of Small Arms for Home Defense

Here is a question submitted by one of our readers on the penetrating power of small arms as a result of the post Ammo Penetration Can be a Problem in Home Defense.  I am posting this for you to make comments and suggestions to help answer his questions.  Some of you know more than me on this subject.

Submitted on 2014/.5/14 at 3:30

Will water in a 55 gallon drum be better than dry sand in stopping a 7.62mm bullet? I know ballistics testers use water tanks to test fire guns. I’m building my first home in a bad neighborhood and want exterior protection against random drive-by shootings. Might just go with brick masonry which would at least “slow down” any bullets making a hit possibly survivable.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Respectfully Submitted,

Howard’s answer

Water works, but the main reason they use it in ballistic testing is to keep bullet deformation to a minimum.  If I had the choice to fill the barrels with water or sand for home defense, I would go with sand.  Just remember if a 22 cal round penetrates a barrel of water at the bottom the water will run out.  A sand filled barrel would be easier to repair if damaged.

The information in the following link while a bit outdated from a military standpoint would probably work well for you dealing with home defense from random drive-bys, https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/3-06-11/ch7.htm.

You can also go to https://modernsurvivalonline.com/Files/books/fm/mcwp3353.pdf  and down load the US Marine Corps “Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain” (Mout) Manual and look at Appendix B.

I am aware that the 5.56 rounds have been improved since this manual was written,, but I am not exactly how much.  Does anybody have a good answer?

Howard

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