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- Path: sparky!uunet!dtix!mimsy!gatech.edu
- From: emory!ke4zv!gary@gatech.edu (Gary Coffman)
- Newsgroups: rec.guns
- Subject: Shooting Cars was(Re: Gun blast noise in a car?)
- Message-ID: <1992Dec25.162656.8353@ke4zv.uucp>
- Date: 26 Dec 92 00:17:39 GMT
- Sender: magnum@mimsy.umd.edu
- Organization: Destructive Testing Systems
- Lines: 63
- Approved: gun-control@cs.umd.edu
-
- In article <1992Dec21.220818.27993@michael.apple.com> ems@michael.apple.com (E. Michael Smith) writes:
- #
- #Ought to make one heck of a mess one way or the other ... should get
- #a fair amount of attention ... may get me killed ... but I'm not
- #going to submit to any armed thug. I've got a 2000 lb bullet, and I'm
- #going to use it!
- #
- #In the scenario you stated, the perp ought to end up crushed between
- #my car and the mini-van ... I would then hit reverse and do a 180 as
- #soon as I could. I should have about 5 miles before the lack of a
- #radiator takes out my engine ...
- #
- #Do most car jackers use a 9mm? And what level of threat is a 9mm after
- #passing through the sheet metal of a car? (i.e. is it still likely to
- #be lethal after passing through {hood at a grazing angle, dash materials,
- #etc...)?
-
- Well with a little 2,000 pound car, the bullet may not notice, but with
- John's 4,500 pound Plymouth it would be like shooting at an APC. :-)
-
- I've had the pleasure of shooting up old junk cars, a friend
- runs a previously owned parts emporium, IE junkyard. Cars slated for
- the crusher are fair game. Another friend is a "merchant of death"
- with an interesting supply of machineguns and other destructive
- devices. 9mms sometimes penetrate, and sometimes fail miserably.
- The geometry of the shot is critical, as is the thickness and quality
- of the sheetmetal and the weight of the bullet. My opinion is that *if*
- it penetrates, it'll still be lethal.
-
- A recent highway shooting here in Atlanta is instructive. The bullet,
- a .357 or .38 SPL, weight unknown, entered the rear door of a Mazda just
- below the window trim, penetrated the door, penetrated the back of the
- driver's seat, penetrated the driver, penetrated the rear view mirror,
- and made a nice clean keyhole through the windshield. On the other hand,
- I shot a 1970 Chevy with a 9mm Uzi on rock and roll and the bullets, 115 gr
- HP, penetrated the door, the rolled down window glass, and lodged in the
- inner upholstery of the door. Another clip with 147 gr solids penetrated
- nicely, chewing up the upholstery of the seat, but stopping in the far
- door.
-
- .45ACP hardball dented the sheetmetal, but didn't penetrate. 255 gr Keiths
- in .45 Long Colt hot handloads in my 7 inch barrel Casull passed through
- both doors, making very ragged and large holes in the opposite door. 240 gr
- jacketed hollow point .44 Mags in a Ruger Super Blackhawk, 7.5 inch barrel,
- usually passed through both doors making neat .429 holes, no expansion.
- 7.62 NATO rounds from a M60 reliably penetrated longitudinally as well as
- crosswise. 5.56 NATO rounds from a Mini-14 sometimes penetrated sideways
- and failed longitudinally in all cases. .50 BMG shredded the sheetmetal and
- penetrated completely from any angle. (That was fun) I wanted to try a LAW
- rocket, but my friends said no, there'd be too many small pieces to pick
- up. I did shoot a dump truck on another occasion with a 75mm recoiless. It
- blew up real good.
-
- So my advice is that if you are bothered by other drivers, have a vehicle
- mount fifty at the ready. But don't count on your little ricebox being an
- APC.
-
- Gary
- --
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