DVD stops a bullet in restaurant shooting

I thought this was interesting. I would never have thought a DVD might help in stopping bullets. I would do some testing to see if this works. The article says the bullet went through a window first. Could DVD material have more worth than we know???

Telegraph.uk

the article says that it wasn't just a dvd but also a dvd case. this was after passing through a window too. obstructions slow down bullets. a dvd case/dvd would not stop a bullet if shot at directly, me thinks.

The window would not only slow it but also flatten it a bit creating a greater surface area. The window having slowed the velocity and begun to flatten the bullet sent into a DVD case which is very flexi would have lost a lot of it's energy and penetrating features.

The situation makes me think it was a handgun. Handgun rounds relative to rifle rounds do not have near the velocity or penetrating ability.

A thick window would seriously kill a .45's or 9mm's power and penetration. Typical "thug" guns are .380's and 9mm's.

A .357 or .44 mag would have had more power behind them and probably hit the guy. Maybe even a .38.

Says here the bullet was knocked off it's path. Not exactly stopped. That changes the physics a bit. But much of what I said still remains true.

What happened? The bullet ricocheted into McRoy, but it hit the DVD case in his pocket, deflecting the impact and failing to allow the projectile to penetrate the skin. He found the shattered disc and the bullet fragment in his coat a few minutes later. Source

[edit on 20-2-2008 by thisguyrighthere]

Inner city kids have known this for years. Thats why they line the inside pockets of their Starter jackets with CD's before they leave the record store.

9 mm, maybe. Anything else would be doubtful. Even a BB could shatter a DVD, maybe go through the DVD and the case.

Mythbusters did a test, although I don't recall the details, of various weapons on a variety of mediums. If I recall, the basic outcome was:
9 mm - Basically useless
Shotgun - Decent
M1 Garand - Destroy anything.

well look at that... dvds are good for something!

reply to post by Yarcofin


I'm going to go with .22 caliber here, folks. I think that a 9mm or other medium power handgun round would've certainly put a hole in the guy at such short range, even after travelling through a glass building window and the case/DVD. On the other hand, this sounds par for the course with a .22lr that's very light and very easily deflected, but also low powered and easily stopped for a firearm round.

reply to post by vor78


i agree with you vor that was my first thought also. i got to thinking that maybe depending on the angle it struck maybe i would have skipped off- like a bullet with do off of water. but if he found fragments in his clothes it leads to me the belief that:
a) was just a 22lr or a 25 acp(which is arguably the biggest joke of any cartridge ever made)
or
b) the bullet itself had already been fragmented so it did not have enough energy left to do any damage so it probably was a light, weak cartridge
believe me a 22 lr will go through a dvd- hell it will go through a golf ball-but afterbeing suppressed by glass richocets and such maybe not
and if it was a 25 acp the guy who shot it should play the lottery because he actually hit something smaller than 25 sq ft with it! i guess it was both their lucky day lol

It was quite a trip that the bullet took, way too many many thing's to be able to let it have it's true inertian potential.

When the gun accidentally went off, the bullet hit one of the two fighting men before shattering a window and striking Mr McRoy, police said in a statement.

I also believe the guy was very lucky, it more than likely would've penetrated him, if it weren't for the DVD.

A friend got shot with a 25ACP one day, kid walked up to him, stuck his mom's Raven25 in his gut and squeezed one off. My friend reached out, grabbed this kid by his throat and beat him to a bloody pulp. When he lifted up his shirt, he had a paintball style welt and bruise. The slug didn't penetrate a layer of denim jacket and t-shirt.

The DVD, a gift from an employee who had recorded a show about fire extinguishers...

Uhm... euphemism?

Some sort of armoring with DVDs would probably be more expensive than just laminating layers of plexi and aluminum foil. Would be cool to try both actually...

Originally posted by ColdWater
Inner city kids have known this for years. Thats why they line the inside pockets of their Starter jackets with CD's before they leave the record store.

HAHA!

Kind of like a ghetto body armor. Good to know. I bet DVD players work better. I'll remember to tuck some inside my jacket the next time I'm at Best Buy.

reply to post by DezertSkies


lmfao
my point exactly dezert
my 22 wmr has 3x as much energy left at 100 yards as a 25 even has at the muzzle
my friend had a 25-i'm stilllaughing after years- the ammo cost more than for my 45 and we went out to shoot it and at 10 ft i hit a 55 gallon drum twice out of 10 rounds. and it barely dent it!!!! and i am not a bad shot either.
but in this case i do not know the circumstances and how many deflctions there were to cause the bullet to lose energy- which with enough may have been enough for the dvd to stop it
altho i still believe the bullet had fragmented beforehand and that is why he found fragments and it is just attributed to the dvd
and if it was a25 i'm surprised it broke the window lmao