Will An Exterior Door Stop A Bullet?

I knew the answer to that before even watching the movie. I doubt if an exterior wall of a house would even stop a bullet. A wall consists of vinyl siding, 15/32 OSB, fiberglass insulation, and drywall usually, that won't even stop a 22 LR bullet let alone a 223, Forget about standing behind a wall to shoot out a window, not unless you constructed the wall to stop a bullet. This isn't the movies here in the real world

It never ceases to amaze me that so many homes in the US are made from crappy materials. In the UK almost all houses are made from either steel reinforced concrete or double layered insulated red brick, and we don't have any hurricanes to worry about.

The doors still won't stop a bullet though.

Even a standard brick wall doesn't give much defense against high velocity ammo so unless your door is 1/2" solid steel, the safest place to be is in an underground bunker.

Originally posted by Pilgrum
Even a standard brick wall doesn't give much defense against high velocity ammo so unless your door is 1/2" solid steel, the safest place to be is in an underground bunker.

I have seen high powered rounds like .30-06 and 8mm Mauser go clear through an entire car. As in through the radiator, through the firewall, through the front seat and the back seat, and out the trunk. A 1/2 inch solid steel door probably wouldn't stop it any better unless it was hardened armor plate.

On the other hand, the 5.56 won't even make it through a car door. It will penetrate the outer door plate but all the energy is dissipated in the glass window and the mechanisms inside the door so it won't penetrate the inner door plate.

What can I say, I had an interesting childhood...

reply to post by GoodOlDave


5.56mm DOES punch through car doors easily, or at least SS109 does. It has a steel penetrator core that is specifically designed for this purpose. Admittedly the jacket tends to strip from the round when passing through, reducing the effectiveness, but it will still kill. Part of my job used to be practicing engaging targets in vehicles with 5.56mm weapons so I have a bit of an idea about this.

Originally posted by PaddyInf
reply to post by GoodOlDave

 

5.56mm DOES punch through car doors easily, or at least SS109 does. It has a steel penetrator core that is specifically designed for this purpose. Admittedly the jacket tends to strip from the round when passing through, reducing the effectiveness, but it will still kill. Part of my job used to be practicing engaging targets in vehicles with 5.56mm weapons so I have a bit of an idea about this.

You are correct. Cars today do not offer much penetration protection from most any center fire round. The best protection cars offer is the deflection of a well-aimed bullet from it's intended target... but you can be easily struck by one that would have normally missed too!
As an aside, I have seen much better penetration on steel plate by fmj 7.62x39mm than the SS109 5.56. Anyway, a car isn't good protection from either one.

My front doors are very thick (thicker than common doors) and solid wood (oak). Still, I doubt they'd stop anything other than smaller caliber rounds. The shop door though (metal), would stop a lot. When I had to put holes in it to mount something, I went through 3 drill bits made for metal, to get that sign attached.

Our home is concrete block (and all exterior doors have additional locks that can slide in the top and bottom of the door, into the floor and frame). About the only real vulnerability is the windows and glass doors, and we're gradually putting ballistic film on those (for hurricanes). For an imminent storm (or if the SHTF), we'll use bolt on wood though to cover them up.