LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Pictures! AAR Vehicle Defense
Here is a brief After Action Report (AAR) from our most recent Vehicle Defense - Handgun Course.
It was a great class. The weather was very decent - warm, dry (yes dry) and with a slight southern breeze with minor gusts at times.
Rick, one of OFA's owners, is tight with a local Towing Company and they donated a Saturn 4 Door car for us to shoot around and through. We used the car to shoot from various positions including underneath, over, and around.
Then we were able to shoot from inside as our has already shown and also shoot thru from the outside. Keep in mind the cars of the last 15-20 years are not the solid metal/heavy sheet metal cars of old. The sheet metal doors and cabin are thin and much of the car is plastic. The ridge door frames (if you can call it that) are lightweight metal tubes. These cars are not as robust as we'd like them to be (or think they are).
Shooting into the vehicle validated what many of us could have predicted:
1. .45 ACP Hardball and many name brand Hollow Points only penetrate the outer skin of the car but did not (yes that's right) did not go through the door liner and thus was stopped or trapped between the outer and inner door. I realize many will be skeptical - but we repeated this test numerious times using a varieity of .45 cal handguns and rounds. Don't get discouraged! There are some very promising results about your beloved .45 ACP in #3 below!
2. 9mm both Hardball and Hollow Points went thru and into the seat or 3D simulated threats we had seated in the vehicle. Also .40 went though - both in Hardball and Hollow Points. Granted the 9 and 40 went though but the results are intermittent. Some did better than others. But most went in enough to strike the 3D threats that were dressed in a polo shirt.
3. The BEST Performer is the Cor-Bon DPX (by quite a bit), followed by Speer Gold Dots. The Ranger SXT, Silver Tips et al did "okay". Cor Bon 45 ACP went through both the outer and inner door, ripping the seat or going through the 3D Threats and then lodging in the door or floor molding on the other side. Very impressive stuff!
4. .223 FMJ performed okay, but .223 TAP both in 60 and 75 grain was superb! It went all the way through the car and pieces/parts of the remaining bullet went into the dirt impact area behind the car
5. 12 gauge Bird Shot at 5 yards didn't fully penetrate the outer door (it did and it didn't). Rick shot it at a spot that had a few handgun holes nearby (the car was very well shot up by then) and that helped facilitate punching a hole in the door. Yes there was a hole in the center but all the shot was stopped by the inner door liner and did not go all the way though.
I did find a chunk of the outer door that showed multiple (make that substantial) pellet imprints but no penetration at all. It looked like someone took a center punch and used a hammer to punch some tiny holes into it. Very unreliable.
6. 12 gauge buckshot - did okay, with about 4 to 5 of the 9 pellets penetrating through the outer door and going into the impact berm. But again the TAP is a solid performer making very favorable penetration and damage. TAP retained the integrity of its pattern making an impressive tight pattern on the outer door. Note to self - buy more TAP!
7. 12 Slug went though the entire car and a student found a chunk of the slug 10 yards downrange and embedded about 6" in the impact berm. (He dug a big chunk out.)
8. 308 TAP and Steel Core (147 grain) will tear up the engine!
While no one test is perfect but based upon other evidence and testimony one can begin to see some patterns here when you compare this with other data.
More to come as I find the rest of my notes and have time. Others who were there can either validate or refine my findings. I was busy doing other things and wasn't able to write everything down. However I did video record every shot with commentary. I hope to publish portions of the video soon-once I figure out how!
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by MrNiceGuy
Bookmarks