ELKCAMP PRESENTS
THE "OVER PENETRATION" MYTH
I have
heard it said that the .223 is a poor choice for "home defense" based
on the belief that it will go through walls and into the neighbor’s house. (Not
a good thing for neighborhood relations). Current discussions lately have
brought up the question what would penetrate more layers of sheetrock, a .223
or a .45.
Well, lets
throw in a 9mm just for fun. The .45 is a 230 gr FMJ round nose traveling in
the 700-800 FPS range, the 9mm is a 124 gr FMJ round nose traveling at
1000-1100 FPS, and the .223 is a 62 gr FMJ boat tail going in the neighborhood
of 2500 fps.
Disclaimer,
these results are not the most scientific, but great for starting arguments.
And go
ahead, try this at home, I could give a rats ass!
The
"Contraption" multiple single and double layers of 5/8 drywall
The
test results
Some
Cool Close-ups:
The
9mm
The
45acp
The
.223
And the
test results in a confusing spreadsheet:
|
|
|
single
layers of 5/8" drywall |
double
layers of 5/8" drywall |
total
layers of 5/8" drywall |
area
of bullet hole in square inches |
total
thickness material moved in inches |
total
volume material moved in cubic in |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
45acp |
|
6 |
1 |
8 |
0.159 |
5 |
0.795 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.223 |
|
6 |
3.5 |
13 |
0.039 |
8.125 |
0.317 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9mm |
|
6 |
5 |
16 |
0.099 |
10 |
0.989 |
This
would lead one to believe that:
1.)
The 9mm would penetrate the most walls and moves more material then either
of the other two
2.)
The 45acp would penetrate the least walls while moving almost as much material
as the 9mm
3.)
The .223 does not seem, by this data, to pose much more of a danger then
either of the other calibers.