Sand as a Bullet trap/barricade

[thorkyl]

This is an interesting web site that was sent to me.
It is not my own creation.

It discusses the use of sand filled walls to stop bullets.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot7.htm

Basically a 2x6 wall filled with sand and drywall on both sides of the sand stopped 5.56, 9mm, 45 acp, 7.62x51, 12ga slug, and 45/70

an interesting read

 

[Acetone]

That was an interesting read. I found conclusion 1 to be the most interesting...

"1. It's still fun to shoot stuff."

 

[Big country]

Yeah at the end of almost all his reviews it says something like shooting stuff is fun. Check out the rest of [url]www.theboxotruth.com[/URL] and you'll find a lot of good info.

 

[Libertarian_Longhorn]

Now that's a sophisticated sandbag.

 

[DCortez]

Interesting...

 

[30+GSXR]

fun read thx for posting

 

[Greg_TX]

Interesting, but is there a practical way to apply this? Studs are 2x4 (well, 1.75 x 3.5), not 6". I don't see how you could fill a wall with sand without the weight of the sand pushing the drywall off the studs. You could maybe fill the wall up part way and have a low barrier for protection. Maybe use it for a specially designed safe room where you use 2x6 studs, plywood backer board with drywall over that.

 

[thorkyl]

Interesting, but is there a practical way to apply this? Studs are 2x4 (well, 1.75 x 3.5), not 6". I don't see how you could fill a wall with sand without the weight of the sand pushing the drywall off the studs. You could maybe fill the wall up part way and have a low barrier for protection. Maybe use it for a specially designed safe room where you use 2x6 studs, plywood backer board with drywall over that.

I would not try to apply this to real life protective barrier, however if your looking at a cheap "bullet trap" this would be the way to go.

 

[junkyguns]

adding sand into a wall cavity may slow a handgun bullet but a 223 will zip right on through,

you dont want to do this in your HOME ! I do know a little bit about drywall, I do own a drywall company . If you fill a wall cavity with sand you invite ROT any moisture will collect in the sand and invite bugs mold and Wood rot. it will vitually eat through the drywall over a short operiod of time. glasser saftey slugs are the answer ! or a 12 gauge with buck shot or some "T" shot in it .

 

[Big country]

I USED to hang shit rock and I'll second that. it wouldn't take long for the sand to take its toll on the shit rock.

 

[thorkyl]

I think the purpose of the article is to show how sand stops the round.

Given the cost of drywall and it inability to stop anything on its own, it was a good containment vessel for the sand.

I built one of those traps for my own testing and after about 30 shots the thing fell apart.

If a person was looking to make a "Cheap" bullet trap this would be the way to do it as long as you know it will not last.

 

[San Antone RR]

BOT is a good read.

 

[RetArmySgt]

The way we did it in the military when it came to Check Point bunkers was we took "T" post and used them to hold up pallets (pallets placed with the post inside) then placed sandbags with PACKED sand on both sides. that was the outer wall. then we would put more pallets on the back side or inside of the bunker. we would then build a roof the same way. Would take about 20 mins with 4 men and we took a M249 to it out of an entire belt the only rounds to go through it were the few strays that went through the viewing port. It actually takes 6" of hard packed sand to truly stop a rifle round such as the 5.56.

 

[CanTex]

Way back when, in another life, we packed snow between downed tree limbs/branches etc. It was interesting to find that you could effectively stop bullets with snow. Now practical applications for this in Texas are few and far between.... but hey we all have UBIs in our brains (Useless Bits of Information) that have to come out now and again...

And having packed snow between branches to stop bullets is another reason I choose to live in Texas...

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Interesting, but is there a practical way to apply this? Studs are 2x4 (well, 1.75 x 3.5), not 6". I don't see how you could fill a wall with sand without the weight of the sand pushing the drywall off the studs. You could maybe fill the wall up part way and have a low barrier for protection. Maybe use it for a specially designed safe room where you use 2x6 studs, plywood backer board with drywall over that.

I am thinking that as a defensive measure one would only need to have sand about 4ft up the wall.....keep a low profile if under attack, but this still does not solve the wall thickness problem.

just my .02

 

[Wolfwood]

i wonder what my landord would say if i filled my walls with sand