My question is, what caliber bullet would it take to go through that door? Would a 38 hollow point do it, or would it take a larger caliber to do it? Since I’m on the inside, I’d like to know what someone outside would have to shoot to go through the door where I would be standing.
I’m sure some of you gun guys know the answer to this question.
You must have some stout hinges on that door. If it really is 2x 1/4” plates, then it’s going to weigh about 350 lbs if it’s a standard 30” door, and over 400 if it’s a 36.
Any rifle round will go through it. Some pistol rounds will.
True story. I had a '73 Lincoln Continental Mk VI, lovely old blue boat, you could land an aircraft on the hood of the thing.
I drove the hell out of it for years until I turned a piston sideways in the 460 dumptruck motor under the hood. I made it home with the bottom of the oil pan completely gone, and parked it out in the back acre. It never moved again.
It became the target/backstop for light arms practice.
At point blank, the heavy .45 pistol rounds would not penetrate the door. They rocked the old boat, but they didn't enter the passenger compartment.
A .22 rifle round would easily pass through the door and usually got stuck in the far door from a range of 50 meters.
/johnny
First of all the weak spot for most doors is not the door, but the lock. One good kick and the door jamb shatters and the door flies open. Most door frames are wood so most people have an inch of pine keeping the door closed. I was recently robbed and the door was fine, as was the lock. The inch of wood was laying about 8 feet inside my house and that little metal security bar that allows you to open the door a few inches to talk to people, well that shattered as well.
As to whether your door, brick, concrete block, or wood home will stop bullets. No it won’t. It takes about a quarter inch of steel to stop a lower caliber bullet.
There are plenty of video’s on youtube which demonstrate this. Every caliber from a handguns .38, 9mm, .45acp, and rifles 5.56, .308 and 7.62 will penetrate into the home through wood, brick, or concrete block. Not just through the exterior wall but into the home and interior rooms. generally stopping at the second exterior wall. The rifle rounds will generally go all the way through the home although the 5.56 tend to fragment and have less overall penetration.
Two 1/4 sheets? Most doors are 1/8 when heavy built. No matter. A 308 can make it through both. If only a 1/8 sheet, then a 5.56 steel penetrator can make it through, barely. A 44 magnum or better would be required to make it through both sheets at 1/8, and that 44 bullet had better be a FMJ/TMJ and 240gr or lighter for the best velocity. A pudgy bear round like the 270gr Speer DeepCurl Soft Point probably won’t make it through both sheets very well. I have rang 1/2 metal targets with that 270gr bullet and it barely made a dent.