Do car doors make effective bullet shields?

We've all seen the movies where the bad guys chew up a car door with an Uzi only to have the good guy return fire unscathed.

Will that work in the real world? Very little evidence was located by the author of the article I read in the latest USCCA magazine, Concealed Carry. He decided to test the idea out on a 2012 Chevy Cruze door using a Glock 19X loaded with Speer Gold Dot 124-grain hollow points.

Here's what he found:


Soooooooo, don't hide behind a car door if you get into a shoot out. At least not while driving or riding in a Chevy Cruze.

 

Yeah no. Need that ballistics film applied like a wrap. The film is incredibly hard to tear and will resist bullet penetration. Car doors are tinfoil with cardboard and plastic inners.

 

This is why you always take cover in the front of the vehicle, behind the engine block.

 

He even targeted the part of the door that had an interior portion of metal along with the exterior.

 

I have seen 3/16” Lexan stop a bullet from a 357 magnum, we could install sheets of that inside our door panels and that would hopefully help us in not getting hurt from gunshots

 

What have we come to?

 

I've often thought the same thing from house walls in movies. . .yeah, no. . You'd be dead. . End of story

 

They have these on all the NYPD police cars......

https://danasafetysupply.com/pro-ga...dwBU1T0w12ZOe5JFba103HziYBr9ZZGhoCAjAQAvD_BwE

Most of them are glued to the outside of the doors.

https://www.globalpublicsafety.us/post/nypd-to-spend-1-3m-on-ballistic-protection-for-vehicles

 

Damn $3k per door

 

And they have a lot of cars.

 

And a lot of taxpayers

 

Gang you are all literally a lifesaver. I was getting ready to go take care of business and decided to call in sick after reading this thread. Tomorrow a trip to home depot instead.

 

https://www.dupont.com/life-protection/ballistic-protection.html

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/c/advanced-materials/i/manufacturing/defense/

 

There’s a lot more taxtakers than taxpayers these days…

Side note:those panels are better than nothing. But there are larger gaps around it. A door is “slight” concealment at best, not cover. Good info OP!

 

Pfft. Use a Tundra door, them Tundras are bulletproof.

 

Chevy Cruze, no...

Now the Plymouth Fury wagon my folks had on the other hand...

 

Please stop helping stupid people.
You're just making the population problem, worse.

 

Don't worry the prime candidates won't get the tip since they can't read.

 

Ok I won't ask despite the urge to want to

My line of work needs ballistic film on classroom door windows.

 

I have some scraps of silicone and polyethylene I've wanted to experiment with at some point. Seems they should dissipate energy but not sure how much.

 

Damn. Making people aware of their poor choices about towing is more hazardous than I imagined.

I’m actually surprised that it stopped that pill, but certainly happy for you that it did. About how long of a shot, if I can ask that?

 

What type of film did you use?

 

Difference between concealment and cover…. The wheel also serve as cover, the rims and other associated parts like brake pads a calipers are pretty robust themselves..

 

I did some informal testing back around 2000 with a .40 S&W.

Jeep truck door would stop a hollowpoint. Penetration of outside but did not go through. Full metal jacket was through both doors...

Edit: Jeep was possibly a 70's or early 80's model. Found it dumped in the woods.

Late model Cadillac door would not stop even the hollow point.