I read that in the 1930's the .357 was popular with LE because it could punch through car doors. Must have been fewer bracesI was fortunate to be able to test various guns/calibers on a car, but it was a LONG time ago,'
Mostly similar results though.
The door seems to be a bit tougher.
But even the old steels in the older cars were pretty good at stopping all but the bigger pistol bullets.
I was wondering though, because newer cars mean newer designs and newer steels.
The steels we're pouring at work for the safety cage in autos, didn't even exist a bit over a decade ago.
I have to say though, in my test, we didn't have a shotgun
I read that in the 1930's the .357 was popular with LE because it could punch through car doors. Must have been fewer braces
I'm wondering how one of my old cars would hold up. A 71 olds 98, I swear it didn't have sheet metal, it was closer to plate steel. The door skins had to be close to a 1/16th of an inch if not more.They didn't have to much worry about crash ratings, front and side impact, and such.
Metallurgy was also considerably less sophisticated.
I'm wondering how one of my old cars would hold up. A 71 olds 98, I swear it didn't have sheet metal, it was closer to plate steel. The door skins had to be close to a 1/16th of an inch if not more.
Oh I understand the purpose and how crumple zones work. Nothing gave on that car, it got shoved hard enough by a semi to push the car sideways. The door didn't dent, just had grind marks from the rim. I nailed a good sized buck doing 50mph, all it did was knock half the grill out. I'm just glad I never got in a serious accident with it. I'm just curious how the old thick metal would compare to more modern thinner stuff when shot.That's actually the problem.
The car didn't "crumple".
So, all the energy was transferred to the meat bags inside.
Yup, there was less damage to the vehicle in low speed impacts.
But make it higher speed, and everyone got splattered.
Newer cars will crumple. This absorbs energy, energy that will not go to the meat bags.
The safety cage is the citadel. The most protected part of the car. The metals used in it, are so strong, that initially fire departments ran into problems with their "jaws of life" being insufficient for the job.
So they had to upgrade their "jaws" or replace with special cutters.