Shotgun use in new construction homes

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  • warren5421

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    I have seen a aluminum ladder fall through an outside wall on new construction home, going all the way through the wall into the inside. New houses and apartments are not made like the old ones. My house was built in 1975 and remodeled in 1997, I would bet that buck shot would not go through an outside wall and a slug might not. All outside walls are brick, 5/8" plywood sheeting, 1" hard insulation sheet, 4" batting insulation, and 3/4" sheetrock. All inside walls are 3/4" sheetrock both sides, 6" batting insulation (6" studs inside walls) nothing is min code like most track houses built in the 2000's. I know a few states have better codes but a lot of people do not know how their house is built, they think they do but most house are build to min code for max profit. My personal feeling is a shotgun is the best gun for home defense. Now has anyone done testing on the new tract home construction with different shot sizes and loads to see how bad or good the wall holds up to rounds fired into it. I know pistol and rifle rounds go through the outside wall and through the house next door's outside wall. Have not seen what a shotgun does as I ran out of scrap to build a wall, shooting the walls I used the pistol and rifle, number 7 1/2 shoot went through both walls. Not all shot blew through but 15-20 pieces went through the plastic siding, 1" insolation sheet, 4" batting insolation, and 1/2" sheetrock of a wall 16 feet from the wall I shot.


    Anyone have experience with a shotgun discharge in side a new home hitting an outside wall?
     

    Cameramonkey

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    My house was built in 81. At least here its drywall, pink stuff, fiberboard, and siding. No solid wood besides the studs.
     

    EODFXSTI

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    I have seen a aluminum ladder fall through an outside wall on new construction home, going all the way through the wall into the inside. New houses and apartments are not made like the old ones. My house was built in 1975 and remodeled in 1997, I would bet that buck shot would not go through an outside wall and a slug might not. All outside walls are brick, 5/8" plywood sheeting, 1" hard insulation sheet, 4" batting insulation, and 3/4" sheetrock. All inside walls are 3/4" sheetrock both sides, 6" batting insulation (6" studs inside walls) nothing is min code like most track houses built in the 2000's. I know a few states have better codes but a lot of people do not know how their house is built, they think they do but most house are build to min code for max profit. My personal feeling is a shotgun is the best gun for home defense. Now has anyone done testing on the new tract home construction with different shot sizes and loads to see how bad or good the wall holds up to rounds fired into it. I know pistol and rifle rounds go through the outside wall and through the house next door's outside wall. Have not seen what a shotgun does as I ran out of scrap to build a wall, shooting the walls I used the pistol and rifle, number 7 1/2 shoot went through both walls. Not all shot blew through but 15-20 pieces went through the plastic siding, 1" insolation sheet, 4" batting insolation, and 1/2" sheetrock of a wall 16 feet from the wall I shot.


    Anyone have experience with a shotgun discharge in side a new home hitting an outside wall?
    Is this a low key way of asking "Any of you boneheads have a negligent discharge inside your new house and what did it look like"?
     

    ancjr

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    Some of us have answered this question by shooting at broken appliances and construction debris for years. Wood isn't homogenous like ballistic gelatin. I remember shooting an 8x10 oak beam with 7.62x54r ... it would merely imbed the bullet on the surface in one place, and vaporize it in another.
     

    jerrob

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    I'm confused, are we talking about the wall's stopping power from bullets overpenetrating from the inside out or bullets being shot through walls into the house?
    If its from the inside out, practice and trigger control should fix that issue.
    If your concern is bullets being shot into your house from the outside, may I suggest a U-Haul, a real estate agent and a change of address from the post office.
     

    Leo

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    Other than Masonry, house walls do not stop rifle bullets. I have fired a shotgun inside of a house. The dry wall stopped some, there were some pellets in the insulation, the black fiber sheathing board stopped a lot, and there was still a ragged hole in the aluminum siding. I would think that heavier shot sizes would penetrate a lot better.

    I have seen a house where a dope head was fighting with his woman. He emptied a 9mm from inside to outside, all but two rounds went through plaster & lath, through the exterior boards and the asbestos siding. Even a 2 x 4 stud may not be enough to stop a rifle bullet

    I have played a game where it took lots of pistol rounds to cut a 4 x 4 post in two. Rifles do a lot better.

    And to the original observation. When they went from plywood sheathing to black fiber board, and just used plywood at the corners, houses lost a lot of strength. When they went to all styrofoam with sheet metal strips holding corners in plumb, I consider that a crime. Snap the plastic siding on the outside and 1/2 inch drywall on the inside, where is the strength? The building code authorities that allow that and the general contractors that build that are criminals. House trailer construction with real building mortgages. Everyone makes fat money but the buyer.
     
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    Cameramonkey

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    Is this a low key way of asking "Any of you boneheads have a negligent discharge inside your new house and what did it look like"?
    Lol. I wonder if it is any relation to the guy back in the 90s that brought his computer tower in for service. He explained the elongated hole in the side of the case as “a ladder fell on it”. Except a ladder doesn’t leave a small hole in the bottom of the case.

    Dude finally fessed up to my manager that he got frustrated with it, stood up, and shot one round, hitting it at a high angle in the side.
     
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    Ingomike

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    And to the original observation. When they went from plywood sheathing to black fiber board, and just used plywood at the corners, houses lost a lot of strength. When they went to all styrofoam with sheet metal strips holding corners in plum, I consider that a crime. Snap the plastic siding on the outside and 1/2 inch drywall on the inside, where is the strength? The building code authorities that allow that and the general contractors that build that are criminals. House trailer construction with real building mortgages. Everyone makes fat money but the buyer.
    And while entitled to your opinion this is comment is ridiculous. Are you an engineer? How many homes in central Indiana have fallen in because of this construction? What should the folks that cannot afford your utopian dream of how a house is supposed to be built supposed to live in?

    Before engineering overbuilt was the way we built. Now we have knowledge. (Not that humans don’t sometimes fail.) I would prefer an overbuilt home, but would rather have a home first and foremost. Calling engineering a crime is silly…
     

    Franc

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    Back in the 90's I have seen lots of buildings built with the exterior insulation board and steel straps. The plywood sheathing functions as a sheer wall and was necessary to prevent the building from racking. They have to be placed in the right locations. However a lot of contractors did not understand structure well and either skipped the sheer walls or placed them in the wrong places. My engineering firm at the time took in a lot of jobs fixing racked buildings.
     

    snapping turtle

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    I saw a YouTube video like 10 walls and bird shot went thru 2 and a half.
    all other rounds went thru all.
    I think it was 1/2 inch dry wall 2x4 stud insulation 1/2 inch dry wall 1 foot air space next wall.
     

    warren5421

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    I lived across from a subdivision where a 2 story house had the walls fall 3 times before they got a roof put on. It was bought by the airport and taken down/fell apart to move to a subdivision in Martinsville. Don't know if someone tried to put it back up.
     

    EODFXSTI

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    I saw a YouTube video like 10 walls and bird shot went thru 2 and a half.
    all other rounds went thru all.
    I think it was 1/2 inch dry wall 2x4 stud insulation 1/2 inch dry wall 1 foot air space next wall.
    Any chance this was the video?



    Paul Harrell used to do these "experimental" videos
     

    Leo

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    And while entitled to your opinion this is comment is ridiculous. Are you an engineer? How many homes in central Indiana have fallen in because of this construction? What should the folks that cannot afford your utopian dream of how a house is supposed to be built supposed to live in?

    Before engineering overbuilt was the way we built. Now we have knowledge. (Not that humans don’t sometimes fail.) I would prefer an overbuilt home, but would rather have a home first and foremost. Calling engineering a crime is silly…
     
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