Ever since I first started messing around with testing penetration and expansion/fragmentation of various factory .223 ammo loads in water jugs, I've had the idea in mind to do some practical barrier tests that might apply to defensive scenarios. I recently updated my original thread (link above) to include results through denim and 1" pine, but I have wanted to take that a step further and test against a barrier that is closer to a "real life" material many people might encounter in a home-defense environment: interior walls with drywall/wood construction.
As in the past, this is hardly what could be considered a scientific test, but for the layman (me) with readily available materials, I feel that it reasonably emulates common interior wall construction. For this test, I actually had four layers - drywall, wood, wood, drywall - that roughly equaled the typical wall thickness in my own home, being 4.5" thick. The obvious difference here is that instead of shooting at a wall section "head on" against a vertical stud or horizontal block with the possibility of encountering only the drywall layer(s) with void in between, every round fired would have to penetrate the maximum likely barrier thickness, that is, roughly 4.5" at any point. Being at a mosquito-infested outdoor range with limited materials and not knowing how long I'd have the place to myself, my "wall" is as pictured, propped against a three-pack of one-gallon water jugs with the ends of the cardboard cases cut off and a fourth jug added in case of unexpected penetration:
As in the past, this test would be conducted using an AR15 with 16" 1:7 twist barrel, shooting prone at 25 yards. (I realize this is well beyond most interior home distances, but I wanted to stay consistent with prior tests.) The ammo tested was all readily available via retail channels: Armscor USA 62gr bonded SP .223, Winchester Power-Point 64gr SP .223, IMI M855 "green tip" 62gr FMJ 5.56 and Hornady 55gr SP .223.
First up was the Armscor bonded 62gr SP, which penetrated the barrier, into the fourth water jug, and actually angled off out the side of the fourth jug to be recovered on the ground as shown:
Next was the Winchester Power-Point 64gr SP, which likewise penetrated the barrier and was recovered intact from the third jug:
Third on the menu was the IMI M855, which completely fragmented within the second jug:
Finally, the Hornady 55gr SP, which also made it to the second jug, recovered with the jacket completely separated from the bullet:
I had intended to include pictures of the "exit wounds" on the second sheet of drywall, but lost track of this when setting up the barrier on later groups of jugs. More or less as expected, the IMI M855 simply punched a fairly clean hole out the back of the drywall, apparently intact, while the other bullets, all being soft points of some sort, showed varying degrees of expansion coming out of the barrier. The Winchester Power-Point appeared to demonstrate the most expansion where it exited the drywall, but I didn't do follow-up shots to check for consistency. This was my first time testing the Winchester, so I didn't have any particular expectations about visible weight retention (again, not scientific!) or expansion, but I was somewhat surprised that the Armscor and Hornady bullets performed almost the same in this test as through a single 1" wood barrier in terms of both penetration and recovered bullet condition.
When all was said and done, the Armscor bonded bullet once again proved to be an excellent performer to the degree that I am equipped to test, and it actually exceeded my expectations. Although I have not tested Speer Gold Dot or Federal Fusion (both being bonded bullets of similar weight) through barriers, I would expect results similar to the Armscor. I was also surprised that the Hornady performed the same as through a thinner barrier, and that the Winchester PowerPoint jacket didn't separate from the bullet despite not being bonded.
These are all rounds that I have bought at various times as prices allowed, mainly for SHTF duty. Based on previous tests, the Armscor bonded ammo (along with the aforementioned Gold Dot and Fusion) has taken over as my first choice in that role, and this latest test further reinforces my decision. Obviously, your mileage may vary, based on your own preferences and requirements. As an interesting side note, I did try the same test with a couple of different 9mm JHP rounds through my carry gun, and although I didn't recover the bullets or take any pictures, they all fully penetrated the barrier and anywhere from two to four water jugs. Although I am not personally inclined to use an AR15 for suburban home defense, my initial thought is in more or less in line with what others have stated, which is that it would be a mistake to assume that a slower-moving handgun round out of a short pistol barrel is necessarily going to (over)penetrate less than something like the M855 "penetrator" out of a 16" rifle barrel. For my purposes, the choice to use a handgun for self/home defense under normal rule-of-law conditions is 100% about personal and family considerations, not performance. If civilization takes a turn for the worst tomorrow, I will want the benefits that the AR platform offers.
Interior wall penetration w\ AR15 (water jugs re-revisited)
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