I have had some folks ask about metal covered doors and how they would stand up to bullets.

So....to the range.

This is the setup. Neighbor was throwing away a metal front door.

It is standard construction around here, thin metal over a wood frame, with foam insulation inside.

We set up a drywall wall panel behind it to see what would happen.

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Top left and right, 9 mm JHP.

Bottom left .45ACP Federal Hydrashock and right, Black Talon.

To the right, two rounds of .223, South African surplus, 55 gr.

All rounds exited without any problem and went completely through the wall behind.

As usual, the .223 started to tumble as it left the wall.

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Now this is a load of 00 Buck as it leaves the other side of the door.

It also completely exited the wall.

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The Buckshot drove little round pieces of the metal door into the wall.

They didn't penetrate much, but I thought it was an interesting find.

An interesting photo.

An interesting photo.​

Lastly, we fired a load of birdshot, #8 field loads into the door from 10 feet.

They didn't even penetrate the first layer.

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As a matter of interest, some of us have discussed that we carry a Keltec P-32 in our pockets sometimes.

I tried two rounds of JHPs on the door from the P-32 and they went through the door, through the wall, and were singing along last I saw of them.

The mighty metal door slayer, the P-32.

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Lessons learned:

  1. Metal front doors provide concealment, not cover. (For those that might not understand the difference, "concealment" means it will hide you and "cover" means that it will stop bullets)
  2. Don't think a metal door will slow down any common round. It only stopped birdshot, which is a very poor penetrator.
  3. If it's easy for you to shoot through, it's easy for the bad guy to send them through the other way.
    There it is boys. Everything you ever wondered about metal doors.