The Gun Counter

we just got some much better steel for MKIII version.

I am so excited. My local sheet metal vendor had 304 stainless and 316L stainless at roughly 40% less than I could get it online (in small quantities) without even factoring in shipping costs.

a 10"x12" sheet was $10 for the 304 and $20 for the 316L at 14 ga (.0747"). I haven't put it on the micrometer, but I think the stuff I got is much more like 12ga (.1046)

We are going to do the sandwich idea again. The 316L will be in the middle and the 304 will be the final stopper.

More testing photo's in a couple of weeks.

The new design is roughly 1.5 inches thick or about an inch thinner than MKII.

Does anyone know the true brinell for these two steels.
I am finding 304 listed as anywhere between 115 and 175
with 316L listed as anywhere from 170 to 265.
Those are some pretty big spreads and I don't see any mention of partial hardening like 301 stainless has. 301 stainless (or similar in high carbon) is what we really wanted but not paying the price ($100 per square foot) for full hardened 301.

Stainless varies tremendously in quality - if its ChiCom, who knows what you actually are getting...

Aglifter wrote:Stainless varies tremendously in quality - if its ChiCom, who knows what you actually are getting...

There is that. I don't know where this is sourced from.

I bet this will fit in a vest though....

Still, if you can do it for $20 then you are really on to something! I can't wait to hear more. I wish I had the time to play around with stuff these days...

CombatController wrote:I bet this will fit in a vest though....

Still, if you can do it for $20 then you are really on to something! I can't wait to hear more. I wish I had the time to play around with stuff these days...

We are currently defeating 7.62 x54 steel core without needing an additional spall liner although we are now where near 5#. At a cost of about $30 for non-scrounged items

Necro'ing for the purposes of leaving this here.

TL;DR/DW- matrix of thin sheet steel, fibreglass, and marbles held with epoxy defeats multiple shots from AK 47.

Just goes to show, they can ban "armor" but any fool with a little bit of knowledge can kludge together functional armor from household products.

My design is way more durable then that stuff, but that would take minutes (minus set time) to make.

the only real issue would be the weight penalty vs commercial armor.

One I have seen work well was a 3 layer "BB" with the balls neatly arranged, with a backer and a steel front

Yogimus wrote:One I have seen work well was a 3 layer "BB" with the balls neatly arranged, with a backer and a steel front

Add a sheet of C4 to the backer and you have a emergency/kamikaze claymore ready to go!

Precision wrote:

Aglifter wrote:Stainless varies tremendously in quality - if its ChiCom, who knows what you actually are getting...

There is that. I don't know where this is sourced from.

Almost guarantee it's Japanese. At least as of 5 years ago, almost all stainless, excepting the real specialty and niche stuff, came from Japan.