Bed mattress = cover?
- Thread starter KBintheSLC
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hatchetbearer
Member
When its mostly nothing, (some cotton padding, the occasional spring and so on) they penetrate them all the time.
bdickens
Member
20+ inches of mostly air. You should cut an old one open sometime to see for yourself. Most handgun bullets can penetrate a lot more that 20" of air.
Uhhhhh
Does this look like "air" to you?? Even this cheap mattress has alot of crap in it... Serta's and memory foam and Sealy mattresses have more foam and padding in them, so as to stop the inner spring bounce.
The better mattresses have independent springs that are padded like below:
Does anyone think a .38 special or like bullet will go through that on the horizontal??
Something to keep in mind is that most likely the perp would be shooting at an angle, so the bullet would strike the padding and have to go through it and the springs to travel to you... Not likely. Certainly not most handguns.
hatchetbearer
Member
another thing to look at would be you arent going to get a perfectly horizontal shot. unless your SO decided they want one of those "princess beds" that are like 4.5 feet high, a perp isnt likely to kneel down to make a straight shot through a bed. while you are crouched, he is going to shoot at lets say a 45 degree angle through the top of the bed and out the side, with maybe 5-6" of bed to penetrate.
sixgunner455
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Weeell, I'd have to say that, tactically-speaking, the covers and mattress I use only qualify as concealment, because while they may effectively cover, cushion, and comfort me while I'm sleeping, they will only conceal me from view if I'm hiding behind them while some bozo is trying to shoot me.
Not that I would ever allow myself to be caught that unprepared to conduct an ambush and counter inside my home.
If I'm curled up in bed with my AR15, bayonet, PASGT helmet, and IBA, well, then, the bed is merely the launching platform for my tactical counter-attack to the stack of home invaders entering my bedroom.
Amusing myself aside:
Layers of fabric, foam, air, and tiny metal springs -- none of that is going to turn aside anything bigger than a .17 or .22 or .25 cal. pistol bullet, if it even stops that. Foam is mostly air, air is air, fabric that isn't made of layers of Spectra or Kevlar is just fabric. That's all stuff that bullets are going to slice right through. So the only things that are in a mattress that are solid enough to stop or turn a bullet are the metal springs, and whatever frame it has. If it's wood, even a .22 will perforate it (.22 will usually go through a 2x4). If it's metal, it isn't going to be very heavy -- not plating that is designed to stop serious bullets, anyway.
We have it on good authority (people having an ND through a bed) that the mattress is for sleeping, not stopping bullets. Sounds like somebody needs to shoot some stuff and show some pictures so folks will get a clear idea of that.
Unfortunately, I don't have a spare mattress lying around here (haha), or I'd go take care of it this morning.
Not that I would ever allow myself to be caught that unprepared to conduct an ambush and counter inside my home.
If I'm curled up in bed with my AR15, bayonet, PASGT helmet, and IBA, well, then, the bed is merely the launching platform for my tactical counter-attack to the stack of home invaders entering my bedroom.
Amusing myself aside:
Layers of fabric, foam, air, and tiny metal springs -- none of that is going to turn aside anything bigger than a .17 or .22 or .25 cal. pistol bullet, if it even stops that. Foam is mostly air, air is air, fabric that isn't made of layers of Spectra or Kevlar is just fabric. That's all stuff that bullets are going to slice right through. So the only things that are in a mattress that are solid enough to stop or turn a bullet are the metal springs, and whatever frame it has. If it's wood, even a .22 will perforate it (.22 will usually go through a 2x4). If it's metal, it isn't going to be very heavy -- not plating that is designed to stop serious bullets, anyway.
We have it on good authority (people having an ND through a bed) that the mattress is for sleeping, not stopping bullets. Sounds like somebody needs to shoot some stuff and show some pictures so folks will get a clear idea of that.
Unfortunately, I don't have a spare mattress lying around here (haha), or I'd go take care of it this morning.
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GrizzlyGraves
Member
So why doesn't somebody weld up a box of 1-2" plate steel to replace the bed frame and box spring. Make a hatch on one side to crawl into it and drill some "shootin' holes" in the sides of the thing. Then you have a nifty little fortress under your bed from which to blast away the invaders.
You could even add a trap door into the crawl space/basement as an escape route. From there you'd follow a series of interconnected underground tunnels like the Viet cong and escape to a hollowed out tree stump in the back yard. At that point you could retrieve your pre-positioned FAL and begin to lay into 'em from outside ...
You could even add a trap door into the crawl space/basement as an escape route. From there you'd follow a series of interconnected underground tunnels like the Viet cong and escape to a hollowed out tree stump in the back yard. At that point you could retrieve your pre-positioned FAL and begin to lay into 'em from outside ...
The cost would be prohibitive. You can't use mild steel as armor plate. Steel hard enough to use as armor plate is not inexpensive and it's very heavy. I don't imagine many floors would support such a structure without being reinforced.
Your mobility in such a structure would be very limited, your visibility from the loopholes would be restricted and you'd be choking on the poisonous fumes from firing your weapon. I think you're just building a cage for the convenience of your attackers.
Jeff
GrizzlyGraves
Member
Ah. I guess my sarcasm didn't quite translate across the web. Apologies
Fred Fuller
Moderator Emeritus
Sarcasm and some types of humor seldom come across very well in plain text. Often it's best not to even attempt them, but to stick to serious attempts at communication instead.
That would definitely work better here...
lpl
That would definitely work better here...
lpl
D
Deleted member 66305
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I thought it was kind of funny. But I'm also weird.
Pro-Gun Teacher
Member
As it turns out, a 180gn HydraShok from a .40 fired from a Walther P99 will traverse a mattress vertically or horizontally without even opening up until it hits the stack of road construction horses left in the desert. I'm sure that they are the same breed of construction horses that are found throughout North America. That was when I discovered that my mattress was not in fact bullet resistant. They will however stop dog pee.
Mild steel?
Several years ago in Ontario Canada, a quite serious disturbance took place on am Indian Reservation (Oka?) on the edge of the border with New York State the US of A.
A friend of mine, then in the OPP now retired was seconded to that location.
On his return, he said lets go and shoot a piece of this steel they had as a protective screen on the walls of the Police Station.
Quite a heavy piece, 18" square, 3/8" thick? set it up at 50m, in a gravel pit, leaned against a big chunk of discarded concrete.
Steyr AUG 16" Brl; Mil Spec Hard Ball. One shot, plate did not move, try again!
Walk up, two holes, looked like they had been burned through, little raised circle on the back side, clean as a whistle. But to sum up the usefulness of sheet mild steel on the side of a bed? Not very much use, use the steel in the outside doors, plus a reinforced door frame, more bang for your buck so to speak.
Several years ago in Ontario Canada, a quite serious disturbance took place on am Indian Reservation (Oka?) on the edge of the border with New York State the US of A.
A friend of mine, then in the OPP now retired was seconded to that location.
On his return, he said lets go and shoot a piece of this steel they had as a protective screen on the walls of the Police Station.
Quite a heavy piece, 18" square, 3/8" thick? set it up at 50m, in a gravel pit, leaned against a big chunk of discarded concrete.
Steyr AUG 16" Brl; Mil Spec Hard Ball. One shot, plate did not move, try again!
Walk up, two holes, looked like they had been burned through, little raised circle on the back side, clean as a whistle. But to sum up the usefulness of sheet mild steel on the side of a bed? Not very much use, use the steel in the outside doors, plus a reinforced door frame, more bang for your buck so to speak.
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Sam
Member
The psychotic child of a friend took her G23 and "played" around with it my the guest bedroom. Rest assured that a mattress will not stop a round 165 GS 40 S&W from about 3 different angles.
Neither will a dresser or a closet door, wall ,bathroom cabinet.
A brick outer wall will stop a GS 40.
Neither will a dresser or a closet door, wall ,bathroom cabinet.
A brick outer wall will stop a GS 40.
Gunsby_Blazen
Member
I have never shot a mattress, but I have stabbed them with swords and knives and the like. I wouldn't call a mattress "cover". but . As many many other posts have said before me, you could hide behind it and thats about it.
Now we could look at this from another prospective and assume all those wires will aid in providing cover. I would think it could be plausible if you were using the box part of the bed rather than the top mattress. It is still REALLY iffy. I wouldn't feel safe doing it, but as a last resort I would out of necessity.
Like was said before, its better as a hiding spot rather than cover.
I WOULDN'T BET MY LIFE ON IT!
Now we could look at this from another prospective and assume all those wires will aid in providing cover. I would think it could be plausible if you were using the box part of the bed rather than the top mattress. It is still REALLY iffy. I wouldn't feel safe doing it, but as a last resort I would out of necessity.
Like was said before, its better as a hiding spot rather than cover.
I WOULDN'T BET MY LIFE ON IT!
Here is an experiment I performed to see if cheap an easy cover could be made for use in the home.
http://home.insightbb.com/~cyklopz/prototype/
I also tested with one sheet of plywood/metal/plywood and it stopped the 147gr 9mm just fine.
Cy
http://home.insightbb.com/~cyklopz/prototype/
I also tested with one sheet of plywood/metal/plywood and it stopped the 147gr 9mm just fine.
Cy
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