Are your knives bulletproof?

Gossman Knives

Gossman Knives

Edged Toolmaker
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Apr 9, 2004
Messages
9,438
I thought you guys would get a kick out of my latest bizzare test. I had this S7 blade I had tang problems with so it become a test piece. S7 is known as a highly impact resistant steel so I wanted to see how impact resistant it was. I grabbed my Ruger 41 magnum, the blade and headed to the woods. I stuck the blade in a tree, stepped back 10 yds. and shot it with a 210 gr. Hornady XTP hollow point traveling at 1600 FPS. with 1100 foot pounds of energy. Here are the results.

S7bladetest.JPG

The bullet squarely impacted the blade sending it hurling back 25 to 30 yds.

41s7spine.JPG

This is the amount it bent after impact. The mark on the top of the spine is a round that deflected off the spine. All in all I would say S7 lives up to it's toughness.:D
Scott
 
Looks tough! Congratulations.

There was a Busse Badger that received a direct hit of an accidentally discharged bullet at close range a few years ago. It seemed to suffer little damage other than a scuffed coating.

I have the picture somewhere; if you'd like, I can try to find it to send to you, to post, here.

Rob Simonich shot one of his Ravens a couple years ago. It shattered. I have the picture of that, too, if you'd like me to try to find it and send it to you, to post.

I'd be interested in any other similar tests... purposeful or inadvertant.

Good info to know, but definitely not something I ever want to unanticipatedly experience first-hand.

Mike
 
That would be cool to see Mike. Send them along it you'd like. I went with a magnum because a 9mm's or even a 45 acp's energy is alot lower then a magnum. I would have tried my 44 but I didn't have any ammo for it.
Scott
 
Seems very tough what was the knife and what was the tang problem not bulletproof enough? Very interesting post. I would like to see what you did to your new car if your were not happy with it.
 
DISCO said:
Seems very tough what was the knife and what was the tang problem not bulletproof enough? Very interesting post. I would like to see what you did to your new car if your were not happy with it.
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:D the problem with the tang was it split while I was drilling the lanyard hole making it unuseable. I went ahead and heat treated it anyway to use for testing purposes. This was all in fun. But who said never take a knife to a gunfight.:D
Scott
 
I have seen and heard many weird things on the various Bladeforums, but shooting a knife has to be one of the most "off the wall" posts :D :D to date.

Outstanding! Made my day!
 
Here is the "Wounded Badger" that took a .40 round from an MP5.

The blade suffered no damage other than the coating.

wounded-badger2.jpg
 
deathshead said:
Blocking bullets with a knife. The ultimate mall-ninja skill.
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Geez, lighten up dude it's all in fun.;)
Scott
 
thatmguy said:
Here is the "Wounded Badger" that took a .40 round from an MP5.

The blade suffered no damage other than the coating.

wounded-badger2.jpg
Click to expand...

I know there has got to be a story behind this one. :D
 
Damn, Scott! Cool stuff!

So YOU'RE the one who made Wonder Woman's bulletproof bracelets, eh? :D
 
cleaner145 said:
I know there has got to be a story behind this one. :D
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Especially since there aren’t to many MP5’s out there in 40S&W, be interesting to see which outfit had the goof up.
 
Thats pretty amazing ! Remeber the pic. on the front of the old Sog knives paper work where they used to fire a bullet at the cutting edge of one of their knives?
 
thebladerunr said:
Thats pretty amazing ! Remeber the pic. on the front of the old Sog knives paper work where they used to fire a bullet at the cutting edge of one of their knives?
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The intro to their website has a video of them splitting a bullet in mi-air with one of their knives. You have to wait to the end of the intro to see it.
 
deathshead said:
Don't worry about it friend. I was just messing around. I enjoyed your thread.
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No problem bud. Just wanted this thread to be entertaining.;)

Hey Brian hope you're feeling better.
Scott
 
Evolute said:
I'd be interested in any other similar tests... purposeful or inadvertant.
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NamViet Vo shot McClung's and a Busse, more to check the handle than the blade. McClung used to promote his knives using an example of one of them stopping a bullet from a soldier in action. If you lock the knife in place the impact energy is *MUCH* higher than if it can be easily moved, so the rigidity is a major factor. There is a reason they make jackhammer bits out of S7 though.

-Cliff
 
NICE!

This is FAR more impressive than the bullet splitting videos we see. Would it have survived a jacketed round? At the local range, you can use all the lead you want inside, as it splatters instaltly on contact with the backdrop. Recently, some moron fired a fully jacketed round from a match M1 and it pierced the 1/2" back drop, the cinder block wall behind it, and lodged in a target hanger post 20 yards back...scary.

I am, though, VERY impressed with the results you got. Thats an insane amount of lateral force. Maybe try one with the knife pounded into the tree so fully that it can't be dislodged? That might be asking for shatter, though....
 
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