Today is going to be super exciting.
Bulletproof cars have been around for a while.
Today we're going to see how durable a bulletproof car really is.
We have governments, we have the president of the United States, we have famous people,
and a lot of them use bulletproof cars for protection.
And today we're going to see how durable the glass is, how durable the paneling is inside
those doors, and we're going to do it in real life with real guns.
Now if you don't like guns, that's fine, we're also going to focus on the construction of
the bulletproof paneling Let's get started.
[Intro]
Before we destroy anything, let me show you what we're working with.
A company called Armor Max here in Utah was nice enough to donate some glass panels for
us to shoot.
And we have two glass panels here today.
One is for a smaller caliber gun, like a little pistol, like a 9 millimeter.
And the other piece of glass is for a larger caliber rifle like the one I used in my bump
stock video, the AR 15.
So it really just depends on how much protection you want for your vehicle.
This is the 9mm that we'll be shooting at the glass.
And this is the thinner pane.
And then over here we have the AR 15 with the bump stock attached.
We're just going to be shooting single rounds today though.
You can see the larger caliber here, and how thick the pane of glass is compared to the
lower caliber.
But really all of this stuff is completely customizable.
Like the president's motorcade here in the United States uses about double this thickness
of glass inside.
It really just depends on how much protection you want, and how much you're willing to spend.
As far as weight goes, when they're bulletproofing a car with the smaller caliber, you know,
bulletproofing it for a hand gun, it usually adds anywhere from 400-500 pounds give or
take the protection you want.
But if you're going to fully rifle proof your car, you can add anywhere from 500 all they
way up to maybe 12 or 13 hundred.
Your gas mileage might go down slightly, but sometimes that's a good trade off for the
protection it offers.
So gun ranges are actually pretty cool.
So right here we have different slots.
Gun safety is a pretty big thing when you're at a gun range.
Each of these little cubicles keep, you know, the bullets that are ejected out of the gun,
they keep it from hitting your neighbor.
And then as we walk down range...right now it's safe because there's no one out shooting
in here.
This is one of the pieces of glass that we're going to be shooting at.
So we have it propped up.
We have some of these little green targets right here just so we have something to aim
at while we're shooting.
And then we also have one little melon right behind it.
So if the bullet goes through the bulletproof glass, which it shouldn't, we'll know for
sure.
Now down here at the end of the range is something that not a lot of people see.
This is what directs the bullets into this channel down here at the end so that they
can recycle all of those bullet tips because there's a lot of metal in a bullet and it's
always good to recycle.
So you can see here all of these little markings are little bullets that have hit this metal
panel right here and then rickashayed up there into that little slot so they can collect
them and recycle them.
Alright, so we're going to start with the 9mm hand gun first.
We're going to shoot that pane of glass right down there.
Let's do it.
[Gunshot] Oh man!
That looks sweet.
Let's go take a closer look.
Check this out!
Oh man, that's so cool.
You can see the impact point right here.
You can see a little bit of remnants of like the metal in the tip of the bullet.
And then it like absorbed the impact and fractured all the way around this outside.
So here on the backside it's still 100% completely smooth.
My fingers aren't catching on any of the glass layers on the back of this.
If you are sitting inside of this car with this window, you would still be totally fine.
Now these layers of bulletproof glass are actually layers of glass and plastic stuck
together.
So it will actually be interesting to see what kind of penetration we can get when we
start shooting the rifle on the AR 15.
But half an inch stopping a bullet...that's pretty impressive.
So we have the cameras set up and our safety gear on.
We're going to shoot that same piece of glass a couple more times with the 9mm and see how
well it stands up to multiple shots.
Alight, so safety gear is on.
I imagine if you're being shot at inside of a car it's not going to be just one bullet.
There are going to be multiple.
So I'm going to empty this full magazine into the glass and see what happens.
Ready?
[Gunshots] Sweet!
That was fun.
Okay, so check this out.
It looks like I hit this part multiple times.
I think there was an impact point here, here, here, here and here.
As the outside structure of the glass is compromised, it removes the outer layer but the inner layers
are still fine.
You can see like this divot right here.
If the glass is an inch thick, this probably went through about half an inch of that but
it still survived...I mean how many shots was that, like 6?
So if we go back here to the back of the glass, you know, feeling the back of it, there's
nothing catching on my hand, but as I move my hand over this I can feel like a slight
indention and I imagine that's like the plastic layer bulging out just a tiny bit.
Ummm, agh!
[Dan] Yeah, careful, I just did that.
[Zack] I got glass in my finger.
Alright, so we're not going to touch the glass anymore.
When the bullet hits, there's so much energy in that bullet, it impacts the glass obviously,
and the glass distributes the impact over the whole thing.
So not everything you see in Hollywood it truthful because if a bullet hits a car it's
going to shatter the exterior layer of the ballistic glass at least.
Alright, so we have a new glass in place and this one is an inch and a half thick, so it's
going to need the AR 15, the higher caliber bullet.
And we'll see if that melon survives.
Alright, so the safety is now off.
And full disclosure, I have not sighted this gun, so if I miss first shot...
[Gunshot] Oh wow!
Okay, so that was pretty sweet.
So the impact of that bullet hit right here in the center and we can already see...like
this is an inch and a half thick.
You can also see the divot from the glass, you know, separating from the point of impact.
The energy, instead of going forward, it immediately stops the forward energy and disperses it
in the outward glass.
And these cracks look freaking incredible.
And this is the size of the bullet that hit that center impact part, right there.
And I think this is one of those plastic layers inside.
Let's see if we have any damage on the back.
That's sweet.
There's no damage on the back of this thing.
So if you were sitting inside of this car, you would be completely safe from someone
shooting an AR 15 at your window.
So everything that's manufactured has like a rating to it.
So this piece of glass is certified for 5 bullets, but Armor Max has shot this thing
20 times and it still survived which is pretty darn impressive.
So we just finished shooting the ballistic glass.
We're still going to shoot some of the ballistic armor panels here in a second, but let's check
out the laboratory of Armor Max first and see how all of this stuff is put together.
And there's actually quite a lot that goes into this.
So this stuff right here, this is like a little bomb proof blanket that can actually sit down
underneath the carpet inside of the car.
So like if a grenade or something is rolled underneath the vehicle, you know, it's full
of kevlar and stuff and stops the explosion from coming up inside of the cab.
Now normally, when you're sitting inside of a car, you're hidden and protected by the
door and the window.
So that's like one of the most important parts of bulletproofing a car is the glass and the
door panels.
So this is a land cruiser right here, and this is the bulletproof glass, the same stuff
that we were shooting at earlier.
You can kind of tell how thick this panel is.
But because of the weight of the bulletproof glass, they actually have to stick new motors
inside of the door.
So these are specialized motors that can lift the 60 pound slab of glass.
So the slab of glass will protect the top half of the person, and the rest of the door
is fitted with these bulletproof panels here inside.
We haven't shot any of these panels yet, but I'll make sure we get a chance before we leave.
So we talked about how to protect the driver inside, and now here in the front, protecting
the engine is another important concept.
So here we have bulletproof panels that are set at an angle and go all the way down in
front of the radiator cuz the radiator is what keeps the engine cool.
And if you're radiator is bleeding out then your car is not going to go very far.
So these bulletproof panels right here are pretty important.
There's also the same bulletproof panels that we have inside of the metal panels here inside
of this, as well as protecting the firewall between the engine and the passenger compartment.
And then here we have a few more bulletproof panels protecting the battery, cuz also without
the battery you're not going to be going very far.
Another bulletproof panel here protecting the air intake.
And inside of the tires they have something called a run flat, which is basically a metal
band on the rim of the tire that sticks up past the rim.
So even if there's no air in your tire and the tire's technically flat, you'll still
be able to drive on that metal rim inside of the actual tire.
So like I mentioned before, there are a couple different packages that Armor Max offers.
And so this is one of them here.
It's like an optional piece.
This has that like bulletproofing rounds cuz this is one of the weakest points when a door
is closed that if bullet pierces right here your head is still going to be on the other
side.
So this just adds another layer of protection.
You'll have bulletproof glass on the windshield.
For that 20-25,000 dollars all of the main things will be protected, you know, you inside
of the cab.
But it can go anywhere from 70,000 all the way up to the top with Armor piercing rounds
and stuff like that.
It has, remember that 2 inch thick piece of glass?
If you have that installed in your door panel, obviously the windows aren't going to work
anymore, but that's the most protection that you can have while you're driving.
So one of the things when you're adding so much more weight to the vehicle, like those
panes of glass weigh a lot, it's anywhere from 500 to 1,000 pounds, maybe a little over
that.
Sometimes they have to upgrade the suspension as well.
So this suspension is calibrated for the extra weight and it will still ride the same, you
know, just as smooth as a stock vehicle, even though this one's completely bulletproof.
So this isn't a sponsored video, I just thought it was pretty cool technology.
And this company, Armor Max, has been in business for over 25 years.
They've had over 250 known attacks on their vehicles but no one has died from being shot
through the Armor on their vehicles.
So it's pretty good stuff.
But it's also interesting to know that this stuff does happen.
Like there are dangerous places in the world.
So seeing how the technology is able to protect people is pretty interesting.
If everyone could just be nice to each other, companies like this wouldn't need to exist.
But since there's niceness problems in the world, here we are.
This car right behind me actually has electrified door handles.
Dan doesn't know yet, from the YouTube channel What's Inside.
So I'm going to tell him to open up the door to see what's inside of the car and see what
happens.
See what he says about the steering wheel.
[Dan] Oh!
Is this the shock door?
Is this this shock door?!
Ahhh!
You almost got me!
[Zack] Do it anyway, do it anyway!
[Dan] I don't want to get shocked!
[Zack] You gotta do it!
[Dan] I'm going in!
Is it going to hurt?
[Zack] It's going to hurt.
[Dan] I can't do it!
Ahh!
Okay, I feel it, I feel it!
It shocked me!
[Zack] So there was a button back here that he just pushed...no way, check this out!
So this is like...you can drop this behind you like if someone's chasing your car.
That's hilarious.
So literally, if someone's chasing you, you can drop this little compartment in the back
and these things fall out.
They will like puncture the tires of all the cars that are behind you.
That's awesome.
So it's pretty sweet.
So one of these buttons right here, he just had them labeled, so one of them is dropping
the tacks, you know, the things in the road.
And the other one, this is the one that electrifies the door handles.
So obviously as the car is driving these will be bouncing on the road behind and disperse
all over the lanes, and then this box right here just folds up and clicks shut.
Now he's got to figure out how to stick these all back in there and get it locked and loaded
for the next guy.
Okay, so since Dan wouldn't really grab the doorknob, I'm going to give it a shot.
I've been tased before with that little case, but I think this one's a little bit higher
voltage and I am super nervous right now.
This is not something I planned on doing today.
Are we good?
Did you get it?
Okay, so I felt a tingle from the tip of my finger all the way up to about here.
So I'm going to try it again.
Oo yeah.
You can feel it all the way up your arm.
It's stronger than that cell phone case that I reviewed a while back, you know, the taser
cell phone case.
It's not something I want to do for a long period of time.
When the car is actually turned on and the engine is running, there's way more current
going through that.
So what I was able to do right there would be completely different if the car was on.
So here's a close up shot of those electrified door handles.
You can see the copper strips on the inside.
So any time someone just reaches in and grabs these, grabbing the copper, it will jolt their
whole arm...like you saw earlier.
Alright, so we've seen the cars and we've seen the glass, now we're going to shoot at
some of the Armor Max paneling that goes inside of the car doors.
Now this stuff is lighter than steel, which makes it ideal for putting in cars because
the more weight you have in a car, the more the gas mileage goes down and the slower it
gets.
So lightweight cars are good.
But this stuff is actually so light that they've stuck it in helicopters, the ones in South
Africa, the anti-poaching helicopters, which is pretty sweet.
So this piece right here is for the larger caliber rifles, but we also have this smaller
piece of Armor Max material that stops 9mm hand guns.
So let's shoot both of these right now and see what happens.
So this square panel, this is the Armor Max 3.3, it's the same stuff they stuck on the
anti-poaching helicopters.
We're going to shoot it with a 9mm and see what happens.
Let's try it out.
[Gunshot]
So the bullet traveled, punctured into here and then traveled up inside of it.
Because apparently there are 156 different laminate layers inside of this thing keeping
the bullets from penetrating to the important stuff on the other side of the material.
So we're going to empty the rest of the magazine inside of my 9mm and see what happens with
the rest of the bullets.
And then we'll switch to the bigger caliber guns.
Alright, so there are about 5 more shots in this.
We're going to put all of them straight into the material and see what it looks like after
we're done.
[Gunshots]
That is crazy.
It looks like there is absolutely no damage done to this, but you can see tiny little
pinpricks where each of the bullets hit.
And all of the bullets have been captured inside of the material.
That's a 9mm bullet, you know, the smaller ones.
Now we're going to try the AR 15, and that should make a mark.
Okay, so this is the AR 15.
The safety is now off.
Let's see what happens.
[Gunshots]
So looking at the outside, seriously, there are seriously no marks on the material which
is like incredible.
But here on the backside you can see a small little divot where the bullet hit.
So it's just like this little tiny bulge.
Personally, I would feel super safe inside of a helicopter or a car with this lightweight
material inside of it protecting against the bullets.
Even with an AR 15, stopping that much power is incredible.
So this piece of material is rated, you know, within a 5 inch radius it can be shot 3-5
times and still maintain it's structural integrity.
But when you're in a moving vehicle and somebody is shooting at you, which does happen, Armor
Max has had cars with like 100 shots in them.
The bullets are all spread out.
Like no one's going to consistently shoot in one spot over and over again.
So overall today was a pretty fun day.
You know, shooting guns is always a fun hobby for me, and whether you like guns or you don't
like guns, it's still fun to see the science and technology behind armored cars and armored
helicopters.
I did not know that they armored those and anti-poaching helicopters in Africa.
If you have any questions, leave them down in the comments.
I'm sure I could be back here later to answer those questions or to blow up something else.
Come hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter.
And thanks a ton for watching.
I'll see you around.