Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Shooting through a windshield , while your sitting in the drivers seat.

Hunter1960 & jds44

Thanks for posting this on the Campfire Forum for the most part you have got a pretty good response on the subject. Thanks to both of you for posting the supporting documentation on the subject.

Archie

I've seen a few windshields shot through. Saw a suspect get some serious glass in his eye from a bullet that came through the back window and then pased through the front window. When the laminated glass snapped back, it sent fragments into his eye. He's lucky he didn't loose his eye.
The FBI did alot of experimenting with this. The bigger, heavier .40-.45 slugs, i.e. that means the 180 gr. .40 and the 230 gr. .45 bullets tended to stay on course much better and still had enough energy to do some damage after penetrating the windshield. The smaller 9mm (124 gr.) and the 158 gr. .38/.357 loads did much less well. Something to consider.
Not something I'd do. Too much chance it will go bad. Try doing any follow up shots with the windshield shattered. Very hard to see well for one.
Only in the most desperate circumstances. E

Heavy bullets work best. Aim low, or aim center mass and shoot a big hole through the windshield. Bonded bullets also work best. If you've gotta do it, you've gotta do it. Wear a mask if you can, airborne particles are a concern.

Nebraska, it is a serious consideration for citizens as well. Something could happen in an instant in stop and go traffic or in a parking lot or a drive through. It's something to be prepared for. Think of where you spend your time--a significant amount of your exposure is during your commute, guaranteed. Of course it is better to use the car as an escape or as a weapon, but it might not be possible.

I could see that training for a LEO (or even just for fun) but when it comes to something like that, I'm going to say it's just not worth it. But I'll go on the record saying that if I get taken out by a guy walking up and blasting me through my windshield, you were right....

In the meantime, due to my limited time/money, I'm going to stick to the basics like improving my target acquisition, shooting controlled pairs, clearing jams, etc. IMO, practicing stuff like that makes more sense to me because of the potential return on investment. If I get decent at those things, maybe I'll move on to "Windshields 101" but in the meantime, I'll try and keep my middle finger down in traffic and not worry about training for every "what if" under the sun.

I wonder if there are any statistics for the last decade that show how many civilians were saved by shooting someone through their windshield versus how many people were killed due to slipping in the shower. I don't wear rubber boots with suction cups on the bottom in the shower either.....shows what a dumb-azz I am!!!

Going a little bit further (and just having some more fun) - I'm sure everyone remembers the famous LA bank robbery video where the guy was popping off at LE while walking down the street. When I saw that I thought to myself.....OMG!!! If I were getting shot at like that, I'd want to shield myself with a vehicle and then maybe even drop to my belly to try and identify the location of the shooter without having to expose my melon. If I did so, I'd probably shoot at his ankles/feet from my shielded position instead of having to risk shooting over the car and taking fire when doing so and then take more shots at him if/when he dropped. Now again, I'm just a civilian so even though that makes sense to me, I have yet to go to the range, lay on my belly, and shoot at a set of sneakers with 2x4s stuffed in 'em to simulate a bank robbers shins....

Sheeeesh!!! Come to think of it, I'm feeling pretty vulnerable about now.....

I'm a lot more likely to shoot into a vehicle than out of one, but I've done both. Can't hurt. Probably won't help, but I'm more concerned with the stakes than the odds. YMMV.

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As a citizen, you aren't making it a habit due to the nature of your business, turning over rocks looking for rattlesnakes, as LE does. Preparation and prior planning, helps eliminate poor performance.

We don't have the option of walking away from the issue, due to the fact that this might be dangerous. The best we can do is prepare the best we can and hope it'll work when the time comes.

In many situations as this one, what started out as fairly routine, went to high risk by simply pushing a switch activating a light bar.

I've come very close to shooting a man through a windshield, so it's something I won't discount.

Couldn't agree more hunter1960. If I were in an line of work even remotely close to LE/Security, I'd gladly take as much training as I could get.

Wish I could afford to even get professional training on the basics.....I'm sure I could use it.

Spoke to the Coffee Co. Sheriff Steve Graves yesterday. Both Deputies are fine. No glass fragments, hearing is coming back at normal rate. Both deputies will be going to critical incident recovery course, which will help with such issues as PTSD etc. One of the Deputies was only 21YOA, he has been out of the academy less then a year and on the road.