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Armored Deuce

stampy

Active member
1,321
22
38
Location
Henderson. NC
+1 on the steel kevlar sandwich. Use a bedcoating like por or rhinoliner as the media to water proof in between layers . The first steel sheet opens up the projectile the kevlar catches the spalling and the last sheet catches any residual. I'm not saying this would stop 50 cal but it would be useful against small arms fire. Protecting the glass areas would be harder and You might want to relocate the radiator or build a angled "bullet trap" in front of it. Then you would have to invest in runflats or foam fill the tires which means no highway driving. Or you could just build a bunker in your house load it up with all the stuff you need and just not go outside. 8 feet of dirt is effecive against ALL rifle and small arms rounds!
 

oddshot

Active member
781
119
43
Location
Jasper, Georgia
Ditch the phone books ... too many problems with moisture and weight.

Crushed aluminum beer and soda cans would give you more protection at far less weight.

You can also save a bit of weight ... and probably cost ... if you use a lighter gauge a steel to form the "cases" ... and glue ceramic tiles to the walls.

That would give you a sandwich of steel, ceramic tile, a core of stacked - crushed aluminum cans, ceramic tile, and steel.

Try to mount all of you plates at an angle ... an angled surface would help to deflect a lot of stuff.

I've always want to see how effective layers of air bag materials in a laminate with steel or ceramics would do. You should be able to find them cheaply enough in junk yards ... cheap enough to do some tests anyways. It might just be a poor mans kevlar.



This should be pretty effective against most small arms ... but God Help you against anything with a shaped charge.

oddshot
 
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Clay James

Member
524
4
18
Location
Reno/NV
Not 50 BMG. They are illegal in Cali. I was thinking NATO round the most.
You can still have crew served .50BMG like the M2. I believe you can also have .50BMG rifles as long as it's disassembled since the law is against shoulder fired. And I doubt if someone is shooting at you they would care about gun laws.

Mythbusters did a episode where they tested phone books on a vehicle for armor.
 

Heath_h49008

New member
1,557
102
0
Location
Kalamazoo/Mich
Here... get an idea of the costs and coverage area for various small arms armor. They even sell used halves of vests you can play with and possibly laminate into door panels... Have fun guys.

BulletProofME.com Body Armor - Accessories for Concealable Vests

As a side note... if you need an armored truck, you have already made so many mistakes, what is another? Mr Molotov was taught a valuable lesson by the Finns about armor and vulnerability... sadly few ever learn from history.

If you fear stray rounds... fine. Get some body armor. If you think you will turn an M35 into a bulletproof rolling fortress, you're barking up the wrong tree. You're looking for a tank or an APC. Even most purpose built armored trucks like Brinks won't stop 7.62 NATO AP. And many APCs won't stop 50BMG.

So, what is the most you hope to accomplish? An incredibly slow and failure prone truck that cost a ton of cash and time to build and MAY stop bullets as long as they don't have real guns and aren't motivated/smart enough to take out your tires, drivetrain, or just follow your slow moving butt home? Not to mention attracting as much attention as humanly possible while you did it.

This is just my 2cents... But I don't see this ever really working.

Want to protect the family? Be invisible... Just the average nobody. Junk nobody wants... annoying people nobody cares about... wallpaper.
 

Awesome Possum

New member
212
0
0
Location
Central Texas
Love the capability to run multifuel is a huge plus. I would like to convert my deuce (getting one soon) with 3/8" mild steel plate with phonebooks in the middle and another plate of 3/8" inside. I have the drawings, friends and shop can do it for me. The phone book will be sandwich between two 3/8" mild steel. The question I have would this be illegal in Cali for have a armored truck?
What you are describing is a Vietnam guntruck. This has all been done before in Vietnam, and they tried sandbags between the hardened plates (no mild steel) and when wet it became too heavy. Only very early guntrucks were based on deuces as the armor and equipment bogged them down too much. Check out this link and it'll take you to many fascinaing stories and history about guntrucks. Vietnam Gun Truck Psychotic Reaction

They were also not a thing you drove through enemy fire without putting out massive amounts of suppressive fire. Just driving through the kill zone would probably get you killed. Even the best of trucks only made it harder for the enemy to kill you, but it didn't make one invulnerable.

I built the original Psychotic Reaction replica in the pics back in 03-04 and I wouldn't want it as a BOV. Too slow and not enough protection. Instead I own a Bob if I have to G.O.O.D. quickly. I agree with some of the others that the best way to keep your good health is to get out of California. If you built a guntruck for this reason you might as well have a target painted on the side
 

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Heath_h49008

New member
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Location
Kalamazoo/Mich
On a side note... Building an SUV/deuce that LOOKED like a full on APC/MRAP might be a very interesting idea. (It has been done for prop trucks, just not in a pretty way)

A. You could do it with foam/thin wood/fiber cloth/thin sheet metal, laid up to any shape you want without breaking the bank.
B. You could build the structure walls and roof light enough the M35A2 wouldn't care it was there.
C. It would be a contained cabin for seating and protection from prying eyes and weather.
D. People might well THINK it was something not worth wasting time to deal with in this highly speculative Zombie apocalypse or whatever. (Are you going to shoot a tank to see if it really is bulletproof?)
E. It would be darn cool in the mean-time for parades and maybe the odd movie gig. (If you did it right.)
 

needmoretrucks

New member
12
0
0
Location
alliance ne.
Try this place for bulletproof stuff ArmorCo UL-8 ( SuperShield ) Fiberglass Panel
I have been thinking about doing the same thing for inexplicable reasons cause I live in the unpopulated west end of Nebraska.

I've not had great luck with finding pricing on bulletproof glass and if found I believe the windscreen would be easy to modify for 2 inch thickness, but the roll down windows present a different challenge. Any thoughts? :gimp2:(yes roll down, fixed windows would be easy)
 
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Csm Davis

Well-known member
4,166
393
83
Location
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
The army has armored 939series trucks built like this they are not to take to the fight just help get you out of a ambush and his idea is not to far off because most of any rioters will have handguns or hunting rifles not AP rounds and fifty bmg.
 

Jakob

Member
722
5
18
Location
Louisville, KY
The army has armored 939series trucks built like this they are not to take to the fight just help get you out of a ambush and his idea is not to far off because most of any rioters will have handguns or hunting rifles not AP rounds and fifty bmg.
I know that we have the Caiman, but it is built off of the FMTV chassis. It's a really smooth ride, but lacks a little in the performance department. They are designed to withstand a blast or heavy fire and get out of the kill zone, that's it. It's not made to be a rolling fortress.
 

dilligaf13

Active member
563
33
28
Location
south, florida
The only way to over come the weight issue of uparmoring a deuce is through the use of kevlar, ceramic, or aluminum. None of these are cheap. Just making the cab bullet resistant (nothing is bullet proof) is expensive and is your best option to cut down on overall weight issues. A 5ton gives you much better options than a deuce. The last bullet resistant windshield I priced about six months ago cost 10K (Don't ask) so like I said uparmoring isn't cheap.
 

usmctopgun

Member
209
0
18
Location
Cochran, GA
The only way to over come the weight issue of uparmoring a deuce is through the use of kevlar, ceramic, or aluminum. None of these are cheap. Just making the cab bullet resistant (nothing is bullet proof) is expensive and is your best option to cut down on overall weight issues. A 5ton gives you much better options than a deuce. The last bullet resistant windshield I priced about six months ago cost 10K (Don't ask) so like I said uparmoring isn't cheap.
I have access to ballistic 5 ton glass, new in the box with install kit if anyone is interested. 1k each
 

needmoretrucks

New member
12
0
0
Location
alliance ne.
Yeah at 45 a square foot the Kevlar stuff I posted about can stop m14 fire multiple hits. Not cheap but not insane either. They have some stuff around 20 a square that will stop pistol calibers as well.
10k windshield!!! Maybe ill drive via periscope instead!
 

hdmax

New member
188
5
0
Location
new Lexington, Ohio
Have you thought this through? I would expect the the hinges and mounting plates would have to be enormous to support 300LB, 400LB doors, all the windows need to be a minimum of an inch thick, and armor will do little good, unless you do the entire cab, firewall, the works. What about someone coming up through a manhole and shooting through the floor? It to will need to be armor plated. :razz: To do it right, you will more then likely exceed the maximum GVWR.
 
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