.357 mag vs .44 mag - Drywall Test

I bet if the .44 mag had the extra 2 inches of barrel that the .357 had, it would have gone through more sheets than it did. I always try to keep barrel length the same when comparing two rounds.

Anybody who doesn't like 357 and 44 magnum just ain't American

Good video idea! I once toured a business that fitted bullet proof panels into cars! Awesome stuff. Your family is lucky to have you testing the technology. Oh yeah, I think the lack of expansion made for a better test. Those unexpanded hollow points penetrated much more than if they had mushroomed. Better test the next idea using fmj just to be sure.

Space in between each sheet changes the final number. With blowout of the back of the drywall would allow more sheets or less sheets of penetration. The tightly packed sheets cause the rounds to compact the drywall. Need to space the dry wall by 4 inches to get a good reading on what really happens.

Drywall is notorious for inhibiting expansion in most hollow point rounds. No hydrostatic pressure to expand the projectile against the hard drywall around it.

That’s a beautiful Ruger 44 mag snubbie! I would have guessed about 12-15 sheets at most. Surprising results! Wondering if the hollow points got packed with drywall, which stopped the expansion.

Loved this video, I have both of these guns. Keep up the great work!

In the “good old days” we used rolls of newspapers to stuff inside the walls where insulation would be placed. A .38 makes an excellent home protection gun as the bullet has less of a chance of wall penetration as do larger calibers and when a .38 enters the body it tends to bounce off the ribs inside the body , causing a lot of damage.

Barrel length makes a major difference too as it captures more energy from the cartridge to propel the round. If the .44 Mag had a longer barrel to match the .357 it would have probably gone through 2 more sheets of drywall.

The barrels should be the same such as 4" or 6" instead of 4" verses 2 1/2".

Great video; I would suggest using 2x6 framing with cement board over blue-board and fill the hollow with gravel and sand - 5.5 inches of gravel and sand may seem heavy, but it's not that heavy and I am pretty sure such a wall with a total of 8.5 depth and a hollow filled with 5.5 inches of sand and something like bluestone gravel will stop the magnums and likely even rifle rounds. Maybe you could make a small version and test it. Good luck. David

I'm surprised, never thought they'd go that far . Good job , thank you.

Both turned into an FMJ, common dry wall issue. Good vid!

Interesting story from a police officer. A woman was trying to scare her husband (who liked to beat the hell out of her), so she shot the wall next to him with a .357 Magnum. The bullet passed through two interior walls, punched its way out through the outside brick wall, flew into the neighbor's yard, between the neighbor's legs, and punched a hole through his lawnmower's engine. He didn't know what happened. Just all the sudden his lawn mower stopped. He looked and there was a stream of oil coming out of the engine. He didn't have any idea what happened until the police showed up at his neighbor's house and traced the bullet path to his lawn mower.

I enjoyed seeing the recoil comparison between the two calibers when you held the revolvers with one hand.

Good simple study of power. Reminds me of the old Box O Truth testing. Good Job!

I feel like I'm watching the count on sesame street. "1 sheet of drywall...hmm, hmm, hmm. 2 sheets of drywall ...hmm, hmm, hmm"

I've seen some safe rooms designed to have layers of 3/4" plywood and layers of sheet metal, in addition to drywall. Seeing this experiment makes me think that might be a good idea.

Damn re-upload an old video from 3 years ago and it got more views good for you. Nice video very informative as I'm looking to buy a revolver but haven't decided on caliber

My guess was 16 layers. I have no experience with either gun or caliber but I figured drywall doesn’t put up much resistance. It would be good to see if spacing with 2x4s changes anything, or fiberglass insulation.