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I hadn’t seen this covered in depth on here yet, and so I decided to take a look. So everyone has seen them as barriers in the movies, on TV, and sometimes on the news. But how well do they really work? Will they really serve as an effective barrier against incoming rounds and fragments?
Let’s take a look at a basic test done by one of our own (clearly a prepper):
After watching this, I must say that I am duly impressed! With a double layer of these lining your walls or even standing alone, your protection against incoming small arms should be sufficient for all but the biggest, baddest rounds out there. (Armor piercing rounds may pose a significant threat still.) I have my doubts that a big .50 would be stopped, but those aren’t that common, and chances are you should be running from a force equipped with such weapons anyhow.
Materials you fill them with are important however, and common sense tells me that not all materials will perform as well as sand. Best part? You can get these helpful little buddies for cheap (see site below for bags at $0.46 per bag) and come in different colors. They also store easy and don’t take up much room. Not to mention, you can use them as an effective flood wall or a container for odds and ends. There are different quality levels too, some of which last up to 3 years in direct, unrelenting sunlight!
I will definitely be picking up some of these bags for my preparedness kit!
This site is pretty cheap for bulk, and tells you a bit about sandbags. https://www.sandbaggy.com/
Thanks White Knight. I do have some…but alas no sand pile to fill them with! Now, manure I got!
I’m sold. Sand is cheap. Sand has liquid propeties in that holes are self sealing
It might be better to go back even further in history to the civil war . Earthworks fortifications were almost impossible to destroy . A large berm is much more effective than sandbags . The Confederates liked to go into the woods and dig slit trenches , then fall some logs , placing them in front of the slit trench , this gave the shooter full view of the area , and made the soldier extremely hard to hit , because he was shooting from under the log ……..a sort of pill box .
Need to buy some more bags. This is the cheapest way to protect your self.
Sand bags simply worked great as a protection, and were used a lot in my time of SHTF. And yes Tolik, some of the setups for defense did not distinguish too much from the wars hundreds years ago.
Combination if sandbags and boards (planks) worked great.
Sandbags are pretty great. I need to get more.
Canadian Patriot. Becoming self-sufficient.
If you’ve got the resources and/or live near a cement plant – adding some cement to the sandbag mix and laying them out will eventually create an easy to make pretty impervious wall/structure. Spray with water for immediate hardening (if you’ve got it) or just wait for mother nature to do it over time. I’ve seen some of these on bases where the burlap bags have long since disintegrated, but the cement “bags” are still in place and obviously hard as a rock. I haven’t “tested” per se, but I’d bet that just one layer of these would stop a .50 for a while. A buried structure covered with these bags would keep the dirt in place (from erosion) and add several inches of cement without all the forms and pouring and such.
Tolik – great point on the eathen berms. Some of those still exist from the civil war days today! Also on Selco’s point – use all three (wood, earth, sandbags) together in layers and you’ve got a serious fortification!
Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property... mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them.
- Thomas PaineCheck local hardware stores and such for bags of Sackret type of bagged cement that have set up (hardened.) Should get them for almost nothing.
RobinCombination if sandbags and boards (planks) worked great.
I saw some sandbags in the destroyed buildings we went through. From what I remember those were heavy duty plastic right? What kind of material do you recommend for sandbags these days?
Alea iacta est ("The die has been cast")
Novus Ordo, The idea of adding some cement to the sand is a great idea. I have done something like that with readmix concrete bags, just wet them and build a wall. The paper will disintegrate and you are left with a concrete wall.
In that time it was type that we called “coffee bag” .Big bags that used for long transport of coffee or potato, plastic “threaded” kind of bags.
Very heavy duty.
Important thing is to use your imagination (or common sense) so everything can be used in combination with bags, stuff like “boxes” made from planks filled with dirt, dumpsters or wrecked car filled with dirt,etc.Somewhere I have a copy of one of the US Civil War manuals that list how much of different materials is required to protect from different kinds of incoming traffic ( I think it went from smooth bore muskets up to some of the large siege artillery, I know it definitely covers the .58 cal rifle muskets through at least 12 pound howitzer and 3 inch rifle.
Rob
I like the idea of adding cement to the mix , bullets hitting sandbags with nothing but sand or dirt in them loose protective value . Where sandbags really shine , is protection from blasts and flying debris . During WW2 , many of the bigger cities in Europe covered all their historic monuments , buildings , etc in sand bags . It did indeed help prevent damage , even from bombing if not directly hit .
Tolik, Good idea, I have one pallet of 60 lbs bags of cement mix in my garage. I have tested it a year later and it is still not hard. So they stay good if they are wrapped in plastic. So one pallet is 70 bags. I want to get another pallet to have 140 bags. HomeDepot sometimes has them for only $1.99 which is when I got them.
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