Trent Kimball, CEO of Texas Armoring Corporation (TAC), was tired of customers asking if his company's bullet-resistant glass in its armored cars actually resisted bullets. So he did what any reasonable CEO would do: he asked his employee to shoot at him with an AK-47. It's loud, scary, dangerous, and completely awesome.
The last time I visited TAC there was much shooting at various kinds of bullet-resistant glass, steel, and kevlar. We all joked about someone getting behind the glass during the live-firing but no one was crazy enough to do it. Until now.
"I've never seen anything quite like it," said TAC's Jason Forston, adding "probably because of the inherent risk in pointing assault rifles at humans."
It's an inherent risk the company is dedicated to mitigating with their vehicles, which range from lightly-armored vehicles for worried individuals to IED-resistant SUVs for use in foreign conflict zones.
The glass Kimball is crouching behind, if you were curious, is T7-level bullet-resistant and is 2.16 inches thick in the middle. It's rated to defeat up to 30-06 AP rounds and will deflect rounds from an M-16, AK-47, FN-FAL, and other similar weapons. This specific glass is from an S-Class Mercedes and features an offset edge so it looks stock, which is what you see flying off when it's shot.
"In a vehicle we would cover the offset with an overlap system to ensure complete protection," said Forston.
When it comes to standing behind your product, we hope you don't work for an armored car company.