Although the 300-kilogram steel safe is quite massive, it can’t even withstand an old World War II M4 Sherman tank. The test captures the shot vs. 10 such safes.
The massive safes weighing over 300 kilograms seem almost impenetrable – after all, they are designed to prevent thieves from stealing money and valuables, or to prevent them from being destroyed in a fire, since they are able to withstand fire. However, the YouTubers from the Destruction ranch team decided to test how many such safes can be shot through by an American M4 Sherman tank from World War II. Well, the result may surprise, or rather disappoint.
The vault wall is not just steel
The safes themselves in the video seem to be very massive, their walls can be more than 10 cm thick. However, it’s not 100% steel, it’s only on the surface, while the walls are filled with some kind of ceramic or similar filler, so you can’t expect the safe to behave like a tank’s armor – on the contrary, it’s understandable that it will withstand much less.
The 76 millimeter gun of the M4 Sherman tank
The YouTubers had a 1944 M4 Sherman tank at their disposal, which was already armed with a more powerful 76 millimeter gun. However, it was not exactly the best weapon, even this stronger cannon with a longer barrel had a problem with the armor of the German tank Panzerkampfwagen V Panther, which was a reaction to the Soviet T-34 . At the same time, the YouTubers loaded it with a charge with a steel projectile designed to pierce enemy armor, the weight of which is 8 kg.
A tank projectile can handle several vaults
It can be seen from the video that the first shot did not go very well – the projectile deviated and flew through only two safes, after which it only struck the third one and continued outside. The test was therefore repeated, but this time better. The shot was also filmed on high-speed cameras , thanks to which it is possible to observe how the projectile hit and flew through several safes. He looked almost unscathed at the end.
The M4 Sherman tank broke through a total of 5 safes, but on the 6th it only hit the door and bent it considerably; however, he did not get inside. The shape of the holes in the individual safes indicates that he had to change position when breaking through them, as the holes are always different in size and inclined. The question is how a more modern tank , such as an M1 Abrams , would cope with safes . Its cannon has a caliber of 120 mm, so it is significantly more powerful. Additionally, it has depleted uranium kinetic projectiles that fly much faster and can penetrate thicker armor than WW2 cannons (logically).