Trolgar-The Ballistic Protection Shield

[ssc]

I take gun safety seriously. They claim the more you handle guns, the more the chance of an accidential discharge. I have witnessed more than a few and it is scary. While competing in USPSA competitions I saw many AD's. While traveling to shooting matches, we would stay in hotels and clean our guns in the hotel rooms. Yes, a few AD's took place in hotel rooms. Same for training classes. Seen it happen while hunting. I know of a few at gunsmith's. I know my share of police it happened to. I also am aware of many people who have had AD's in their home/garage/apt/condo etc. Go to any indoor gun range and look up and see how many AD's you can count.

Many are scary learning experiences and some are horrific due to injury or death. I have always said it would never happen to me, but I have had a close call, which goes to show it is possible. At my primary residence, I work on my guns in the garage and the wall I face is to the back and beyond is open with a large hill--a good backstop if something goes boom. At my Havasu house, the garage wall is common to the laundry room and bedrooms. If there is an accident, a bullet will go through the house and endanger my family. This was not to be. I looked for something to be a good backstop that had other qualities and I never found it.

I was surprised. I am aware of some products you can fire into to slow and stop a round, but I wanted a panel so I could work on my guns, clean them, dryfire and had some assurance, that if I AD, I would not put my family in danger. So, with some research and help from an old buddy and a trip to China, we have developed a bullet resistant panel-comparible to a 111A vest-worn by many police- that stops most handgun rounds. The panel is contained in a decorative cover-color of your choice- camo, deer scene etc. Weighs 9LBs and has d rings so it can be hung on the wall. it is compact and can be rolled up and has a carry handle. It can be hung on the back of a door or over a chair. It is a transportable backstop. It is covert. No one knows what it is. The post is doing funny things, so I will post and finish in next thread.

[ssc]

It is 16X32 and can be customized to any size. The cover can be customized as well and it can be used as a self defense shield if need be. It is cut resistant as well as bullet proof. We have formed a company, Trolgar and will finish some details. The website will go online in a couple of weeks and we hope to sell many units. Frankly, any place or anyone who handles a handgun should have a safe backstop in case of an accident. Should anyone care to get additional information, call me. I will post pictures in a bit.

Regards, Steve

[Chazz Layne]

Sounds nice, I look forward to it. Any thoughts as to California's banishment on personal armor and if that will have any legal impact for private "subjects" wanting to own one of these shields in-state?

[ssc]

I am not aware of any law prohibiting law abiding citizens from having a bullet resistant panel. I know in Ca they passed a law setting forth that felons could not have bullet proof vests, but the law has been overturned by the appeals court. I think it may go to the Supreme CT.

I will post a picture of my Havasu Bench with the panel.

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[Fetus]

Nice blasters. You can never be too careful, I guess. I tend to call them negligent discharges myself unless there was a defect or malfunction that caused the gun to discharge. Those that carry firearms daily, myself included, can become complacent and have an ND. Knock on wood that in 6 years in the Marines+11 in my current job, I haven't had one yet but it can happen at anytime.

[cruiserlarry]

I realize any protection is better than none, but I do have a question regarding the application of an anti-ballistic panel as protection from an accidental / negligent discharge:

Since the panel is of a limited size, how do you determine how many and where to place them ?

I'm not saying this to antagonize, Steve - I just thought, it would be difficult to predict the direction of the AD/ND. I realize you might protect an obvious area (wall leading into bedroom, etc.) but seems any direction could be potentially deadly with a ricochet or two; even out the garage toward a neighbor's house, etc. With the panel close enough to be effective, could a ricochet off the panel endanger the user more than without it, or is the material energy-absorbent ?

[ssc]

Yes, I agree, it is a ND, but this goes over most people's head. Larry, the panel is composed of polyethyelene fiber. It catches the bullet like a catchers glove and absorbs the energy. Many vests are made of the same material. Bullets will not ricochet off this material.

Larry, I appreciate your input. If the AD/ND misses the panel, then it does no good. For my purposes, I have hung it where I work on my guns/clean guns/dryfire etc. For me, I keep the barrel pointed at the panel anytime the finger goes on the trigger-such as taking down any glock-you must pull the trigger-decock before disassembly. Also, unloading and loading--pointed at the panel. Unless you want to completely armor a room, it is always possible for a round to find a way out. Even in armored rooms, sometimes the seams are weak. Hence, for my activities, I have a backstop to catch a round and I feel safe knowing if something goes wrong, I won't send a round into the house. Of course if someone is pointing the gun towards an area not protected-bad things can happen. We are also coming out with a pistol bag that has the same material--so if loading or unloading, the bag itself is a safe backstop. I wish I could contain all Nd's for everyone, but I doubt many people would buy a panel 7 ft tall that circled them with a top and bottom--if they want them we can build them and double up on the seams, but it would be expensive.

It reminds me of a conversation I had with someone about my FJ. Nice enough guy, wanted to know what the metal things on the side were for. I explained what the rails did. Then wanted to know why they don't cover the side of the rig in case of a roll on the side. I told him some folks build a full cage around the vehicle, but I hoped not to roll down any hills.

As we say, it is another tool in the toolbox to help with safety. It is not an excuse to then discount your safety rules when handling guns. And yes, I carry one in the FJ and my ford as backstops when loading and unloading guns when shooting. Feel free to visit our website, Trolgar.com

I look forward to any feedback.

Regards, Steve

[OLLIE]

One of larry's questions was if the panel absorbs the bullet energy or would it ricochet back at you? Most vest I know of absorb the energy and the bullet impregnates into the vest material. Although major bruising and cracked bones are one of the drawbacks it at least saves a life.

[ssc]

Ollie,
I didn't communicate well. Yes the material catches the bullet and it will not ricochet. The bullet is caught up in the panel just like a vest. The blunt force trauma can cause some damage to the sheetrock, but no penetration.

Here we are opening the panel material

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here is the bullet--9mm nato 124

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The panel has just been shot with a 230 FMJ .45acp

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This panel shows multiple hits

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Here's your 45 hardball

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frick and frack

Trolgar 149 (Small).jpg (41.68 KiB) Viewed 3973 times

Regards, Steve

[ssc]

Just a quick update. We have shields being tested for their intended purpose and they have been evaluated by various police depts as emergency response shields. The above shield is model number 1 and we are making some changes as requested by various PD's. This will be model number 2. We have a number of them being deployed at a large dept and had great feedback. One one call of a man with gun--as the officers made entry, the subject "freaked" at the sight of the shield and gave up, or so I am told. It has been used in other situations as well.

Should anyone on this board want to buy one we will sell them at a reduced price.
Regards, Steve