# Old Western Movie Stock Device? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344 "2010-03-22T15:33:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/1 "2010-03-22T15:33:33Z")
In a lot of westerns, you see the bad guys holed up in a wood-frame house, firing out the windows at the lawmen. My question: how much protection would a woodframe house provide against bullets? Seems like you could just fire below the window-and nail the bad guy. Weren’t most of those western towns made up of cheaply-constructed shacks? Probably just one layer of boards over a 2 x 4 frame. So, would they block a bullet? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/2 "2010-03-22T15:41:47Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > In a lot of westerns, you see the bad guys holed up in a wood-frame house, firing out the windows at the lawmen. > My question: how much protection would a woodframe house provide against bullets? Seems like you could just fire below the window-and nail the bad guy. Weren’t most of those western towns made up of cheaply-constructed shacks? > Probably just one layer of boards over a 2 x 4 frame. > So, would they block a bullet? Wood house? If you haven’t seen it, you simply have to see the Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke escapade [The Gauntlet (1977)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076070/) where they gun down a suburban brick dwelling! I laughed so hard I pissed my pants! Hiding behind sofas and chairs: equally stupid. The six-shooter that never needs reloading. Man, we could really start ripping the B Western genre for such silliness! ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/3 "2010-03-22T15:45:12Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > In a lot of westerns, you see the bad guys holed up in a wood-frame house, firing out the windows at the lawmen. > My question: how much protection would a woodframe house provide against bullets? Seems like you could just fire below the window-and nail the bad guy. Weren’t most of those western towns made up of cheaply-constructed shacks? > Probably just one layer of boards over a 2 x 4 frame. > So, would they block a bullet? Depends on the bullet. Slow-travelling .44-40 or .45 Colt handgun cartridges? Yeah, maybe, if the walls of the shack were a few inches thick or backed with some kind of insulation (even dirt). Rifle rounds like the 45/70? Probably not. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/4 "2010-03-22T16:29:15Z")
**The Rocketeer** handled this right: “We haven’t got a house, Cliff; we’ve got a gazebo!” ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/5 "2010-03-22T16:31:11Z")
I’m guessing that the frame itself would provide some protection. The walls, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/6 "2010-03-22T16:34:39Z")
It’s why in **Death Hunt** Charlie Bronson digs down into the dirt below the cabin when he knows it’s going to be shot up… and that was a hewn timber cabin. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/7 "2010-03-22T18:00:41Z")
It’s the difference between concealment and cover. Cover’s a lot more valuable, but I’ll take concealment if that’s all there is. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/8 "2010-03-22T20:22:17Z")
Much of the West is arid, and so most of the places where shootouts happened weren’t clapboard houses, but sod or adobe. The [Frisco Shootout](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisco_Shootout) fits the OP’s description, but was in an adobe house, with a floor lower than the outside ground. The besieged, [Elfego Baca,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfego_Baca) survived a sustained barrage of 4,000 bullets. Baca’s reputation was later sanitized for a TV series where he was played by [Robert Loggia](http://cdn2.ioffer.com/img/item/279/882/87/robert-loggia.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/9 "2010-03-22T20:46:19Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Man, we could really start ripping the B Western genre for such silliness! I love it when a bullet fired inside an enclosed room goes loudly ricocheting off into the distance. . ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/10 "2010-03-23T15:06:05Z")
I would point out that many of the people in the Old West did home loads of their weapons. and if my grandfather’s home loads were any indication his hand gun home loads were not overly powerful. When I was little we would target shoot tin cans and bottles against the barn and it was seldom, if ever, breached (breeched?). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/11 "2010-03-23T15:12:25Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I love it when a bullet fired inside an enclosed room goes loudly ricocheting off into the distance. > > . I’ve mentioned this before in similar threads but your post made me want to repeat it. Perhaps my favorite one of these implausible goofs is the one where somebody (maybe a group) is standing on the porch in the darkness with maybe a lantern or candle or some smallish light source, peering into the darkness for the source of some noise that has them upset. The camera gives us a pretty clear view that nothing is visible for a good 50’ or more. Suddenly a knife whistles and sticks up in a post just beside the main character’s head. Nice toss, Kemo Sabe. You’d be lucky to throw a baseball that well. But have you ever thrown knives? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/12 "2010-03-23T15:43:21Z")
If you want to look out into the darkness to see something, then leave your lantern behind. All it will do is ruin your night vision, but it’s not going to provide enough illumination for you to actually see anything. I remember watching “Sarah Connor” and the characters ducked behind a couch to get away from some bullets. It really bugged me, until afterward when the cops were investigating the scene, the detective found that the couch was full of kevlar. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/13 "2010-03-23T19:19:30Z")
Let’s not forget “The Phantom” where the bullets were sparking off of TREES. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/14 "2010-03-25T14:22:13Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > … the bullets were sparking off of TREES. [_Guaiacum_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironwood) [_sanctum_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaiacum_sanctum) wood? CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-western-movie-stock-device/533344/15 "2010-03-25T17:53:48Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > [_Guaiacum_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironwood) [_sanctum_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaiacum_sanctum) wood? > > CMC fnord! Yes, we all made that joke then, too.