A stack of aluminum stop signs turned into a ballistic test range when Yee Yee Life host Parker Smith set out to answer a simple question: how many signs would it take to stop different types of ammunition?
Smith and fellow host Zach started with a small .22-caliber round and steadily moved through handgun rounds, rifle cartridges, a shotgun slug, and finally a .50 BMG round. The test used fresh stop signs for each caliber, with the team counting how many sheets of metal each round pierced before stopping.
The result was not especially close. The .50 caliber round went through 28 stop signs before changing direction, striking the table, grazing the hand of a mannequin named Fred, and continuing into the berm behind the target.
Smith described the final shot as the clear winner of the challenge, though several smaller rounds produced results that surprised him along the way.
The Test Begins With A .22
Parker Smith introduced the experiment by saying the Yee Yee Life team wanted to see how much thin metal a bullet could push through before losing enough energy to stop.
The first firearm was a Ruger Mark V firing a .22-caliber round, which Smith called one of the smaller options in the lineup.
The .22 passed through the first stop sign, then struck the second sign and stopped. Smith and Zach found the flattened bullet nearby after it bounced back from the second layer of metal.
For a round often treated as mild compared with larger handgun and rifle ammunition, it still made it through one full sign. That is a useful reminder that even a small-caliber round can travel through lightweight materials and remain dangerous beyond the first impact.
Smith then moved to a Glock 19 chambered in 9mm.
The 9mm round traveled cleanly through seven stop signs before bouncing off the eighth. Smith found the bullet on the ground after the test and noted that it was still hot.
That gave the 9mm an early lead, showing a major jump in performance over the .22.
Handgun Rounds Push Through Metal
Next came a .45 ACP round fired from a 1911 pistol.
Smith and Zach counted seven stop signs penetrated cleanly, with the .45 pushing partly into the eighth sign. The eighth sheet bulged and cracked but did not fully fail.
Smith gave the .45 ACP a slight edge over the 9mm because it appeared to penetrate farther into the eighth sign, even though both rounds fully passed through seven.
The comparison was one of the more interesting parts of the video because the two handgun rounds behaved differently despite finishing with nearly the same number. The .45 left a larger and more obvious deformation in the last sign, while the 9mm made a cleaner path through the first seven.
The next test used a .44 Magnum revolver firing what Smith called a bear load.
That round cleanly passed through 10 stop signs and stopped at number 11. Smith found the bullet nearby and called it the new leader.
The .44 Magnum’s performance showed how much more force a powerful revolver round can carry compared with standard pistol ammunition. It did not just beat the 9mm and .45 ACP by a little; it added several more layers of aluminum before stopping.
After that, Smith brought out a Desert Eagle chambered in .50 AE.
The Desert Eagle round passed through 11 stop signs cleanly before stopping at the 12th. Smith said the impact caused pieces of metal to fly and described the final hole as a small “hatch” opening in the sign.
At that point, the .50 AE had barely passed the .44 Magnum, but the team still had rifle rounds ahead.
Rifle Cartridges Take Over
Smith then tested an AR-style rifle firing .223 ammunition.
The .223 round went cleanly through 12 stop signs before stopping at the 13th. Smith said the rifle round created a much smaller entry hole than the Desert Eagle, which he attributed to its higher speed.
That difference is easy to see in this kind of test. Large handgun rounds can leave wider damage at the point of impact, but faster rifle rounds often carry their energy through thin materials in a more focused way.
The shotgun test came next.
Using a 12-gauge slug, Smith watched the signs buckle and lose their shape under the impact. The slug passed through 10 stop signs before stopping at the 11th.
The slug left a much larger opening than the rifle rounds, and the team noted that the target stack had visibly lost integrity after the shot. The result was still below the AR and Desert Eagle, but the impact looked far more violent because of the slug’s size.
Then came the AK-47, firing 7.62×39 ammunition.
That round surprised Smith and Zach by shooting through all 21 stop signs they had set up. It continued through the front of their mannequin, Fred, before finally stopping.
Smith said he had not expected the AK round to perform that well, especially after the AR had stopped at 13 signs. The result forced the team to bring out another table and add more stop signs before continuing the experiment.
The .308 rifle round followed.
Smith fired the .308 and counted 17 signs penetrated before the bullet bounced off number 18. He called the result surprising because the .308 did not beat the AK’s 7.62×39 performance in their particular setup.
The .30-06 was next, and it performed slightly better than the .308. Smith counted 18 stop signs penetrated before the bullet stopped at number 19.
That placed the .30-06 in second place at the time, still behind the AK-47’s 21 signs.
The .50 Cal Takes The Lead
For the final test, Smith loaded a .50 BMG round.
He and Zach set up slow-motion footage and aimed at the expanded wall of stop signs. The shot produced a large flash at the muzzle and sent the .50 caliber bullet through the target stack with far more force than anything that came before it.
Smith began counting at the front of the signs.
The bullet passed through 8, then 13, then 20, and kept going. By the time it reached stop sign number 28, it had bent the sign and started to veer downward.
The round then struck the table, grazed Fred’s hand, and continued into the berm behind the target.
Smith called the .50 caliber round the obvious winner, with 28 stop signs penetrated before the bullet changed direction.
The slow-motion footage appeared to show the bullet’s path becoming less stable as it passed through the growing stack of metal. By the later signs, the holes had become more vertical and distorted, suggesting the round was losing stability even though it still carried enough energy to keep moving.
That detail may be the most striking part of the test. The .50 BMG did not simply punch neat holes through 28 signs and stop cleanly. The metal gradually changed the bullet’s path, but not before it traveled through an enormous amount of material.
A Simple Experiment With A Clear Result
By the end of the video, Smith’s scoreboard had the .50 BMG in first place with 28 stop signs, followed by the AK-47 at 21.
The .30-06 finished with 18, the .308 with 17, the AR’s .223 with 12, the Desert Eagle’s .50 AE with 11, and the .44 Magnum and 12-gauge slug with 10 each.
The 9mm and .45 ACP each made it through seven signs, while the .22 passed through one before stopping at the second.
The experiment was clearly designed for entertainment, but it also made one point very clear: stop signs are not protective barriers. They are thin sheets of metal designed to communicate with drivers, not stop projectiles.
Smith’s test turned that fact into a dramatic visual. As each caliber climbed higher, the signs began to look less like traffic markers and more like shredded pieces of aluminum.
The .50 caliber round ended the challenge with the most dramatic result, proving that it took 28 stop signs before the stack finally disrupted its path enough to redirect it.
For Smith and Zach, the answer was settled. A .50 BMG did not just win the stop-sign challenge. It made the rest of the field look small by comparison.
Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.
