Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Body Armor

At what speed does it take to penetrate it? Just curious if the cop in Garland made head shots or if he was shooting a higher speed pistol.I'm thinkin I have read that a 10mm and a 357 sig will penetrate it.Anybody know?

There are a lot of variables. Body armor is mostly rated for common handgun rounds one would expect to encounter in a street confrontation.

It depends on the NIJ rating of the armor, bullet weight, velocity, bullet profile, distance (which is really a function of velocity). They all play a part in what level they will or will not penetrate.

Basically though once you reach rifle velocities, the only thing going to stop a round is a plate.

One of the things we've been teaching in recent years is picking and hitting a different target in the event one does not get a desired result after delivering a pair COM. It may mean the bad guy(s)are wearing armor.

Keep in mind:

Computer
Life support
Mobility

And sometimes even a plate won't stop it.

A fact not discussed much is that a broadhead from almost any bow will go right through most vests, so it's not all about velocity.

Ed

Dunno about today's tech, but in SE Asia we wore composite plate that would stop multiple .30 cal AP point blank if the impacts were dispersed on the plate.

So the jihad dirt bags were wearing body armor?

There are plates that will do that, Dan, but most LEO's don't have access to them.

Ed

Yes, but cops are trained to go blam, blam, blam, blam, blam center mass and the tap, tap to the head. Looks like they did a GREAT job.

A 17gr Vmax from a .17 HMR will go through IIIA armor

12 ga slug won't but you will still be dead or wish you were

True. Broadheads and bodkin style heads punched through metal armor.

I didn't want to put out too much information, as I also know of at least three handgun calibers no one thinks of that will will whistle through soft armor.

Since you brought it up, we did some experiments with our old panels some years back, and I quickly discovered that it didn't take much effort from a tanto blade to punch through. It'll protect you from slashes and glancing blows, but not a focused straight on stab.

I don't have any experience with stab resistant armor, but it's my understanding that ballistic and stab resistant are woven differently. One weave dissipates energy outwards and they other ties up the points of sharp objects.

They are also made of different materials. Same basic chemistry, slightly different process turns out fabric(s) with different capabilities.

I've had two vests replaced by the manufacturer after being compromised in fights on duty.

Ed

APDD,
Get a good one, man. Heck, my old ass 9130 Mosin will defeat a thick plate with authority.
Joke with my friends is to tell the azzholes to please stand 4 deep..

Have heard it summed up as:

"Two to the chest, one to the head, makes an a**hole dead."

It takes a respectable ceramic plate to defeat the 7.62 x 54R!

The first one was ruined by being repeatedly stabbed with broken bottle(s) in a bar fight and the second one was compromised when I was struck in the back with a baseball bat during another bar fight. I was hit so hard it actually deformed the layers of fabric. Knocked me on my face, too.

A buddy of mine was saved by his vest when he wrecked during a pursuit and struck a large tree. The steering column was the old fashioned solid type (pre-air bags, too!) and he broke the steering wheel with his chest. Only the impact plate and the Level IIIA vest kept the steering column from going through his chest.

Ed

ANYBODY who lets their armor do their thinking for them is bound for trouble and likely a bad end.

Info out now indicates that he was using either a Glock 22 or a Glock 21.

Neither would normally penetrate good body armor, but it's the news media that's been saying they were wearing body armor.

Who knows what they were wearing? Maybe just tactical vests to carry ammo mags. Would the media know the difference?

Did the cop shoot them in the head?

Seems highly unlikely.

Now they're saying that SWAT also fired at the perps.

I thought the "single cop" defeating AKs and body armor with a pistol sounded a little far-fetched.

Thanks guys.

I suspect the 45 kept them distracted while SWAT launched some 5.56 or 7.62 their way.



Travis

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