SniperVest-O-Truth

Today, out of a sense of duty to y'all, I decided to take a armored vest out and shoot the crap out of it. I shot it with a 9mm, .357, and a .45. Then I shot it with a 12 guage slug, then a AK and then a AR. The vest had 36 plys of sewn Kevlar. That is four more plys than the interceptor vest. The pictures attached show the kevlar after it was cut out of the carrier. The following is what I found.
Pistols. The 124gr. FMJ 9mm penetrated four plys and was about 1/2 flattened. the 124gr. SJHP .357 hit the kevlar and did not penetrate any layers, just leaving a 2" lead smear on the top layer. The bullet was laying inside the carrier 3/4 mushroomed. The 240gr. FMJ .45 also did not penetrate any layers and the bullet was found in the bottom of the carrier 1/2 flattened.
Shotgun. I shot the vest with a 1 oz. slug. The slug did not penetrate any layers and was also found inside the carrier flattened. It appears that the slug rotated and then flattened sideways.
Rifles. The AK round penetrated through and through without my being able to find the slug. It appears that the round began to yaw inside the vest as the entrance and exit holes are about 3/4" apart from each other. The 5.56 made a clean puncture through the vest, same hole out as in. I hit the velcro the first time, so I shot it again and same results again.

 

OK, not having used the file attachment feature, I didn't know how the pictures were going to lay out. The top picture shows the entire vest. Top center is the slug. Then down one level is from right to left, the 9mm, .357, and then the .45 all sitting next to the impact point. Then below them is the rifle rounds. Left of center, you can see the two 5.56 rounds and just right of center line is the AK round.
Notice on the 9mm round how the material is puckered, that is because it drug the material into the hole it made. I had to seperate the layers to pull the slug out.

 

What range on the rifle rounds, and what kinda ammo for both?
Most of these I've seen, the M193 has very similar results to the M855.
Several years ago, a PD had made a film with a 9mm and an AK. They showed the 9mm stopped by a raid vest and a telephone pole. The AK went through a 12" pole, and both sides of the vest. That was steel core, though.

 

What did you have the vest on and how was that effected? Im just currious as to what the energy would do even if the bullet didnt penetrate. I have always figured it would be interesting to see what the ft/puonds of energy is from a sledge hammer hitting something, and maybe a hard swung baseball bat and such to compare it to the energy from some of the bullets. Basicly my thoughts on it are that even if it didnt penetrate the vest that say a .357, let alone a 12 ga slug hitting over the heart would be likely to have quite similar effects to being smacked in the chest with a sledge hammer, which while the chances of survival would improve by wearing it would mean that just the sheere energy should have (I would imagine) the ability to at least stop an armored person even if it dosent kill them.

 

http://survivalmonkey.com/forum/some-ballistic-tests-warning-the-page-has-quotadult-links-vt1387.htm
Check out the pictures in clay.

 

The 5.56 was M855 and the AK was standard Wolf FMJ. The pistols were from about 25' and the rifles from 30 yards.

 

I had the vest wrapped around a cardboard box full of cardboard. Both the AK and AR bullets went on through. Since the shots were low on the vest, the rounds went through the bottom of the box and it was all leaning up against a shrub, so the bullets disappeared into the roots. As for the energy, this particular vest has a ceramic plate, so had that plate been on the vest, then no bullets would have penetrated. I did shoot the ceramic plate with a .30-06 AP round and it stopped it cold.
As for the energy, you still get the whuppin. When I was younger, I convinced my brother to put a flak vest on and let me throw a 2" steel nut at him in the back. I let her rip and it put him on the floor having knocked his breath out of him. If you get hit in the plate, the energy is spread across the plate, so the impact isn't as bad, but a broken rib is probably and in most cases, massive bruising. Without the plate, you would most definitely receive massive blunt trauma, but most likely still alive. If you haven't seen it, there is a video going around where an American soldier gets hit in the plate with a Dragunov sniper rifle. It puts him to the ground and he gets back up and returns fire. Eventually he helps track down the sniper and provides treatment for the sniper's bullet wounds.

 

You send it, I'll shoot it! I still have the other half of this vest and the one I did shoot, still has more room!
Sorry Melbo, I shot the vest you wanted. Still want to buy this one! I'll even doll it back up for you!!!

 

Can you get the FMJ pointed (drawing a blank on the term) bullets for the handguns? I would suspect that any of the pointed FMJs would penetrate the vest if it dosnt have a plate, I know most of the vests that will stop all normal handgun rounds wont stop a knife and also wont stop an arrow with a broadhead because the point goest between the fibers and with a blade/broadhead cuts them.

 

A little Bondo over the holes?

 

Pointed FMJ bullets are not easy to come by. Like I said earlier, send me what you got and I will put it to the Sniper vest-O-truth. I will make you a bet that any handgun ammo that you have will not penetrate this vest.

 

Actually, I'll just put a new cover on it, no one will ever know the difference!

 

What kind of .357 you got? Do handloads count? Whats the bet? Have had some that excedded the stats on a 30-30. Dad likes to 'play around' with special loads, but has a gun that can take whatever you put in it.

 

I am not sure what level vest it was, but I have seen .357 Sig penetrate a kevlar vest that stopped .40, .45, 9mm and a .357 mag.

 

Well, the bounds for this is that it cannot blow my guns up or take my hand off in the process. Now, if you want to send your own gun with your load, I will shot anything! Also, don't send me a TC in .300 win mag. I'm talking traditional pistol rounds. I don't have a .357 sig, but I would still lay odds that it won't penetrate.