WWI and WWII armor piercing capability

[Puncha]

Concerning .454 slugs fired out from a wwII british webley, rounds fired from a wwII russian revolver or any of the slugs from a wwII jap handgun.....

1) Would a modern class IIA vest stop the rounds?
2) Would a class I vest be any good?
3) Any anecdotal evidence regarding stopping power?

Also, on a related matter, would anyone here rely on a 7-year old kevlar vest for protection? The aforementioned vest has never been issued and has been keep in the proverbial cool, dry and dark closet for the last 7 years.

 

[c_yeager]

I cant answere your question, but maybe this thread will help shed some light:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=142280

I would imagine that the vest would stop the pistol rounds quite readily.

As for rifles, we were using 30-06, the brits were using .303, and the germans were using 8mm Mauser. All of those rounds would (and still do) make mince meat out of our modern soft-armor.

 

[Jim Watson]

I am pretty sure the military handgun rounds you list would not penetrate a modern vest. I think you would be in trouble with the Level I if a Mauser or Tokarev showed up.

I don't have any war stories, but the 7.62 Nagant and 8mm Nambu are not powerful pistols and do not have a lot of stopping power as usually thought of. The .455 Webley was used by the British like we used the .45 Colt, to shoot angry tribesmen and they had few complaints there.

I don't know the shelf life of a vest but doubt it has aged much while not in contact with sweat, detergent, and daylight. This is one to ask the maker about.

And just when are you jumping off in your time machine?

 

[heysox]

The big enemies of Kevlar longevity are UV radiation, heavy creasing and sweat degradatio. Storage in a cool, dry area should lkeave you a vest that performsas new. Any number of police agencies have tested 10 year old armor that was NOS and it performed to spec.

 

[444]

Don't bet your life on this, but those cartridges like the .455 Webley are big, slow moving slugs. Everything I ever read about bullets piercing body armor talked about small, fast moving slugs.
The .455 Webley is something like a 265 grain lead bullet at less than 700 fps.

 

[Cosmoline]

No way would a Nagant or Nambu bullet get through a modern vest. Heck you could stop them with a phone book duck taped to your chest. The .455 had more punch, but still not enough. The .32 ACP or .38 S&W, even in 200 grain loadings, would not have penetrated either. The old Broomhandle Mauser rounds might have gotten through, however. It would be an interesting experiment.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

John George in "Shots Fired in Anger" told of a Japanese who charged a couple of American officers on Guadalcanal. When they examined his body, he was wearing a metal plate as body armor. It had a couple of dents in it from .45s and a hole from a .357.

 

[rudolf]

uncha asked:
"Concerning .454 slugs fired out from a wwII british webley, rounds fired from a wwII russian revolver or any of the slugs from a wwII jap handgun....."

Mmm, I'm just wondering where you are going to that you are concerned about being attacked by those weapons? Dou you want to tell

Anyway, they all fire big fat slow bullets, easily caught by alost any vest.

The real vest scare is the 7.63 Mauser / 7.62 Tokarev. Better have a IIIA Vest for those!

 

[grendelbane]

Prior to the introduction of the new jacketed auto pistol cartridges, all revolver rounds were pretty easy to stop. Even the old 19th century silk body armor would stop most of them. The .45 Colt was probably the hardest to stop.

In a time when bullet effectiveness was primarily gauged by penetration, the C96 Mauser, Luger, .38 ACP, all looked to be very effective. Guess I left out the 9mm Steyr and the 9mm Largo, and the 9mm Mauser.

Auto pistols easily out penetrated revolvers in the early third of the 20th century. The .38-44 HD and the .357 magnum helped to turn this around.

Of course, Elmer Keiths loads were pretty good penetrators also.

 

[Sunray]

"...the new jacketed auto pistol cartridges..." I've seen the result of a 9mm ball round that hit a Second Chance Model 'Y' vest. Nice little mushroom with the 'hatching' of the kevlar on it. A cast .38 Special was a nice flat hunk of lead. Having said that, you'd best find out if it's legal for you, as a non-cop, to wear a vest where you live. As daft as it is, it isn't everywhere.