Kevlar vest suspension system.

Quick background on bulletproof vests for those of you who have lives: a soft vest, usually made out of kevlar, can stop most pistol and submachine gun rounds that travel at a lower velocity. These are the vests commonly issued to the police/used by citizens because they are light, thin, and concealable. However physics states that almost any rifle bullet will punch right through even the best soft kevlar vest. For this reason tactical applications usually require a heavy solid ceramic armor plate to stop rifles.

Now to the idea. While I was at the range today I took a few shots at an old kevlar vest and discovered something very interesting. Amazingly because the vest was backed by a soft bail of hay (as opposed to a rather solid person) it managed to stop two closely placed 7.62mm rifle rounds from an SKS. By all means those rounds should have gone straight through. So it seems that if you were to back a soft kevlar vest with a spring based suspension a few inches from the body then it would be able to "catch" a round before it was able to focus enough of its energy on a small point to penetrate the vest. There are two more benefits besides stopping rifles. The springs would dampen the shock of regular bullets, and the extra space would allow for cooling. And it's a lot cheaper than ceramic plates!

Now if I knew I was going to get shot by a rifle I would probably take the hard plate but if all I had was a soft vest then I would like the added measure of safety.