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.-- DIYMatt, Jul 11 2010 Bullet proof custard http://www.telegrap...-proof-custard.htmlNew vest system that basically uses chemicals as a cushion to sap the kinetic energy out of the round. [Jinbish, Jul 11 2010] Did you try backing the old Kevlar vest with something firmer, to see if the 7.62mm rounds then penetrated it?-- mouseposture, Jul 11 2010 ^That's next on my list of things to do.-- DIYMatt, Jul 11 2010 So, if I were to dress up like the Michelin Man...-- RayfordSteele, Jul 11 2010 The reason for the hard plating is to blunt the bullet, so that the fibers of the vest will act on it. I can only assume that your bullets had blunt points which is why the vest worked. Most rifle rounds, ice picks and other pointy objects will separate the fibers and pass thru the vest. Your padding would more than likely make vests without dilitants LESS effective as vests need to be tightly worn to allow the blunt force to be distributed to more area. A loose vest would have the flexibility and slack to form a cone and be driven into the body. (-)
PS Jinbush, I saw that story or a similar one last week and KNEW it would make it on the HB somehow. I thought about posting it and marking it for expiry.-- MisterQED, Jul 12 2010 [MrQED]: Yeah. I saw it and immediately thought 'Custard- filled speed bumps', so I posted the link over there. This idea also seemed relevant.-- Jinbish, Jul 12 2010 //This is valuable intel, ideed, if I ever find myself at war with China or an under-equipped paramilitary force//
[21] - I presume you realise that there are still many, many more 7.62X39 weapons in use by foreign military forces, than any other calibre? An SKS has roughly equivalent barrel length to an AK47, so I'd say the rounds are prety much the same, once on target.
This may not be perfectly ideal for personal protection, but how about for vehicles? Plenty of space to hang kevlar.-- Custardguts, Jul 18 2010 random, halfbakery