What is the amount of hit/force you can take from pistol bullets wearing a kevlar vest?

Question

And what is the unit of the hit/force you can take?
I will choose a best answer.

Answer 1

The term you are referring to is blunt trauma. Like any other medical scenario, there is no number that is even close to consistent from person to person and the location of the strike makes a big difference. That said, to my knowledge there have been no fatalities due to blunt trauma through a ballistic vest. I have read accounts of officers being struck in the chest from 10 feet away with a 12 gauge slug and living to tell about it. I have heard it feels like getting hit in the chest with a baseball bat. Sorry I can't give you any numbers but there are too many variables, such as if the bullet hits just in the wrong spot, it could break a rib and sent that rib into the heart.

Answer 2

blunt force trauma is the term you are looking for. It has been years since I studied it, but I remember vividly seeing a demonstration of hits against a vest and the results. The one that stood out in my mind, was a .44 magnum round fired into a soft kevlar vest (no trauma plate) the bullet caused an indentation of over 2 1/2 inches into the replica human torso behind the vest. This would have been sufficient to destroy the heart or other organs behind the area that the bullet struck. I seem to recall that any blunt force trauma that results in more than 1 inch of "depth" into the human torso, over the heart, will kill. Of course blunt force trauma does not come into play when using a rifle against a soft vest, as a rifle will go thru a soft vest like butter. You need hard body armor, or a trauma plate to defeat a rifle round. In the "sniper" hits the guy above is talking about, those were hits to military style hard body armor. Hard armor stops the round and spreads the trauma over a much larger area. This usually results in bruising, but no penetration or blunt force trauma sufficient to kill.
On another note, I did a lot of testing many years ago to see what the early soft vests would stop. It stopped everything from .22 lr up to the max I tested, which at the time was .357 magnum. The only round that would have worried me for blunt force trauma was the .357 mag with 157 grain jacketed soft point ammunition. I am sure that it would have resulted in a trip to the hospital if you were hit directly over a major organ. But again, that was years ago. Vests have changed a lot. and most soft armor features trauma plates front and back over the major organs.

Answer 3

It depends on the bullet size for one. A 45 acp round will carry a punch of 330lb ft of force hitting you. There is no really definite amount of force you can take because it all depends on where you get hit and if your body armor will hold. What happens when you get hit is it may stop the bullet from penetrating your body, but all of the force from the bullet will be centered around where you get hit. This will cause Blunt Force Trauma and will mess up you internal organs and may cause internal bleeding. There have been guys that are shot with a sniper rifle and are fine while others get shot with a .223 and they have to get medical attention.

Answer 4

It really depends on the Threat Level Rating of the vest.

A bullet that might easily defeat a Threat Level I vest would not defeat a Threat Level III vest.

As an old acquaintance once told me, "A bullet proof vest might keep you out of the bone orchard, but it won't keep you out of the hospital." He spent two days in a hospital with severe internal bruising after his vest stopped several 9 mmP slugs at close range. FWIW, the fellow who shot the 9 mmP was shot and killed by my acquaintance's partner.

Doc

Answer 5

I placed on my vest on the exterior of my uniform and function a custom made cover for it. i do no longer save it interior the motor vehicle trunk in any respect. once I get abode I dangle the vest on a wood hanger and enable it air out. in case you sense your vest would desire to no longer grant you the main suitable protection then confident, get it replaced. Your existence/protection is rather well worth the money a sparkling vest fees top?