Body armour question.

E

Ed2000

New member
When I visited the Alamo, there was an exhibit that showed how the defenders used stretched animal skins as embattlements. Apparently the hides stopped the bullets of the day.

So, I was thinking, would a heavy leather vest (say 2 layers of 11 ounce leather) be of much benefit against modern handguns? I know they wouldn't stop a round, but I wonder if they may do enough to keep you in the fight or make the difference between life and death due to reduced penetration/velocity. I guess a vest could always be lined with kevelar from chainsaw chaps, but I am not trying to create something like the LA bankrobbers used.

I hope this post is OK with the forum. If not, I appologize.
 
Balls fired from smoothbore muskets used by the Mexicans (they carried the British Brown Bess) were large, slow and subsonic. There are numerous accounts of soldiers being struck by expended balls with no more injury than a bruise. However, at combat distances (about 20-30 yards), they were bone crushing, flesh tearing deadly missles. This is not to say that a musket ball would not kill past 75 yards, however, they were rarely fired at such great distances. Also, because of the looseless of the ball (they were undersized as fouling slowed down reloading), energy from the gases were not effectively contained and used by the musket ball. Now, a patched ball fired from a black powder rifle is altogether a different matter and there are instances of 400 yard kills.

In short, don't rely on heavy leather vest to stop a modern handgun bullet.
 
The more distance between you and the muzzle, the better chance you have. I wouldn't trust my life to any garment. Not even kevlar. But I do believe in stacking the odds in your favor with any means possible.
 
I seem to recall a story told to us in a citizen's police academy class of a person wearing a heavy peacoat that was struck by a couple low-caliber, low-power rounds, something like a 25 or 32 auto, only to have the rounds stopped by the coat. I can't vouch for the account, but it seems it could be valid. FWIW.
 
We had a member who related a story of a WW II GI who fired his 30 carbine at a fleeing German soldier. It was later found that the blanket roll stopped the bullets. The old lesson that "bullets don't work" is a reminder that nothing in life is guarenteed.
 
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