A point (slight correction)..
On this statement:
If you took a .357 to the chest at point blank You probable could still sustain Serious Injuries.
This is incorrect. Periodically, the traumatic shock thing comes up. With a handgun, and assuming the vest is rated for that round (or successfully stops the round), what you get is a bruise that has been described as no worse than a bee sting.
Don't go away, it gets better. The guy who started Second Chance, (ex-Detroit PD, shot 3 times w/o protection, got tired of it. His first name is Richard, don't recall LN at the moment) had a problem convincing prospective buyers that his vests would work.
He would fire rounds from various handguns into vests laying on the ground, but there was always someone in the back whining about the differences between dirt and flesh, and the impact trauma of the devastating 158grn RN. .38 round.
So he decides to test his vests. Being a stud, he doesn't wuss out and ask for volunteers. He fires up the camera (this is the pre-video days, used a super-8 or something), straps on one rated for the .357 mag. Stokes up a four inch .357 with full-power loads. Sets up three bowling pins on table in background.
Kneels on ground. Thumbs off a round into own chest AT CONTACT RANGE, jumps up, shoots down the bowling pins with the .357.
So much for the trauma thing. Also, the birth of the 'Bowling Pin Match'.
Folks, I saw this film. It's real, he really did it. He's repeated the shooting part many times, for cops who accused him of faking the film. Second Chance used the film as a sales tool. Pretty g-d effective, too. Also, SC used to have a prize for anyone who got capped wearing one of thier vests, and returned fire dispensing with said BG in .25 cent court. A new .357 mag. Don't know if they still do this. They had another (re-enactment) film of various cops who had won thier .357 mag. One guy took MULTIPLE contact shots from a .45 auto.
Now, I would be reticent to try some s--t like this with a .454 Casull, rifle rounds, or a D.U. round from a Bushmaster. You might be able to make a vest that would stop the Casull, and some rifle rounds (not AP), but I wouldn't want to wear one on a daily basis. New materials have been developed over the last few years have only increased the effectiveness of vests of a given thickness.
Let me close with this. I believe that if the vest stops the round in question, you will not be disabled to the point of inhibiting action in this or any other respect. There is undoubtedly an upper limit in power where this is not true, and I don't know what it is. But it is beyond that acheived by the .45 ACP or the .357 Mag., I absolutely state as fact ( unless you are a major-league wuss, of course). BTW, there ARE some female .357 freebie carriers out there, in case anyone was wondering).