Bulletproofing is the process of making an object capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles (e.g. shrapnel). The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials provide complete protection against all types of bullets, or multiple hits in the same location, or simply sufficient kinetic (movement) energy to overcome it.
In 1887, George E. Goodfellow, of Tombstone, Arizona, documented three cases where bullets had failed to penetrate silk articles of clothing. He described the shooting death of Charlie Storms by gambler Luke Short. Although Storms was shot in the heart, "not a drop of blood" exited the wound. Goodfellow found that, though the bullet did indeed kill Storms, it failed to pass through a silk handkerchief. The handkerchief essentially caught the bullet, but not sufficiently to stop the bullet penetrating Storms.
Another example was the killing of Billy Grounds by Assistant City Marshal Billy Breakenridge. Goodfellow examined Grounds and found that two buckshot grains had penetrated his Mexican felt hat band, embroidered with silver wire, penetrating his head and flattening against the posterior wall of the skull. Another of the grains had passed through two heavy wool shirts and a blanket-lined canvas coat and vest before coming to rest deep in his chest. However, Goodfellow was fascinated to find two shotgun pellets in the folds of a Chinese silk neckerchief around Grounds' neck but no holes or wounds. [1] [2]
He also described a wound to Curly Bill Brocius, who had been shot through the right side of the neck, narrowly missing his carotid artery. A portion of his silk neckerchief was carried into the wound by the bullet, preventing a more serious injury, but the scarf was undamaged. [1] [2] [3] The Tombstone Epitaph reported, "A silken armor may be the next invention." [4]
In 1887, Goodfellow wrote an article for the Southern California Practitioner titled "Notes on the Impenetrability of Silk to Bullets". [2] [5] In the process of doing so, he experimented with designs for bullet-resistant clothing made of multiple layers of silk. [6] By 1900, gangsters were wearing $800 silk vests to protect themselves. [7]
Bullet designs vary widely, not only according to the particular firearm used (e.g. a 9×19mm Parabellum caliber hollowpoint handgun cartridge will have inferior penetration power compared to a 7.62×39mm rifle cartridge), but also within individual cartridge designs. As a result, so-called "bullet-proof" panels may successfully prevent penetration by standard 7.62×39mm bullets containing lead cores, however the same panels may easily be defeated by 7.62×39mm armor-piercing bullets containing hardened steel penetrators.
Bullet-resistant materials (also called ballistic materials or, equivalently, anti-ballistic materials) are usually rigid, but may be supple. They may be complex, such as Kevlar, UHMWPE, Lexan, or carbon fiber composite materials, or basic and simple, such as steel or titanium. Bullet resistant materials are often used in law enforcement and military applications to protect personnel from death or serious injury. In 2018, the US military began conducting research into the feasibility of using artificial silk as body armor. [8]
Bullet-resistant body armor has been in use since about 1984. When law enforcement began wearing body armor, there was a dramatic drop in officer deaths, saving over 3,000 lives.[ citation needed ]
The National Institute of Justice first developed standards for ballistic resistant body armor in the 1970s. The standards have been revised five times since 1984. The National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center tests body armor to assess its compliance with the standards and publishes the results. [9] There are many applications for bulletproofing, some of which include:
There are various tests which items must pass before being classified as bullet-resistant. These tests specify the detailed characteristics of bullets which the material or object must be resistant to. For example, the U.S. National Institute of Justice standard 0104.04 for bullet-resistant vests specifies that a Type II vest must not deform clay representing the wearer's body when hit by an 8.0 g (124 gr) 9 mm caliber round nosed full-metal jacket bullet travelling at up to 358 m/s (1175 ft/s); but a Type IIIA vest is needed for protection against the same bullet traveling at up to 427 m/s (1400 ft/s). In both cases, the vest is not required to protect against a second hit within 51 mm (2 inches) of the first. [10]
A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or a bullet-resistant vest, is an item of body armor that helps absorb the impact and reduce or stop penetration to the torso from firearm-fired projectiles and fragmentation from explosions. The vest may come in a soft form, as worn by many police officers, prison guards, security guards and some private citizens. Prison guards and police may wear soft vests designed to resist stabbing attacks, using metallic or para-aramid components. Soldiers, SWAT teams, marines and special operations forces wear hard armors, either in conjunction with soft armor or alone. This allows for protection against rifle ammunition or fragmentation.
Terminal ballistics is a sub-field of ballistics concerned with the behavior and effects of a projectile when it hits and transfers its energy to a target.
The 9×19mm Parabellum is a rimless, tapered firearms cartridge.
Bulletproof glass, ballistic glass, transparent armor, or bullet-resistant glass is a strong and optically transparent material that is particularly resistant to penetration by projectiles. Like any other material, it is not completely impenetrable. It is usually made from a combination of two or more types of glass, one hard and one soft. The softer layer makes the glass more elastic, so that it can flex instead of shatter. The index of refraction for all of the glasses used in the bulletproof layers must be almost the same to keep the glass transparent and allow a clear, undistorted view through the glass. Bulletproof glass varies in thickness from 3⁄4 to 3+1⁄2 inches.
A flak jacket or flak vest is a form of body armor. A flak jacket is designed to provide protection from case fragments ("frag") from high explosive weaponry, such as anti-aircraft artillery, grenades fragments, some types of pellets used in shotguns, and other lower-velocity projectiles. It is not designed to protect against bullets fired from most small arms such as rifles or handguns. However, certain flak jackets are able to sustain certain gunshots, depending on the armor, the projectile, the angle at which the shot was fired, and the range from which the shot was fired.
Body armor, also known as body armour, personal armor or armour, or a suit or coat of armor, is protective clothing designed to absorb or deflect physical attacks. Historically used to protect military personnel, today it is also used by various types of police, private security guards or bodyguards, and occasionally ordinary civilians. Today there are two main types: regular non-plated body armor for moderate to substantial protection, and hard-plate reinforced body armor for maximum protection, such as used by combat soldiers.
Gold Flex is a non-woven fabric manufactured by Honeywell from Kevlar, and is often used in ballistic vests and body armor. Gold Flex is lighter than woven Kevlar, Twaron and other Ballistic material. Gold Flex is a laminated material consisting of cross-laid, non-woven fibers in a resin matrix. The fibers are laid straight and not in a woven fabric configuration. When an object strikes this material, a "web" of its clusters absorb the impact and minimizes penetration.
The Small Arms Protective Insert (SAPI) is a ceramic ballistic plate used by the United States Armed Forces. It was first used in the Interceptor Body Armor, a ballistic vest. It is now also used in the Improved Outer Tactical Vest as well as the Modular Tactical Vest, in addition to commercially available "plate carriers". The Kevlar Interceptor vest itself is designed to stop projectiles up to and including 9×19mm Parabellum submachine gun rounds, in addition to fragmentation. To protect against higher-velocity rifle rounds, SAPI plates are needed.
A ballistic plate, also known as an armour plate, is a protective armoured plate inserted into a carrier or bulletproof vest, that can be used stand-alone, or in conjunction with other armour. "Hard armour" usually denotes armour that uses ballistic plates.
The 5.45×39mm cartridge is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge. It was introduced into service in 1974 by the Soviet Union for use with the new AK-74. The 5.45×39mm gradually supplemented and then largely replaced the 7.62×39mm cartridge in Soviet and Warsaw Pact service as the primary military service rifle cartridge.
Second Chance is an American body armor manufacturing company that was the first firm to use kevlar for body armor. The company was founded in the early 1970s by former U.S. Marine and pizza delivery owner/driver Richard Davis. Davis developed the idea of a bulletproof vest after shooting three armed robbers in self-defense during a delivery. This incident was later documented in a 1995 book written by firearms instructor Massad Ayoob called The Ayoob Files: The Book.
A stab vest or stab proof vest is a reinforced piece of body armor, worn under or over other items of clothing, which is designed to resist knife attacks to the chest, back and sides. Stab vests are different from bulletproof vests, most of which offer protection against firearms but afford little against stabbing with sharp-tipped objects such as knives; most stab vests afford less protection against bullets, particularly those of high caliber, but are designed to prevent serious injury by prohibiting knife penetration beyond a few millimeters. Stab vests are also needle and slash proof.
Charles Spencer Storms, known as Charlie Storms (1823–1881) was a professional gunfighter and gambler of the Old West, who is best known for having been killed in a gunfight with Luke Short in Tombstone, Arizona.
The Improved Outer Tactical Vest (IOTV) is an enhanced version of, and a replacement for, the older Outer Tactical Vest (OTV) variant of the Interceptor Body Armor, as fielded by the United States Army. The IOTV is compatible with the Deltoid and Axillary Protector System (DAPS) components, ESAPI, Enhanced Side Ballistic Inserts (ESBI), as well as the OTV's groin protector. It has a flame-resistant stand-alone shirt known as the Army Combat Shirt designed specifically for use with the IOTV.
Lester D. Shubin was a researcher who developed Kevlar for the use in ballistic vests. Kevlar's use in ballistic vests was later expanded for use in all types of personal armor.
The 4.6×30mm cartridge is a small-caliber, high-velocity, smokeless powder, rebated rim, bottlenecked centerfire cartridge designed for personal defense weapons (PDW) developed by German armament manufacturer Heckler & Koch (HK) in 1999. It was designed primarily for the MP7 personal defense weapon (PDW) to minimize weight and recoil while increasing penetration of body armor. It features a bottlenecked case and a pointed, steel-core, brass-jacketed bullet.
George Emory Goodfellow was a physician and naturalist in the 19th- and early 20th-century American Old West who developed a reputation as the United States' foremost expert in treating gunshot wounds. As a medical practitioner in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, Goodfellow treated numerous bullet wounds to both lawmen and outlaws. He recorded several significant medical firsts throughout his career, including performing the first documented laparotomy for treating an abdominal gunshot wound and the first perineal prostatectomy to remove an enlarged prostate. He also pioneered the use of spinal anesthesia and sterile techniques in treating gunshot wounds and is regarded as the first civilian trauma surgeon.
Armor has been used in the military for a long period of time during the course of history, but is becoming more frequently seen in the public sector as time passes. There are many different forms and ways that armor is being commercially used throughout the world today. The most popular and well-known uses are body and vehicle armor. There are other commercial uses including aircraft armor and armored glass.
Aspetto is an American producer and retailer of ballistic clothing and non-ballistic fashion.