Bulletproof Vests

[cottage cheese]

[jonahpach]

I do recall watching on discovery channel.. (wonder why one always quotes discovery when we want to sound more confident ) about the chinese researching on a bulletproof vest made of ........ SILK!!

It seems Gengis Khan used to wear an under garment made of layers of silk under his wooden armour and this helped to deflect arrow which penetrated his wooden armour.. Something to do with ying and yang i guess

wonder where this research went.

Jonah

[penpusher]

Gengis Khan had to do with WOOD armor?I don't think so.Leather maybe but certainly not wood.Silk undergarments.Sure, why not.

penpusher

[cottage cheese]

I do recall watching on discovery channel.. (wonder why one always quotes discovery when we want to sound more confident ) about the chinese researching on a bulletproof vest made of ........ SILK!!

It seems Gengis Khan used to wear an under garment made of layers of silk under his wooden armour and this helped to deflect arrow which penetrated his wooden armour.. Something to do with ying and yang i guess

wonder where this research went.

Jonah

I'm told a Japanese firm manufactures silk body armor.

Also some extreme research been ongoing for some years with spider silk. Seems to have been promising.

Hey, what of our very own desi inventor (Didn't he get some award earlier this year?) - That gentleman who chewed some wheat, spat out the sludge and some days later found the sludge was extremely hard. I read it was followed upon and went far as being successfully tested with a Walther PPK. The defense research buggers showed a lot of interest in the thing.

Echoing Jonah: Wonder where the research went.

[Georgian21]

The reason given for Gengis Khan and his army wearing silk undergarments as described was:

If the event of an arrow hiting a soldier the arrowhead will pentratete the body and will take the silk cloth with it in the wound. Silk will ease the pulling of arrowhead from the wound and that way the arrow will not cause furthur damage to the wound on its way back.

Note: - The comments were made by the reporter in the Discovery Channel not me .

Gopal

[diskaon]

Oh, and as for the `half inch cut`.......... Is that supposed to be half an inch of penetration ? And if so, how can a bullet that hits a soldier who isn`t wearing a vest just make a half inch cut yet the soldier who is wearing one ( which the bullet misses ) has the bullet bounce backwards and forwards through his body between the plates ?
According to that the guy without the vest was shot with an air-rifle and the other guy died of total bullsh*t.

PURE BAD Luck i suppose.. but there is no way we can verify this..

[cottage cheese]

Oh, and as for the `half inch cut`.......... Is that supposed to be half an inch of penetration ? And if so, how can a bullet that hits a soldier who isn`t wearing a vest just make a half inch cut yet the soldier who is wearing one ( which the bullet misses ) has the bullet bounce backwards and forwards through his body between the plates ?
According to that the guy without the vest was shot with an air-rifle and the other guy died of total bullsh*t.

PURE BAD Luck i suppose.. but there is no way we can verify this..

With such poor coverage, not to mention the huge gap in the flanks, one would need very little bad luck to rapidly become a statistic.

Anyway the bouncing story is probably a wild exaggeration. At the very most, ballistically speaking, a single ricochet could be possible in 'ideal' circumstances. Rest is in all probability, distilled BS

[Serious Redneck]

Hey Guys, I've been wearing concealable body armor as part of my profession (Deputy Sheriff) for the last 24 years. I currently wear a second Chance 3a soft vest with a steel trauma plate. Whole thing weighs about 9 lbs.. this is worn under the uniform. After wearing one for a while it molds to your torso, like a good shoe breaking in and you generally are not uncomfortable in it, until it gets hot out. I have not had the misfortune to have ben shot in one as of this date. However I have several friends who have. One was shot from about 7 feet with a .357. After he was shot, he instantly returned fire from his .41 mag (this was 20 years ago) and put the bad guy out of business. Friend #2 was shot in center of chest with 9mm and also returned fire with his own 9mm. Hit the bad guy with 16 out of 16 shots. Bad guy still fought for about 5 minutes before expiring. Neither friend was injured, though the one hit with the .357 said it was like getting hit in the chest with a sledge hammer. All I know is that good body armor like second chance is comfortable and it works. Mr. Davis has made a lifes work out of protecting cops around the world. He also has made a number of very educational videos, debunking some common shooting myths. Wear it if you can get it.

Happy Day to ya.

[eljefe]

Aha, Thanks Redneck
been a while since I heard of davis and second chance-I did have a snap of him trying out a 44mag on HIMSELF, a long time ago.
The 41 must have been 20 years ago, what was it? a S&W?since then the wonder nines and tens seem to have taken over
With your davis vest, happy day to you too and keep your foresight clear.

[Serious Redneck]

Sir Eljefe, the .41 magnum was a Ruger Redhawk dbl action revolver if I recall correctly, nice handgun from what I hear, not seen much around, had a hefty recoil like the .44. As you say replaced with the progression to wonder 9's and 10mm's. My dept has gone to the Glock 22 in .40 S&W. Basically the ballistics of the .45ACP and the mag capacity of a 9mm. I'm not fond of Glocks but I'm not paying for it either.

In this shooting with the .41, the bad guy (he was a bank robber) got hit 4 times and still lived. Amazing what the human body can take sometimes and still live. I assume you live in India (I could be wrong, I'm just a redneck from Kansas). What do the police carry there for sidearms, do they wear body armor? It would be interesting to know.

I've seen films of Davis shooting himself with a .44 as you say, Brave Man. He usually stuffs two phone books under the vest to protect his gut from the blow, and it usually shreds the first inch or two of the phone book. I've also seen a film of hi shooting his second in charge wit a FN battle rifle in .308. The vest he wore had ceramic plates in it and the man just stood there, virtually no reaction at all, even shot the guy a second time with the rifle in the same spot on the vest to show it could take multiple hits in the same place.

Happy day

[Grumpy]

The .41 mag was first introduced in the S&W Model 57 and followed soon after by the Model 58 which was intended as a duty pistol. Both were `N`frames. Recoil is appreciably less than the .44 mag although the performance is actually very similar.
I can`t decide whether Davis is brave or a lunatic. All I know is that I wouldn`t shoot myself ........ no matter how good the body armour. It is a damn good advertisment though and shows the man has faith in his product.
Did your department supply the vest or did you have to buy your own ?
Why do you show the Washington State flag if you`re from Kansas ? ( Say hello to Dorothy ) Or are you from Kansas but now living and working in Washington ?
There are no rednecks in Washington......the sun doesn`t stay out long enough !

[Serious Redneck]

I grew up in a small town outside of Wichita, Ks.. Moved to Washington state in 1983. As far as the name, I got that one day walking through the Seattle airport a couple years back on my way home from a fishing trip in Alaska with my sons and a friend. I was dressed in some rough looking field clothes, carrying a camo backpack and wearing a floppy wool hat when I was spotted by a crowd of somewhat inebriated young business men or college guys. One of them thought I was quite a sight and said "REDNECK....SERIOUS REDNECK". It kind of stuck after that.

The dept. I work for provides the body armor, replacing it every five years per manufacturers recommendations. This is very common with most law enforcement agencys doing so. Most cops I know wouldn't go to work for an outfit that didn't provide armor of pay an allowance for it. I think the average cost would be somewhere around $500.00, I'm not sure exactly since I don't have to pay for it and never have.

I have a lot of faith in the armor, knowing that it is only "bullet resistant", not proof. But most bad folks usually use handguns when they shoot at us, (which is not often). What part of GB are you from? Are you originally from there? I was in Machrahenish, Scotland about 12 years ago, I'd like to go back and see more of the country.

Happy day

[eljefe]

SR,
After you meet grumpy, swing by here and we'll take you fishing for episode 2 of the 'serious redneck' ?
Seing that gun import is banned here since the 80's and available stuff commands collector prices (10-12k USD for a handgun!!) and hunting again banned , we are pretty much limited to fishing-the last blood sport left, besides the periodic man Vs man fracas, aka le cafard, which keeps the 'blood sport' tag going
Axx

[Grumpy]

Sea-Tac is prone to `yuppie` type airheads for some reason.........must be something to do with one of the larger employers in the area.
Difficult to tell many of the businessnen from college kids as they wear the same `uniform` - We have friends whose daughter is at the University of Washington, initially in Seattle but now at Bothel.

We haven`t been to Washington for a while but have visited Starbuckattle a few times for one reason or another in the not so distant past. We could smell Washington State whilst in Idaho the summer of 2005 though..............
Seattle is a really nice city although as you get older you start to notice that the average age seems to be about 30. Doesn`t it ever rain there ? Quite funny considering Americans are always joking about our weather..........Mind you, they were right last June and July !
Where abouts in the State are you based ?

I don`t think that I`ve even passed through Kansas.

Yes, I`m British - English ( and half Dutch. ) We live in Somerset, in the South West of England.

As an matter of interest, can you go online via your patrol vehicle ( without getting into trouble ! ) ? A California officer once brought up my email in his car once - very impressive !

[Grumpy]

I forgot to say that one thing that really cracked me up about Washington/Idaho is your joint public service TV channel: I can`t wrap my head around the concept of showing re-runs of `Last of the Summer Wine`. What Americans make of that is beyond me. Talk about incongruous.....bizarrely so.