Thinking of calibers best suited for use on body armor?

[LifeInPa]

Reading the thread about the terrible tragedy that happened in Colorado brough up some interesting discussion on protecting ones self against an attacker wearing a Kevlar vest or some other type of vest that can stop bullets and the trama caused by bullets. Sadly, the discussion was stopped as it derailed the thread. I would like to start a discussion on the topic here and see what you guys have to say about each caliber. I would like to discuss the follow calibers in detail but feel free to add others:

-9mm

-40 S&W

-45 ACP

-357 SIG: I really want to hear about the effectiveness of this caliber on body armor as it seems to be similar to 7.62 TOK which is well known to penetrate body armor.

-7.62x25 Tokerav: An old caliber for an old pistols but very affordable and effective. My personal favorite because of the price.

-5.7x28: High capacity and very effective on body armor however I am disappointed with the price and I am concerned how effective it is on someone not wearing body armor.

-30 Carbine: I know, it was designed for a rifle but some pistols and revolvers are chambered in it plus back in the day it was used in a personal defense weapon (PDW) role like the PS-90 and 5.7 Pistol is today. So I am thinking it would put the hurt on body armor.

-357 Magnum

-44 Magnum

-10mm: I know this is quite a powerful round but don't hear much about it's effectiveness against body armor.

I would also like to hear of the effects the impact of these bullets would have on the human body for those calibers that can't penetrate body armor. I think a few shots of 357 Mag to the chest of an armored target would disable the person.

[LifeInPa]

Edit: Just to let you guys know I am interested mostly in calibers that can be chambered in pistols.

[bigdawgbeav]

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot16.htm

I'm not so concerned about penetration of the vest, but more the damage behind the vest (broken ribs, bruising, wind knocked out, etc.).

In the event last night, if someone shot back and hit center mass they wouldn't have penetrated and killed the shooter, but having the wind knocked out of him and a broken rib is going to slow him down. This hopefully gives enough time to get away or subdue the shooter.

[LifeInPa]

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot16.htm

I'm not so concerned about penetration of the vest, but more the damage behind the vest (broken ribs, bruising, wind knocked out, etc.).

In the event last night, if someone shot back and hit center mass they wouldn't have penetrated and killed the shooter, but having the wind knocked out of him and a broken rib is going to slow him down. This hopefully gives enough time to get away or subdue the shooter.

I read that article some time ago and really liked it, no doubt a rifle is far better than a pistol against armor but for practical reasons we cannot always have a rifle at hand. Plus this review didn't test many of the calibers I mentioned here. This article is a good start though and proves even pistol rounds will at the very least slow down an armored individual. Thank you.

[bigdawgbeav]

I read that article some time ago and really liked it, no doubt a rifle is far better than a pistol against armor but for practical reasons we cannot always have a rifle at hand. Plus this review didn't test many of the calibers I mentioned here. This article is a good shot though and proves even pistol rounds will at the very least slow down an armored individual. Thank you.

I was only posting what i found at the time. I'm interested to see what other people find for the other calibers.

[kbcobra26]

10mm hurts like a bitch apparently..

[TXDMERC73]

.460 XVR magnum can penetrate any level 3A body armor and still do major damage, so can the S&W .500 Magnum.

FN 57 can penetrate body armor with the FMJ round which is restricted to LEO only, the plastic tip and hollow point wont go thru level 3A.

Tokarev has some body armor penetration capabiliteis with fmj.

some said the .454 Casull can penetrate up to level II i dont know about level 3A

[LifeInPa]

I was only posting what i found at the time. I'm interested to see what other people find for the other calibers.

It was still a good article to bring up.

10mm hurts like a bitch apparently..

Damn, that's it? It sounded like he had some bad gas. I figured a shot like that would have him on the floor recoiling from the pain. However was he wearing trauma plates? Also, the shot was to his stomach (He seems to have some extra, natural padding there ) if he was shot in the chest or groin multiple times with 10mm would the results be different? Remember a Glock 20 holds between 15 and 33 rounds of 10mm.

[kbcobra26]

It was still a good article to bring up.



Damn, that's it? It sounded like he had some bad gas. I figured a shot like that would have him on the floor recoiling from the pain. However was he wearing trauma plates? Also, the shot was to his stomach (He seems to have some extra, natural padding there ) if he was shot in the chest or groin multiple times with 10mm would the results be different? Remember a Glock 20 holds between 15 and 33 rounds of 10mm.

Yeah, like father-of-three said he did indeed have on a panel, if he didn't I think he would have been a hurtin' indian.

But even with that Second Chance panel on top of his armor and then on top of his fat that round still looked very painful and your right there would still be 15 more of those rounds to take.

[father-of-five]

10mm hurts like a bitch apparently..

I think he said he had 2 layers of armor, the initial was "3A" and the other was "second chance." I don't know much about body armor, so please correct me if I heard it wrong. I wonder if this was his first time being shot. I could see his anxiety, but later it almost seemed like something he did before. The shot was less disabling than I thought, but a shot to the chest (where there's less "natural" cushioning) with broken ribs may be more disabling. Once again, it's all about shot placement.