Armor piercing handgun ammo?

[AndrewWiggin]

Is it possible for a 9mm to penetrate soft armor? Bear in mind this level IIA vest is quite a bit tougher than most IIA vests, despite its age. It stopped a 9mm Magsafe at 2,266 fps.



https://youtu.be/wpPB8N_AVN4
https://youtu.be/wpPB8N_AVN4

[26 Inf]

Here are the NIJ Specs for a IIA:

(Lower Velocity 9mm, .40 S&W). This armor protects against 9mm Full Metal Jacketed Round Nose (FMJ RN) bullets with nominal masses of 8.0 g (124 gr) impacting at a minimum velocity of 332 m/s (1090 ft/s) or less and .40 S&W caliber Full Metal Jacketed (FMJ) bullets with nominal masses of 11.7 g (180 gr) impacting at a minimum velocity of 312 m/s (1025 ft/s) or less. It also provides protection against Level I threats. Level IIA body armor is well suited for full-time use by police departments, particularly those seeking protection for their officers from lower velocity .40 S&W and 9mm ammunition.

Penetration is impacted by many things among them - material being shot, bullet construction, bullet weight and velocity.

The Liberty stuff being demoed in the video goes out at 2000 to 2100FPS, and they machine their bullets from solid copper and nickel plate them to give them their distinctive silver bullet look. https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/liberty-ammunition-civil-defense-line-review/

So yeah that stuff will penetrate a vest.

In terms of the Magsafe ammo, it is an 'upgraded' (according to them) Glaser Safety slug. Some guys carried them (the Glaser) as the first two loads in their revolvers in case of a successful gun grab because they would not penetrate a vest.

The Magsafe uses larger shotgun pellets, 2 shot, but still has a pre-scored jacket (more correctly a casing) which fragments into smaller, lighter pieces. The projectiles contained inside the are very light so they don't penetrate much either, despite the velocity.

[ballsagna]

Good read, thanks for the link. I wonder if it pits steel, but no way I'm gonna try it on my target.

Sent while driving, so?

[henschman]

Very cool test -- thanks for posting. I'm always interested to see armor penetration tests... not too many people do them though, with the cost involved. I would be interested to see what this Civil Defense stuff would do to a gel block on the other side of that armor.

I really like your videos. Looking forward to more.