PDA

View Full Version : improvised body armor question


elephant
03-30-20, 00:07
I was trying to think if Mythbusters ever did this and I cant remember, and I haven't seen anything on Youtube. Anyways, just curious if anyone has put any thought into improvised body armor that can be produced quick and is effective against a 556 at say 50 feet. The fist thing that comes to my mind is phone books with plate steel as illustrated in the book: 100 deadly skills. Even though I believe that is quite effective, it seems extremely bulky and not "wearable" for extended times- obviously safety before comfort but what if we could have both.

Anyone ever put much thought into body armor from household supplies? Or could you produce a non bulky, wearable, quality body armor? If you had say.....20 minutes to produce body armor to protect you against you, what would you build and from what common household materials.
avant
03-30-20, 07:42
See the demolition ranch channel on youtube for funny videos on these dumb ideas
ST911
03-30-20, 08:14
Interesting only as an academic exercise, but I'd never use anything resulting from it. Hard and soft body armor is cheap and readily available.
Inkslinger
03-30-20, 10:10
The first video is fiberglass and doesn’t stop 5.56

https://youtu.be/_7jiIQOgwtI

The second is ceramic and stops m193 & m855

https://youtu.be/DYkl4m3uoOE
Arik
03-30-20, 11:15
[emoji16]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200330/ad9aa5c28f0d96c2c3b613c6216668d3.jpg
vandal5
03-30-20, 19:03
I am pretty sure Mythbusters did do a body armor episode. Been a long time since I've watched any.

Think it was a combo of ceramic tiles and kevlar? Sorry, I forget the results.

They also tried making a bullet proof car with phone books. Realized it was kind of unrealistic as that many phone books to cover the car would actually put them over the max carry weight of the vehicle.



Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
turnburglar
03-30-20, 20:30
I couldn't make it in 20 minutes, but Im thinking a fiberglass laminate with some ceramic up front? Commonly found at all home improvement stores.
MegademiC
03-30-20, 21:17
Ar500 targets would be the only thing Id trust.

Just buy real plates.
Boy Scout
03-31-20, 03:17
I get the thought exercise, but if it were me, I’d opt for speed and mobility over trying to fabricate something that would be inefficient, uncomfortable and most likely ineffective. If done for a bug out scenario, I’d use the time for a head start myself.

Now if it were just for grins and giggles, have at it.
tacticaldesire
03-31-20, 07:55
In some sort of grid down situation where body armor would even be a conceivable requirement, I'd rather have speed and mobility and sacrifice my bullet resistance, rather than gorilla taping some phone books and a manhole cover to my torso.

Isn't 100 deadly skills also the book that advocates tampons for gunshots? No thanks.
elephant
03-31-20, 13:49
Hard and soft body armor is cheap and readily available.

That's true to a certain extent. What got me thinking was that I was watching Michael Mann's Blackhat movie last night and the main character was in Jakarta trying to meet up with a bad guy in public and so he duct taped a bunch of magazines around his abdominal section in anticipation for an attack. I'm not sure that was to stop a bullet or possible knife attack. Either way, it made me think if there is any known methods to easily produce body armor from common household or things that can be obtained off the shelf and be assembled in 20-25 minutes.




They also tried making a bullet proof car with phone books. Realized it was kind of unrealistic as that many phone books to cover the car would actually put them over the max carry weight of the vehicle.

I remember that, and I do remember them using phone books for other armor related myths but couldn't remember if they used them for self defense.



I couldn't make it in 20 minutes, but Im thinking a fiberglass laminate with some ceramic up front? Commonly found at all home improvement stores.

I was thinking the same thing, ceramic tile between steel plates or similar.




Ar500 targets would be the only thing Id trust.

obviously that would be my first choice.




In some sort of grid down situation where body armor would even be a conceivable requirement, I'd rather have speed and mobility and sacrifice my bullet resistance, rather than gorilla taping some phone books and a manhole cover to my torso.

lol. well, maybe stopping a 5.56 was to optimistic, if we were to lower the ratings to 9mm JHP I guess it would be easier to produce something quickly out of common household items.
omegajb
04-02-20, 08:53
I am pretty sure Mythbusters did do a body armor episode. Been a long time since I've watched any.

Think it was a combo of ceramic tiles and kevlar? Sorry, I forget the results.

They also tried making a bullet proof car with phone books. Realized it was kind of unrealistic as that many phone books to cover the car would actually put them over the max carry weight of the vehicle.



Sent from my SM-G920V using TapatalkI think you're right about Mythbusters, they did several shows on bullet proofing an item.
Here's a list of all their episodes, it's too much to scan on my phone but the OP might be able to find it on a computer monitor.
It might not be listed as bulletproof car etc it might have been a movie myth episode.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_MythBusters_episodes

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk