Nightcrawler
Member
Okay, I have a question regarding the possible future of body armor. This doesn't really apply to civilian self-defense needs, as your typical street hood isn't going to have latest generation composite body armor. This is more of a battlefield question.
I've read here and elsewhere that new materials technology will allow the creation of lightweight, wearable armors that can stop all current armor piercing rifle rounds, and can even withstand multiple hits.
So lets say some kind of materials breakthrough happens. A cheap, easy to produce armor comes on the market, and is quickly copied by the Russians, the Chinese, and the Europeans. While the terrorist and third world nations we typically have wars with probably wouldn't have the stuff, all the major powers would.
Let's say that now, the majority of soldiers in the world's armies are equipped with these vests. They provide full frontal, side, back, and over-the-shoulder protection. They're light compared to the ceramic plate vests of today, and can withstand mulitple hits of 7.62x51mmAP.
So what happens? Is there a way to make existing rifle cartridges penetrate armor better? New bullet alloys or construction? You could, of course, upgrade to a higher-velocity catridge, but it'd be a trip if all the world's armies started carrying .300 Ultra-Mag rifles (hard on the shoulder, too, and forget about automatic fire).
I'm just asking mostly about whether or not existing rifle catridges can be made to penetrate better, or if something radically different would be required. There are always very small bore, very light, super-high-velocity rounds, but I don't know how well these do compared to regular AP stuff.
I've read here and elsewhere that new materials technology will allow the creation of lightweight, wearable armors that can stop all current armor piercing rifle rounds, and can even withstand multiple hits.
So lets say some kind of materials breakthrough happens. A cheap, easy to produce armor comes on the market, and is quickly copied by the Russians, the Chinese, and the Europeans. While the terrorist and third world nations we typically have wars with probably wouldn't have the stuff, all the major powers would.
Let's say that now, the majority of soldiers in the world's armies are equipped with these vests. They provide full frontal, side, back, and over-the-shoulder protection. They're light compared to the ceramic plate vests of today, and can withstand mulitple hits of 7.62x51mmAP.
So what happens? Is there a way to make existing rifle cartridges penetrate armor better? New bullet alloys or construction? You could, of course, upgrade to a higher-velocity catridge, but it'd be a trip if all the world's armies started carrying .300 Ultra-Mag rifles (hard on the shoulder, too, and forget about automatic fire).
I'm just asking mostly about whether or not existing rifle catridges can be made to penetrate better, or if something radically different would be required. There are always very small bore, very light, super-high-velocity rounds, but I don't know how well these do compared to regular AP stuff.