Sources of Foreign Body Armor for ballistic gelatin testing?

[Brass Fetcher]

I would like to start incorporating the body armor of non-NATO foreign armies into Brass Fetcher ballistic gelatin testing. Living in the US, US armor is easily bought at the gunshow - but revealing ballistic vulnerabilities of this armor is not something that will be done. The same goes for body armor generally available to police officers.

What I would like to do though, is to evaluate the penetration/after-armor effects of commonly-available commercial US cartridges against foreign >military< body armor. Think 'Red Dawn', and this is pretty much what I have in mind with this testing.

Any ideas/sources of where these items may be purchased/donated from?

Thank you,
JE/BF

 

[Soybomb]

I know its a controversial topic but I would encourage you to also test against armor made by US companies. There is no security in obscurity and more testing might help body armor users make more informed decisions about what protection level they need to buy to stop a particular threat, if their latest high zoot armor is really that amazing or another zylong tragedy in the making, etc. Also as a non-wearer of body armor I'm interested in knowing about what may penetrate bad guys wearing armor. To each his own of course but I think there are very valid uses for such data.

That aside I think it might be interesting. Twaron is made by a then dutch now japanese owned company. Dupont's kevlar is of course american. Surprisingly enough this link says that china's military uses kevlar in its armor http://china-defense.blogspot.com/2005/03/body-armor-comparsion.html http://www.bodyarmornews.com/body-a...erve-during-2008-Olympic-Games-in-Beijing.htm seems to be similarly interesting. It looks like china might not make their own armor fabrics and for that matter I question how many countries like china even make it standard to issue their soldiers armor.

 

[wideym]

Police body armor is made to protect the wearer from pistol caliber rounds only, Military body armor is made to protect the wearer mainly from serapnel from artilery, grenades, etc. Intercepter body armor and the older flak vests will protect you from most pistol calibers and light shotgun loads, but only the SAPI plate will protect you from rifle rounds and shotgun slugs.

 

[Brass Fetcher]

Only foreign armor will be tested.

 

[mp510]

If you are looking for fragmentation vests (designed to protect against shrapnal, some people have claimed to successfully stop pistol rounds with them) Cheaper Than Dirt, Sportsmans Guide, eBay and other military surplus places often have them, from NATO countries at least. I've seen British and German surplus vests most commonly.

 

[Brass Fetcher]

mp510 - Thank you for the advice... that is definately a step in the right direction (though I suspect that Britain and Germany are going to be our friends from here on out!).

 

[Roswell 1847]

If you are looking for fragmentation vests (designed to protect against shrapnal, some people have claimed to successfully stop pistol rounds with them)

I have a Kevlar panel from a flak jacket which was used in penetration tests, it stopped both .45 ACP and 9X19 but no 5.56 rifle rounds even at 400 yards.

The the markings around the test holes is rather faded, if you like I'll dig it out and see if I can still read them.
Several other pistol rounds were tested on the same panel but I don't remember the calibers or results.

PS
I remember reading that as Kevlar ages if not stored properly it becomes weaker.
The same panel today would probably not stop projectiles as well.

Also some Eastern Block body armor used Titanium plates.

 

[Hoppy590]

frag vest are not designed to stop ant kind of ammunition. if they do, it will only be light pistols and its not on purpose. shrapnel is the name of the game

all bodyarmor degrades over time and wear, along with things like temp, humitiy, exposure to sweat.

i dont know if any thing you find from a surplus shop will be anywhere near peak performance

 

[Brass Fetcher]

This is what I want :

http://www.tradekey.com/product_view/id/62631.htm

The problem is that the minimum order is 30pcs, and if this is priced close to a regular 'tactical vest', that would be at least 1000USD per vest. So... if you know where to get something like this, maybe by the ones or twos, I would really like to know.

 

[mp510]

They do say that 'samples' are availble from the manufacturer (possibly for a fee). Contact their sales guy, and see if he could sell you one or two (explain to him that you want to review their product).

 

[Brass Fetcher]

Interesting... I didn't see that part - thank you.

Three questions then :

1. Can we setup one of the normal polls to determine what rounds to test and
2. Will THR members chip in to help buy the vest?

3. Does anyone know if the PLA issues this vest?

 

[mp510]

http://www.sinodefenceforum.com/land-warfare-army/pla-body-armor-3659.html

This link has an interesting picture of a Chinese PLA Artillery Battery. It seems that the Chinese do not widely issue body armor to their soldeirs. Even the armor the artillerymen are wearing is only flack jackets.

 

[1 old 0311]

Did you try www.gunbroker.com ?

 

[kd7nqb]

This seems like a task for a good military surplus store. I know my local Army Suplus place often has foreign uniform stuff never really looked at body armor. I know they have some US vests.