The history of bulletproof vests can be traced back to ancient times. In order to resist knives, guns and arrows, countries all over the world have developed their own armor. Most of these armor are made of iron, bulky and hard.
With the progress of the times, various materials are also used to make armor, so all kinds of armor were born, such as leather armor, ring armor, scale armor and plate armor. The types of materials include leather, plants and metal.
Even in ancient China, paper armour was originally created, and its defense ability was no worse than iron armour.
However, with the large-scale equipment of hot weapons, armor was soon eliminated. After all, under the smelting technology at that time, the human body could not bear the weight of armor that could resist bullets. Therefore, without enjoying the protection of armor, it was crushed by the weight of armor.
The official appearance of bulletproof vests
Bulletproof vests began to emerge in World War I and World War II.
Sadly, the bulletproof vest at this time is still in its infancy, but it needs to face the worst times. Whether in World War I or World War II, it is a world of powerful bullets, because the kinetic energy and lethality of rifles and machine guns are too large, and the bulletproof vest just developed does not play a good role.
Take the well-known German Mauser rifle for example. Its 7.92 mm bullet has an initial velocity of 830 meters per second and a kinetic energy of 3400 joules, twice that of modern small caliber rifles. If armor piercing bullets are used, it can break through 9 mm steel plates 200 meters away. At the same time, the power of mosinagan of the Soviet Union and M1 rifles of the United States are equally powerful.
The early bulletproof vests were basically made of all steel, with a thickness of about two or three millimeters. For the powerful armor piercing bullets, there was little difference from a layer of paper. Therefore, why the number of casualties was so high in World War I? Of course, it was also related to the intensity of the war.
For another example, the famous Soviet Combat Engineers are equipped with sh-42 chest armor bulletproof vests, which are 2mm thick and weigh 3.5kg. Theoretically, they can resist the 9mm bullets fired by the German mp40 submachine gun at 100-125m, but the submachine gun usually fires at a very close distance, so the initial bulletproof vests do not play a good role in protection, So what it can really fight is a pistol.
The Development of bulletproof vests
After World War II, bulletproof clothing materials developed from metal to synthetic materials, which undoubtedly accelerated the modernization process of bulletproof clothing.
In the 1960s, DuPont invented Kevlar material, which really announced the advent of the era of bulletproof clothing.
With the emergence of ceramic insert plate technology, the combination of soft and hard bulletproof clothing has high resistance to infantry firearms, and even American soldiers who survived 27 AK bullets in a war, which is closely related to the evolution of bulletproof clothing.
However, there are still many fallacies about bulletproof vests circulating on the Internet.
The most typical is the “useless theory of bulletproof vests”.
Useless theory of bulletproof vests
This theory shows that although the bulletproof vest can resist bullet shooting, the huge kinetic energy will still break the ribs and damage the internal organs after the bullet hits the bulletproof vest. In extreme cases, wearing bulletproof vests is even more harmful than not wearing bulletproof vests. Not wearing bulletproof vests may be an ordinary through injury, but wearing bulletproof vests will receive huge impact, It may shatter internal organs and cause more serious consequences.
This argument still has some truth in the era of all steel bulletproof vests. After all, after being punctured by powerful bullets, steel bulletproof vests will produce many high-speed fragments and similar explosive wounds, which is very serious.
However, with the combination of soft and hard modern bulletproof clothing, the ceramic insert plate can absorb a large part of bullet energy after fragmentation, and the soft liner in the inner layer will absorb part of the impact again. Finally, only a small part of bullet energy will act on the human body. Many soldiers who were hit by full power rifle bullets at close range only had bruised skin, not even minor injuries, so this theory is completely untenable.
Unless it’s a large caliber machine gun, it can shock people to death on bulletproof vests. For example, the American M2 machine gun uses a 12.7mm bullet with a kinetic energy of about 18000 joules and a 200m through a 15mm thick steel plate. As long as a small part of the energy acts on the human body, it will produce the above effects such as fractures, but the damage caused by fragmentation can be avoided, and the damage is controllable.
So no body armor will use it as a defense indicator.
There is also a case of wearing soft bulletproof vests with low defense ability and encountering attacks from relatively large caliber weapons, such as large caliber revolvers, shotguns and single headed bullets. These bullets have insufficient penetration but great power, which may cause greater collateral damage.
Therefore, the specific situation is analyzed. Even so, getting shot without wearing bulletproof vests must be more injured and stupid than wearing bulletproof vests.
Broken ribs or internal bleeding are much better than the two big holes in the front and back.
Does the bulletproof helmet will break your neck ?
Another common saying about bulletproof protective equipment is that the helmet is not bulletproof. If a bullet hits the helmet, even if it is not pierced, the kinetic energy will break people’s neck
First of all, most helmets are not bulletproof. Their function is to resist fragments and stray bullets and protect your head from broken shrapnel.
If you are shot directly within the effective range of a rifle bullet, no helmet in the world can resist it, otherwise the weight is too heavy, and the helmet will buckle on your head and neck.
If the angle is not correct, the bullet is easy to fly by the helmet. The bullet changes direction and consumes little energy, so there is not much energy acting on the helmet.
In addition, modern military helmets are multi-layer composite design. Helmets do not directly contact the head, but are fixed with suspension devices, so bullets can effectively buffer when hitting the helmet.
At most, it makes people dizzy for a while. Breaking the neck won’t happen.
Find Safety Body Armor
At present, the United States has the highest technology of bulletproof clothing in the world. After all, Kevlar and bulletproof ceramic insert plate technology are made by Americans. In the field of bulletproof clothing, China comes from behind and the level is also commendable.
Previously, foreign firearms lovers have tested and photographed bulletproof plates made in China, and the level is also positive.
Bulletproof vests produced in China are cheap and high-quality. Now they have been widely exported to European and American countries.
It is worth mentioning that most of these bulletproof vests are developed and produced by private companies. As the first batch of Companies in China to participate in the production of bulletproof vests, we have been striving to transport our high-quality bulletproof and military and police products to the world!
