The Ultimate Body Armor Test: 20 Threats Defeated

Do you know what your body armor is capable of? Well today we're going to be testing out the strengths and limitations of soft body armor. It's important to know what your body armor will defend against before you go into a high threat situation because realistically it could save your life. By the end of this video you'll have a basic knowledge and understanding of the capabilities of soft armor and hard armor so you can confidently choose your own body armor. So today we came out to the Las Vegas desert to put our body armor through the test and show you the results. We're going to be shooting our rubber dummy that you guys have named Frank in a previous video. We're going to be shooting with handguns, shotguns, rifles, submachine guns, not fully auto but submachine guns nonetheless, so you can see exactly how each level of body armor handles a different threat. So let's get to it. So we've got our rubber dummy set up with our level 3a standard vest. We're going to test it out with all the firearms you see here. Then later on we're going to do 3a plus and our level 4. First up we're going to be firing with .22 long rifle. It's the most common caliber found in America so it's extremely important that your armor will stop it. Next up another extremely popular round, the 9mm full metal jacket. It's very popular for its affordable ammo price. This is what you'll most likely see when you're out target shooting. We're going to be shooting this out of a Chris Vector. People always ask, will it defend against hollow points? This is 9mm hollow point. People think that hollow points are more likely to penetrate body armor, but that's not true. While 9mm hollow point is designed to expand on impact and do more damage to flesh and bone, once it expands and hits that vest it stops pretty easily. You're really more worried about full metal jacket than your hollow points. We're going to be testing this out of a CZ tactical sport. And that one's gone. Next we're going to be doing .40 out of a Glock. Unfortunately I either forgot the .40 or forgot to buy it, so I found some Lee Defense extreme penetrators. I have no idea how this is going to perform. This is known for its extreme penetration, by the name, and we'll see how it does on the 3A. I'm positive it would stop in the 3A+. Not sure about the 3A, we'll find out. Next up, .38 special. Not very common, but I borrowed my friend's cowboy gun and it's beautiful, so we'll give it a try. Next up, .45 ACP. The big guy, there's that huge debate between .45 vs. 9. People say, will it stop against a .45? .45 is actually heavier and slower with a larger point of impact, so armor easily defends against .45. And finally, we're going to be doing the .44 Magnum. This is a bear gun, and is what armor needs to stop to be rated level 3A. And actually, you know what, I said finally, but shotguns, extremely common. We're going to be doing two rounds of 12-gauge, 1-ounce slugs, and a round of double-hot buckshot. That was the buckshot. People are always impressed by how armor can stop slugs. Well, we're going to do two, just to prove a point. So we took the long walk downrange, about 10 feet from right there, to see what happened to our vest. Now, I know without a doubt that it'll stop everything we fired, except for the Lee Extreme Penetrator. I've never tested that before, it's an exotic round, and of course they boast the Extreme Penetration. So we're going to see what happened here, and then we'll get moving on. So, it doesn't appear that anything made it through. We do have, well, I guess we're going to do this on the ground now. We do have some breaking of the mesh at the back. That's from the Back Face Signature, basically the blunt force that you would feel when that vest is shot. It looks like it's the two points that that happened are where the slugs were, which is no surprise. Those are ridiculously powerful. But let's just break this apart here, and make sure nothing got through. And nope, that's still fully intact, as well as back here. I'm actually surprised about the Extreme Penetrator. I was pretty sure that our Plus model would stop it, but wasn't sure about the 3A. But let's load up the 3A Plus, and we'll get into some more high power stuff. All right, so next up is our exclusive level 3A Plus. This vest will defend against handguns, shotguns, strikes, slashes, stabs, tasers, and even typically armor-piercing handgun and shotgun ammunition. So this is what we call the most protective soft armor on the planet. All right, so we got our 3A Plus loaded up on our rubber dummy. Now, this vest will defend against everything we just shot at it, plus, of course, the stabs, tasers, and the armor-piercing ammunition. Now, the armor-piercing ammunition that we are talking about is specifically FN-57, as well as the Liberty Civil Defense 9mm. These rounds are extremely fast and have a very small point of impact. That's, like I was saying before, what really is the biggest threat to body armor. Of course, the 3A Plus will stop it, but we're going to show you that right now. First, we're going to be shooting with the FN-57 hollow point with the blue tip. This is the slowest variation of the FN-57 rounds. Next, we're going to be shooting it with the typical FN-57 hollow point. It's a bit faster. Next, we're going to be shooting it with the FN-57 law enforcement-only green tip. This is an extremely, extremely hot round, which passes through pretty much all body armor, except for the 3A Plus. So, that does it for the FN-57. Actually, you know what? No, there's one more. People say that, sure, it'll defend against the FN-57 pistol, but there's no chance that it'll defend against the FN PS-90. Well, now we'll see how that went. Next up, we have the Liberty Civil Defense 9mm. This is a 2,000 feet per second, non-lead, extremely fast projectile, becoming extremely popular in the Las Vegas area, which is why we developed this armor. And just for fun, I know these have no chance. These claim to be steel core armor-piercing slugs. They do have a steel core, but armor-piercing, they are not. Let's check it out. All right, so we've shot a bit more than I was expecting to. These are really hot rounds, and they do affect the panels with each shot, but it definitely is multi-hit rated. And let's see what we've got. And where the majority of all these five, seven rounds in the Liberty Civil Defense were, we don't even have anything breaking on the back. We do have our 12-gauge armor-piercing slug that's in there, and yeah, that's hot, which broke the back, but as you can see, there's clearly no penetration on that armor. So you know what? What we're going to do next is we want to show you the limitations of body armor. People always ask, will it defend against 5.56 or .223? The answer is no. No soft body armor will defend against a rifle threat like the .223 or greater. So let me show you what it's like when something does go through body armor. All right, so like I was saying before, no soft body armor can stop .223, .556, or rifle calibers outside of, of course, the .22 long rifle, and like I was showing you, the P90 on our vest specifically. But we clearly have one, two, three, four, five, six, a bunch of holes. So if you're wearing soft body armor, do not expect it to stop a rifle cartridge. For that, you're going to need our rifle plates. So we went over the clear limitations of soft body armor. Just to recap, it will not stop .223, but hard armor will. Let's start with the .300 Blackout. This is, again, out of the Cobalt Kinetics Stealth. I actually haven't shot a rifle plate with a .300 Blackout before. No surprise as to what's going to happen there, though. Next, the one you all ask about, .223, .556, same thing, kind of, multiple hits. Now this one, this one I actually haven't fired before. It's not zeroed in, and if it was, it would be way out there. We're looking at about only 10 feet, so I hope I hit it. And by the way, .308. Definitely hit that. And finally, this is the .30-06 Steel Core Armor-Piercing Ammunition. This is what you've got to stop to be rated Level 4. This has, of course, a steel core in it, so even after everything else breaks up, that steel core just keeps on moving. The plate will absolutely defeat this, but this is an absolutely ridiculously powerful round. Let's give it a try. And there we have it. Standard, by the way, for rifles is 50 yards that way, so we're way closer than standard testing. We have everything from .300 Blackout to the .30-06 Steel Core Armor-Piercing Ammunition. And of course, like I was saying before, this is multiple hit, so nothing will make it through. As a matter of fact, we don't even have any breakage of that mesh on the back. Now, you know, the reason why our ceramic plates can withstand multiple hits where others may not, there are some out there that can, but it's we use a mosaic tile construction for that plate. What that means is that we have a bunch of small tiles laid on top of one another so that if you hit a specific tile, only that one is compromised. Unlike where there's the monolithic ceramic plates where it's one big ceramic plate, as soon as that gets hit, spider veins all the way across, and that entire plate is compromised. That's also the kind that if you drop it, it might not do its job when it's time to. The mosaic tile multi-hit ceramic plates are what you want to go with for those multiple hits. Let's check it out and see if anything made it through the plate itself. Because remember, this is an in conjunction plate. No, we have nothing. Of course, there is some large craters in there, but this soft armor behind it keeps that blunt force trauma way down. Now, I'm not sure if you can see it, but if you very closely, you can actually see the steel core that was in that 30-odd-six round. So, will it defend against two-two-three? Yes. Will it take multiple hits? With this plate, no problem. I hope you learned what you can and should expect from your body armor system. The best body armor not only keeps you safe, but also makes you confident. I always recommend that you do your research before purchasing any body armor. If you want to learn more, we have an excellent body armor buying guide on our website. The address is in the description below, and you're more than welcome to give us a call, shoot us an email with any questions, or comment below. If you want to see us test something else against our vest, please leave a comment below. We're always looking to make new videos. 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