Ace of Spades had this video up of Jerry Miculek testing a Barrett .50 BMG rifle against a body armor plate made of dense polyethylene:
Result: The round did not penetrate the back of the plate. That’s not the result I would have expected.
That got me wondering what a .50 BMG round would do against other types of armor plate out there.
Here’s a video of a .50 BMG first against two Level IV composite/ceramic plate body armor plates.
Spoiler: it obliterates the first plate, seriously deforms (but does not penetrate) the second, hard enough to obliterate the water jog behind it.
Level III Kevlar helmet?
Not only does the .50 BMG obliterate it, it doesn’t even stop an AK-47 round.
More on the same theme.
The .50 BMG doesn’t go through the helmet, it goes though three helmets, and through both sides of two.
How about 1 inch of AR550 steel?
Just over an inch of Titanium:
And just for fun: .50 BMG vs. Legos: