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:
Tags: .50 BMG, Barrett .50, body armor, Guns, Jerry Miculek, Lego, Titanium, video
“Not only does the .50 BMG obliterate it, it doesn’t even stop an AK-47 round.”
Well, yeah.
The helmets aren’t meant to even try to stop rifle rounds – all the civilian copies are III-A rated (pistol rounds only), and I have no information suggesting a military PASGT or ACH is any tougher.
They’d be too heavy, and cause more fatigue and injury through weight than they’d help with ballistic protection.
They’re meant to stop fragments and the like.
That ultra-dense polyethylene plate test was VERY interesting. Lightweight, but stops close range .50 BMG (less a certain amount of blunt force impact)? There is a LOT of possibilities for that technology, especially considering the options for shaping it to the user rather than just plates. We may see the return of knight-style suits of combat armor with that material. A cuirass over kevlar hauberk with pauldrons, rerebrace and vambraces for the arms with particular protection for the brachial artery, chuisse and greaves on the legs with femoral artery protection, possibly a lamellar armor skirt to protect the pelvic region while maintaining mobility with the requisite armor about the family jewels… put some armor on a horse, too, and we have have cavalry charges against rioters.
Pretty soon there will be EFP’s for the fifty.
And the circle starts again.
[…] some of the previous .50 BMG vs X videos I’ve shared, they tended to demolish whatever they were shooting at. This time, I’ve got video of them shooting at thicker and heavier metal plates and […]