And now for something weird...

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
32,925
Hold my beer...

The world would be a marginally better place had the vest failed.
While I tend to agree, I can't agree that it deserves a charge of felony aggravated assault. Definitely charge the guy that filed a false police report. Perhaps fine them for discharging a weapon in city limits or whatever is on the books.

On a related note, there was a television reporter many years ago that got the bright idea of having his cameraman shoot him in the chest with a .22 while wearing a vest. The reaction was hilarious as the reporter discovered that it may stop the bullet, but the laws of the conservation of momentum aren't optional and that energy has to go somewhere.

I found it:

 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
32,925
Or had they used teflon-coated bullets... is that a myth or is it a real thing, btw?
Myth. Teflon coating was primarily done to reduce barrel wear on bullets made from hard materials. It also reduced ricochets from hard metal and glass surfaces. But it also tends to reduce penetration of typical vest material such as Kevlar.

As is often the case, a "news" show broadcast a very poorly researched story and then groups latched onto that story and started pumping the media frenzy and then the entertainment industry jumped in making absurd movies such as having teflon coated wadcutters fired from a .357 Magn penetrating a bulldozer blade and still going through a cop's vest and killing him. That then fanned the flames and got state legislatures to ban them without ever asking whether any of the claims had any merit at all. Very typical.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
32,925
Nothing's gonna make a .22 pierce armor.
Depends on the .22 and the armor.

I've got a .220 Swift that will punch even soft nosed bullets through 1/4" steel quite handily. Move even small things at Mach 4 and they are hard to stop.

I've often wondered just what kind of actual armor thickness I could penetrate with a steel-cored round from that thing, but I doubt there's a wearable vest made that could stop it (probably not even with straight up factory loads).
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
6,334
Depends on the .22 and the armor.

I've got a .220 Swift that will punch even soft nosed bullets through 1/4" steel quite handily. Move even small things at Mach 4 and they are hard to stop.

I've often wondered just what kind of actual armor thickness I could penetrate with a steel-cored round from that thing, but I doubt there's a wearable vest made that could stop it (probably not even with straight up factory loads).
I assumed (perhaps wrongly) they were using this:



Not this:

 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
32,925
I assumed (perhaps wrongly) they were using this:



Not this:

They were almost certainly .22 LR cartridges (as opposed to bullets).

But all of the .22 caliber cartridges use bullets having the same diameter, 0.224". There are a few bullets that can be used in either, but for the most part the centerfire cartridges push the bullets faster than the integrity of the bullets used in rimfire cartridges can tolerate.
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,783
then the entertainment industry jumped in making absurd movies such as having teflon coated wadcutters fired from a .357 Magn penetrating a bulldozer blade and still going through a cop's vest and killing him
absurd ... true ... but you gotta hand it to Mel Gibson, that was a fun movie ;)...
 
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