The useless bulletproof vest

[Alpo]

 

[Trailrider #896]

Don't work worth a darn for head shots either!

[Cypress Sun]

 

Way back when the Clearwater police first got "bulletproof" vests, a news reporter decided it would be a good idea to put one on and have a film crew do a "Live, On The Scene" report on getting shot (on the 6:00 pm news) while wearing one of the new vests.

 

He carefully set up the scenario by telling watching public that he would be shot with a .38 special by a professional marksman. 

 

The reporter proudly donned the vest, stood in front of the "professional marksman" armed with a stub nosed S & W .38 standing about 5" away, with his chest poked out like Superman and proclaimed "Okay, go ahead!"

 

The marksman then proceeded to take careful aim and shoot him directly in the middle of the chest....Perfect shot.

 

The reporter's knees immediately buckled and fell over rearward on the ground. The shocked, pained, I'm dead look in his eyes was one of the funniest things I've ever seen on the news. What happened next was even funnier.

 

Live on the 6:00 news, when he could say something again, loudly said Sh**, G*****N...That hurt llke hell.

 

Didn't see much of that reporter after that

[Rip Snorter]

Richard Davis, founder of Second Chance shot himself in the vest on many occasions in sales demos - one time he purportedly jumped up and shot three bowling pins.

[El Sobrante Kid]

4 hours ago, Rip Snorter said:

Richard Davis, founder of Second Chance shot himself in the vest on many occasions in sales demos - one time he purportedly jumped up and shot three bowling pins.

 

I remember seeing videos of him doing that. I also remember that he would stuff layers of newspapers or magazines between the vest and his chest to minimize the effect of the force.

[Rip Snorter]

1 minute ago, El Sobrante Kid said:

 

I remember seeing videos of him doing that. I also remember that he would stuff layers of newspapers or magazines between the vest and his chest to minimize the effect of the force.

Could be, don't recall that, but I think he had to stop doing it because all the repetitions were harmful to his health.  His was not a new concept - Arch Duke Ferdinand had a bulletproof vest made of many, many layers of silk.  They worked but he wasn't wearing it.

[Alpo]

Read an article many moons ago. By Ayoob, I believe. He was giving a talk to a class of police officers. And he has a tape recording of an interview with a cop. The cop tells about how the bad guy shot him twice in the chest and he was able to draw his python and shoot the bad guy once in his chest. Dead right there.

 

And he stopped the tape recorder. Several of the cops were commenting. The comments were all along the lines of "that's BS". Then one guy in the back of the room pipes up and says, "what kind of vest was he wearing?"

 

Ayoob turns the tape recorder back on and you hear him ask the cop - what kind of vest were you wearing? And the cop says it was a second chance model whatever.

 

Then he put some pictures up on the screen. Taken at to the hospital right after the shooting, and then some more from the next day. The nice purple bruise by his breastbone right after the shooting and the large green yellow purple black bruise that covered most of his chest the next day.

 

One of the cops commented that that looked like it really hurt, and that he would not like to have been shot like that. Ayoob ask him if he would prefer to be shot without a vest.

 

As I said, this was many moons ago. Late 70s / early '80s. Vests were a brand new technology.

[Pat Riot]

I used to know officers that had been shot while wearing their vests. None of them said they’d like to do it again. One of my friends said he got hit more towards his left side and he got 3 broken ribs from a .45 ACP FMJ. He said he had been told it would hurt. He said that was an understatement, but he was thankful he was wearing it. 

[Badlands Bob #61228]

We had shock plates in the front of our vests.  It was right over the heart and breast bone.  The vest may keep the bullet from penetrating but you still absorb all the impact.   We had several officers saved by the vest.  They sure are hot and uncomfortable but good insurance.

[DeaconKC]

My vest saved my life in an auto accident when my airbag didn't go off. My collarbone was broken from the seat belt and I had 7 broken vertebrae in my back and neck but I lived.

[Eyesa Horg]

Thankfully 

[Vail Vigilante]

On 3/22/2025 at 10:24 AM, Rip Snorter said:

Richard Davis, founder of Second Chance shot himself in the vest on many occasions in sales demos - one time he purportedly jumped up and shot three bowling pins.

Yes, I have heard this story, supposedly this is how pin-shoots were invented.

I think there is a YouTube of him doing this actually.

[Jonathan Slim Chance]

On 3/22/2025 at 1:24 PM, Rip Snorter said:

Richard Davis, founder of Second Chance shot himself in the vest on many occasions in sales demos - one time he purportedly jumped up and shot three bowling pins.

I've got a VHS copy of the film of that.  At that point Richard Davis knew the vest would stop the bullet, but didn't know what the effects would be on the wearer.  In the run up to the shots fired, he was visibly nervous about what he was about to do, claiming that "if this works, it'll save a thousand lives.  If it doesn't.....).  He loaded up a revolver, spun the cylinder to prove it wasn't staged, then fired one round into a block of putty (creating a pretty good sized hole) then turned the gun on himself.  He was pretty awkward trying to figure out how best to do it, but then fired the shot, jumped up and shot three bowling pins to prove that you would be capable of fighting back even after taking a shot to the vest.  He said it hurt enough to make you mad, and later at the hospital he showed the palm sized red mark it left.

 

I used to compete at the Second Chance Pin Shoots, and survivors were welcome guests.  I had the chance to talk to a few of them and one guy I talked to said he took a shot to the chest and wasn't even aware of it until after the event, probably due to the adrenalin dump.

[Cypress Sun]

About 12 years ago, I was doing an electrical service upgrade and wiring for new equipment (giant sublimation machine/other equipment) at a top-of-the-line crossbow maker in Tarpon Springs, Florida. I don't remember the name of the company now, but they were bought out by Barnett Outdoors, crossbow/etc. maker. The factory is still there and producing crossbows that originated from the other company.

 

They used to test the crossbows at the exterior rear of the building where the main service gear was located. They used Styrofoam dummies of deer/humans/etc. with multiple hay bales behind them to stop the bolts from leaving the property.

 

One day, the Tarpon Springs Police Department came by to test their newest vests against crossbow type weapons. I didn't work out so well. They put the vest on a Styrofoam human dummy and started out with the most powerful crossbow the company made. On the very first shot, the bolt went completely thru the vest (both sides) and into the hay behind the dummy. I could tell by the expression on their faces that they were stunned by that result. They tried crossbows with less power but almost all of them penetrated the vest so far that the wound would probably be fatal. Even the "kiddie" crossbows managed to get a bolt about an inch into the vests.

Note - None of the vest they tried had plates, they only used 3 vests and each vest was shot multiple times

Edited March 25 by Cypress Sun

[Alpo]

Any moons ago. I was reading a karate magazine. The article was wondering how well police bulletproof vests would stand up to martial arts weaponry.

 

So they got some vests and they put them on mannequins and they tried. Bows. Spears. Swords. Knives. They all went in. They had been designed to penetrate armor, and they did what they were designed to do. And the striking weapons. Basing their opinion on the damage done to the mannequins wearing the vests, while they did not penetrate, they would certainly put the man wearing one out of business.

 

I walked away from that article with the opinion that the only thing a bulletproof vest was good for was bullets.

[watab kid]

never owned one , there was a time when there was talk of these being issued to our service folks - never heard how that ended , another government secret from the past 

[Dapper Dave]

On 3/24/2025 at 12:07 PM, Vail Vigilante said:

Yes, I have heard this story, supposedly this is how pin-shoots were invented.

I think there is a YouTube of him doing this actually.

Movie "Deadly Weapons" from the early 80s. He stuffs magazines in his shirt and shoots himself with a 44, then discharges the rest of the cylinder into the dirt to prove they weren't blanks. Also had a bunch of other fun stuff, like the "357 will penetrate an engine block" and spraying and praying with a full auto rifle versus aimed semi auto, how a bullet won't knock you over with a guy getting shot in a rifle proof vest with an FAL, just to name a few. The END of the video is the best part...

[Dapper Dave]

13 hours ago, Cypress Sun said:

About 12 years ago, I was doing an electrical service upgrade and wiring for new equipment (giant sublimation machine/other equipment) at a top-of-the-line crossbow maker in Tarpon Springs, Florida. I don't remember the name of the company now, but they were bought out by Barnett Outdoors, crossbow/etc. maker. The factory is still there and producing crossbows that originated from the other company.

 

They used to test the crossbows at the exterior rear of the building where the main service gear was located. They used Styrofoam dummies of deer/humans/etc. with multiple hay bales behind them to stop the bolts from leaving the property.

 

One day, the Tarpon Springs Police Department came by to test their newest vests against crossbow type weapons. I didn't work out so well. They put the vest on a Styrofoam human dummy and started out with the most powerful crossbow the company made. On the very first shot, the bolt went completely thru the vest (both sides) and into the hay behind the dummy. I could tell by the expression on their faces that they were stunned by that result. They tried crossbows with less power but almost all of them penetrated the vest so far that the wound would probably be fatal. Even the "kiddie" crossbows managed to get a bolt about an inch into the vests.

Note - None of the vest they tried had plates, they only used 3 vests and each vest was shot multiple times

Stab proof and bullet proof are most certainly NOT the same thing - I've worn stab vests for years, and the originals had thin steel plates backed by Kevlar. Heavy and a huge pain. Modern vests can be purchased with both a Spike and Ballistic resistance rating, but you will pay, oh, you will pay through the nose. 

Edited March 26 by Dapper Dave

[Dubious Don #56333]

On 3/22/2025 at 3:18 PM, El Sobrante Kid said:

 

I remember seeing videos of him doing that. I also remember that he would stuff layers of newspapers or magazines between the vest and his chest to minimize the effect of the force.

 Phone books LOL. Richard was sort of kooky. Used to deliver for a pizzeria. In Detroit LOL. Got robbed a few times, came up with the vest idea and the rest, was history. My current vest isn't bad, but Second Chance was the most comfortable. Ever.

[Jabez Cowboy,SASS # 50129]

Ya all have a vested interest in wearing one😄

Have a great day, and stay safe...

Jabez Cowboy