Bulletproof vests can be great, but they can also be a pain when worn by an enemy during combat. Bulletproof vests of high quality can grant a degree of invincibility to a foe in a gunfight. Military agencies are now urging the development and use of armor-piercing bullet rounds to have the upper hand.
Generally, armor-piercing bullets are designed for rifles and handguns with the sole purpose of penetrating ballistic armor or ballistic shields. To do this, the bullet rounds smash gears that are typically designed to stop or deflect conventional bullets. Increasing the velocity of a projectile can also influence the ability to penetrate ballistic armor, even when bullet design remains the most important variable. The muzzle velocity of bullet rounds discharged from handguns is higher than that of regular handgun cartridges. This is because the rifle uses more propellants. It is highly probable that a handgun bullet cartridge fired with a rifle will have a greater velocity than a handgun bullet cartridge fired with a rifle.
Rifles have long barrels, allowing the propellant to fully ignite before the projectile leaves the barrel. It follows from this that rifle bullets have a much greater potential for armor-piercing than a handgun bullet of a similar nature. As I mentioned earlier, the caliber of the bullet also plays a significant role in its armor piercing abilities. The same weight bullets designed with a smaller caliber and a higher sectional density are more effective for penetrating armor even though they are of the same caliber. This makes the bullet rounds of a rifle or armor-piercing round much dangerous. However, there are tests that show that bulletproof vests with NIJ ratings of Level IV can stop these rifle and armor-piercing rounds.
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