The Firearm Blog

Wired Magazine tested three different level IIIA ballistic vests¹ at the Oregon Ballistics Lab.

Nice to see that a cheap $344 vest works as well as a $4490 vest

On a side note, that testing gun is an interesting device.

[ Many thanks to Mik for emailing me the link. ]

Miguel Caballero, a Colombian, is a designer of ballistic vests for military and police and “bullet proof” fashionable clothing. Apparently he requires all new employees to be shot while wearing one of his ballistic vests! Here is a video showing blogger Erik R. Trinidad of The Global trip being shot point blank by a .38 Special revolver.

Even through I posted that impressive video of a guy being shot point blank with a .44 Magnum and .308 Win., I am still amazed at what little effect on the target the bullet has when it impacts a ballistic vest. Sure, I do understand the physics, but still!

More videos of people being shot by Miguel are here.

Someone from Bulletproofjackets.net posted the info about Miguel Caballero. Thanks.

The National Research Council have published a report advising against a national database of “unique” markings made by firearms on bullets and brass.

“Ballistics testing is only as useful as the number of images in the database,” Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., said while pushing for the database in 2002.

Actually, the opposite is true, today’s report said. The larger the database, the more errors the computer will return.

Under the current system, the computer might find 10 possible matches for a single bullet and there’s a good chance one of them will be confirmed. After adding more than 1 million guns to the database each year, the same system might produce hundreds of possible matches.

Comparing rimfire brass. Photo from forensicmag.com.

More here.