Marcownz747's Replies
A lot of what you say is correct, but a lot also isn't.
Yes, Spitzer rounds pierce better than round nose. Yes, low brass has pressure (and therefore velocity) limitations. Yes, when you're trying to optimize for the most penetration possible you want high velocity and smaller diameter.
But when it comes to the question of "will a shotgun defeat soft body armor", we can apply those same ideas to say "yeah, it probably will".
First, copper slugs are already made. Due to how much lighter they are compared to lead, they have significantly higher speed at identical pressures. Due to being significantly harder than lead, they spend less energy deforming.
Second, there are already numerous videos publicly available on youtube (some as old as 5 years old) showing copper and brass slugs defeating Levell 3A armor (and some defeating level 3 steel plates). A few even use hollow point brass and copper slugs with cuts to facilitate flower petal expansion.
If we apply all of your logic... then the fact that copper and brass hollowpoint slugs already defeat 3A body armor... its virtually certain that round nosed steel slugs would do it, too.
But we will never really know. Because most people filming videos testing firearms against body armor are based in the US. And solid steel projectiles are federally classified as "armor piercing", regardless of their ability to penetrate armor.
So even if by some miracle a faster, harder round wouldnt penetrate deeper than rounds that already defeat level 3A... the rounds would still be classified in both US law, as well as New York State law... and in universe, this happened in Manhattan.
These slugs are armor piercing, and it's not crazy or inaccurate to say so.
Yes, I would rather have 5.56 in that situation. Yes, it was not really a good call from a tactical point of view. But if my time in the military taught me anything, it's that even the best people in the real world sometimes make poor or ill informed choices.
posted 3 years ago in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)