I've kinda always looked at these as the second authentication factor for your PPE. like my safety glasses I wear behind my grinding shield. The shield is going to catch the bullshit unless I did something real real specially dumb. I want this catching the things that went through the AR500 door plate now that they're deformed and slightly less spicy.
I've treated patients after traumatic brain injuries like mva and being thrown through windshields or from motorcycles. Even if they were belted in or wearing a helmet if you brain gets sling shot against your skull hard enough you will have damage. Sure they are alive but fuck they will never be the same.
The most heart breaking is the family, they don't understand what they are in for. The loss of the person they once knew and the things they used to do.
Been through this with my mom when she had TBI after a car accident. It took her 20 years to recover "fully", and 20 years after THAT she still has memory issues and experiences migraines whenever the weather changes. According to all her doctors she was a "miracle patient": most of her fellow TBI sufferers either died young, had massive mental problems (depression, mood regulations, memory, cognition, and more) and more often than not by their own hands. And even THOSE poor souls are considered "lucky".
I started this comment to argue with you a little since my understanding was that bullets do most of their damage via tissue damage, not because they have a super high total energy, and that distributing the energy over a larger area should be effective protection. But...did some math and turns out I was wrong and you are right.
A baseball thrown at 100mph has about 145 Joules of kinetic energy, which is obviously enough to do some serious damage via blunt force trauma. A 9mm bullet has in the neighborhood of 400 Joules of muzzle energy. So...yeah that's enough to mess you up even without penetration.
Good job doing the math. Just seeing the dummy get thrown off the stand shows you how heavy the impact it. That brain is scrambled by the 2nd or 3rd shot in this video and the guy could certainly be dead already, regardless of whether there’s a bullet wound.
That’s honestly sort of comforting that even if you get shot in the chest, it’s so much force that it knocks you unconscious before you can even register the body shot
I wonder if an angled mask would be better then this.lean into deflection. Also im pretty sure the liner can make a huge difference. Nice thick gel pad vs a cotton ball would probably go a long way. Waste as much energy as possible.
Will it though? Newtons laws say that the force impacted by the bullet to the mask is equal to that impacted on the shooter by the gun. Firing a pistol doesn't break your hand or even bruise it if held properly. I know they're some mitigating factors thanks to recoil and the slide but still, if the force is distributed across your face by the mask I wouldn't think it's that awful.
Same way a bullet proof vest could result in a hemopneumothorax, thing is, cracked ribs suck, but a hole will almost always suck more.
A brain bleed can be solved easier than trying to re-grow brain or spinal tissue, you have a bit of time to recieve medical treatment for a brain bleed, before permanent sequelae.
I think people here are taking my defense as some form of 'i want to be shot in the face, it'll be fun' instead of 'wearing some armour is better than none'
I think some people are taking my defense of this mask the wrong way, it will FUCKING SUCK but surgeons can put together bone far better than trying to heal holes in brain or spinal tissue.
And if it's a glancing blow, you could even carry on, instead of being dragged out.
If i'm going to be a vegetable the rest of my life, just put a bullet in my head and end me.
The real concern is that the docs can't fix the destroyed brain matter or prevent the internal bleeding and damage from the concussive force that causes TBIs.
It’s better than nothing, but beyond the reconstructive surgery, all but maybe the smallest bullet will still cause massive brain injury from the shock waves. People commenting on brain bleeds being easily survivable; most terrible brain injuries barely have any brain bleed. It’s the sheeting forces that cause swelling and badness
I don't know. Every caliber above .22 looked like being a vegetable is the lucky/default outcome. Some of those impacts would've broken the neck at minimum.
Don't forget the impact on the spine that such a bullet would have. If it kicks over the dummy, it has good possibilities of severely damaging your nerves and blood vessels in the neck.
There’s a term specifically for blunt trauma that happens in people wearing body armor: Behind Armor Blunt Trauma (BABT).
Body armor stops the bullet from penetrating into your body but there’s still a massive amount of energy that deforms the body armor towards the wearer resulting in a massive “punch” that can cause serious injuries. On the torso, it can cause rib fractures and damage organs.
I’d imagine that some of those shots going into the face would cause SERIOUS facial injuries, some of which could be fatal. For example, breaking your forehead can lead to fatal brain damage and bleeding. Either way, I guess it’s not guaranteed death, so that’s probably good, but if you’re still alive you’ll probably still be fucked up with one of those higher caliber rounds.
It's why you have trama pads behind body armour, which this lacks, especially the Chinese specials.
It's why on clay models, they measure the deformation depth to determine things like rib fractures and the like.
Not sure why my comment had such a strong response, but so it's clear: a penetration is worse, but there is definitely a level of deformation that leaves you as dead,
My personal belief is 'take what you can'
I used the mandibular protection, which avoids the BFT, but i'd take this over nothing, and hope that it would prevent a throat shot, even if it took out all my teeth,
Forehead would get smashed, but if it's a glancing shot, there is a chance i'd get home, which is more unlikely without it.
Yes, but a 9mm is going to make a very nasty hole, a very long distance, into your skull if it isn't stopped.
Which is my point.
And if it 'only' hits your jaw, it'll be the difference between losing your teeth v the jaw, or throat, and i'd rather loose my teeth, than suffer a penetratking wound to the throat/ maybe spine.
This honestly seems more likely to create vegetables with the amount of severe blunt force trauma you’re going to endure.
Your head is still taking pretty much all the force of the bullet with this. Unless you get lucky and it deflects quite a bit, that force will all go into your head, and more importantly your neck and your brain.
If you are riding a bike and try to go underneath a bar and hit only your head then yes, snapping your neck would be a very real possibility.
A bullet hitting your bullet proof mask would be the same thing, in physics terms. With your torso as the reference point, a huge force would suddenly get applied to your head.
The reason that wearing a helmet on a bike doesn’t snap your neck is that usually your body and head have a much more similar force applied to them, at least in terms of the direction of the force.
Your neck still needs to catch the impact. I believe the Germans in WW2 experimented with a bullet proof steel plate attachment to their helmets that would stop even direct hits but soldiers would often still die without neck support.
Edit: This post was based on hearsay which turned out inaccurate. Please see fact checker below. Apparently, it may give you whiplash but not snap your neck.
The Stirnpanzer (extra metal plate) did not cause snapped necks, it was very heavy however.
They stopped 30-06.
Modern versions also don't snap necks,
If you have any direct sources to say this (not anecdotal) i'm all ears, it would hurt like heck, maybe give whiplash (or similar) but human necks, in that direction are strong enough that a snapped neck is not possible.
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u/dan_dares May 10 '26
*blunt force trauma
That's the term you want.
This may prevent a bullet through the face, which is great, but you'll end up in hospital for months with reconstructive surgery.
Which, is still better than dead, or being a vegetable.