same threats as above in Plate
(1) but without the need for
additional soft backing armour.
Unlike Ceramic this plate stops
the threat on a layer upon layer
basis, slowing the projectile bit
by bit as it tries to penetrate each
layer and dissipating energy at
the same time across all planes.
ese plates have an excellent
multi-hit capability easily
stopping 15 to 20 rounds in a
10in x 12in plate if spaced out.
ese plates also have positive
buoyancy as Dyneema is lighter
than water. e downside of
such a plate is generally it’s
thickness which is normally
28-35mm.
Plate 1 was placed at a
distance of ve yards from a
ring point and shots were taken
with a 9mm pistol, a .45 ACP
pistol, a .357 Magnum revolver,
.44 Magnum revolver and nally
a .45 long Colt carbine ring a
300 grain softpoint at 1,400 fps
producing a muzzle energy of
1300 ft lb. Predictably the plate
stopped the 9mm, .45 ACP, and
.357 magnum rounds. e .44
magnum bullet penetrated (900-
foot pounds) completely and the
.45 softpoint from the Mauser
Carbine sailed through. After
this the plate was in pretty sorry
shape as the photo will show. All
46 www.guntradeworld.com
I N - D E P T H W I T H C A L W A R D
WHO IS CAL WARD?
Cal Ward is a retired IT tutor,
blogger and former ri e and
pistol correspondent with
the Irish Shooters’ Digest. He
lives in Northern Ireland and
his interests include black
powder, ri e and pistol shooting,
bulletsmithing, history, short
story writing and hillwalking.
READ CAL’S BLOG HERE:
WWW.CALWARD.BLOGSPOT.COM
GTW
This modern High-Density Polyethylene
(Dyneema) plate fared amazingly well
and stopped even a hot .308 hunting
round with only a slight bulge.
The .308 ri e at almost 3,000 lb and the .44 magnum at 1,000 lb
were the most powerful guns used in the test and the High Density
Polyethylene (Dyneema) plate stopped both.
retrieved rounds were thoroughly
attened and while soft backing
armour was not deployed, it is
a reasonable assumption that it
would have stopped the hot .44
and .45 rounds, which would have
been considerably deformed after
passing through ceramic plate
and the unlucky wearer would
have survived albeit in a bruised
condition.
Plate 2 was a di erent
outcome entirely and stopped
everything used on Plate 1 and
in addition a softpoint round
from a .308 ri e that had been
loaded to red deer hunting specs
and producing 2,962 ft lb! To
put it in perspective; this .308
load had killed a Scottish red
stag cleanly with a lung/heart
shot at 264 yards the previous
season. e plate held together
apart from a 20mm bulge on
the inside that would have been
uncomfortable but not injurious
to the wearer. A modern High-
Density Polyethylene (Dyneema)
plate gives a very high level of
protection but had the same
projectile struck an unprotected
part of a wearer’s body it would
likely have killed, being a highenergy
expanding bullet. For this
reason, a large shield of similar
construction would give the best
protection.
A third plate has since become
available and is a Ceramic/
Dyneema hybrid, using a 3 to
4mm ceramic facing to deform
the rounds and a Dyneema (or
compressed aramid) backing to
hold all the spall, these pages
are generally 18 to 20mm in
thickness and are what most
forces worldwide use today,
these plates are always used in
conjunction with a soft armour
designed to itself defeat handgun
threats up to .44 magnum. It
is hoped to test this plate at
another time and the results of
all tests will be presented in a
comprehensive report on www.
calward.blogspot.com. GTW
/www.guntradeworld.com
/WWW.CALWARD.BLOGSPOT.COM
/calward.blogspot.com
