When wars, there is an inevitable supply of automatic weapons. Their use by Bonnie and Clyde and others to the present day illustrates how easy they are to get. Criminals can also get bullets capable of penetrating the Kevlar vests used by law enforcement.
Compounding the problem is the development of ceramic body armor able to resist penetration by AR-15s and other high-powered weapons carried by some police departments. The result may be a situation where police officers are outgunned and underprotected and illustrated by
a bank robbery in California several years ago. Robbers wearing body armor (Kevlar) and carrying AK-47s continued their rampage until police used high-powered weapons from gun shops to stop them. One solution to criminals wearing ceramic-based body armor might be the use of hardened steel nails in shotgun shells.
Normally used in the construction industry to secure buiding material to concrete, hardened nails or a variation could be loaded into shotgun shells using a sabot. The plastic fins on the nails might provide enough stability in flight. Since they would be pushed to to rear of the nail by wind resistance to travel,their placement could be varied within the shotgun shell to optimize loading and increase capacity.
Nail penetration would be limited, but nail length could be adjusted to achieve the desired effect. In particular, the use of nails fired in shotgun fashion would pin the armor to the criminal in several places limiting his ability to move, even if penetration does not incapacitate him.
Another advantage is that most police departments normally carry shotguns in their patrol cars giving ready access to a means of defeat criminals using ceramic-based body-armor without resorting to high-powered rifles which may prove ineffective anyways.

Nice try, but the carbide ceramics used in armor is a lot harder and tougher than masonry, even granite.

The principle is good, but it will have to be fired from a weapon more powerful than a shotgun.

hexalloy .25"/6mm will stop a few 5.56 rounds but will shatter after a few rounds. I broke through it with 2 55 grain Federals from my DPMS at 200 yards.

Additionally. The above reason is why most of the major PDs now issue ARs to their guys. If you go to almost any of the major cities, you are likely to find an AR in the cop's cruiser.

I can only think of one instance where criminals (in the US) have used level IV armor, and that was a few years ago where a few soldiers took their military issued BA and robbed a bank. But no shots were fired.

quote:

Originally posted by violent_storm2000:
I can only think of one instance where criminals (in the US) have used level IV armor, and that was a few years ago where a few soldiers took their military issued BA and robbed a bank. But no shots were fired.

Which is why I was very surprised when I drew TA-50 from CIF here at Benning that they issued me an full IBA with ESAPI plates. There is A LOT of trust involved giving Level IV body armor to a bunch of knuckleheads who might decide to do something really stupid....like rob a bank...

quote:

One solution to criminals wearing ceramic-based body armor might be the use of hardened steel nails in shotgun shells.

that has already been invented and outlawed by the geneva covention.

but i thought that was a good idea nice job!

quote:

Originally posted by ST34lTH KI11:

that has already been invented and outlawed by the geneva covention.

but i thought that was a good idea nice job!

Those are called flachettes and the Geneva Convention has nothing to do with the outlawing of weapons...

12g 2 3/4" flechette shells wont stick in drywall. A quick guess, there were about 20 flechettes in each shell. I bought 3 boxes of from a local gun shop and took them to the range. after firing at a target with a drywall backing, about 8 flechettes stuck in the target as they were intended to, 3 penetrated and the rest I found on the ground around the target. The range was about 25 feet. IMO, they are useless.