Quote:
Originally Posted by Rupert
As for protection, my understanding is that armour with a certain NIJ rating is supposed to also protect against those threats that lower ratings protect against as well. The big problem with those ratings (and similar ones) is that they are only rated and tested against very specific bullets, and apparently similar bullets can perform much better or worse, and even fairly small increases in velocity and energy can result in penetrations.
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I assure you that armor tested against NIJ Level IV standards is
not guaranteed to pass Level III testing. If they were, manufacturers would not feel the need to specifically send it for testing for Level III standards as well, when they want to advertise that.
However, as a practical matter, Level IV body armor should provide protection against at least 1 hit from any threat mentioned in IIA, II, IIIA and III standards. However, there is
no guarantee that it will provide any protection against repeated impacts.
To pass actual Level III testing, however, armor must stop multiple M80 7.62x51mm rounds. In GURPS terms, that's less damage than Level IV can stop, but note that Ablative DR can pass NIJ Level IV testing (but not Level III, which allows Semi-Ablative, but not full Ablative).