Airsoft Armor test results. Links to pictures.

[Sean Anwalt]

I have often heard about many people who wanted to use their pepakura armor for airsofting or paintballing, But I never heard of any posts, or seen any threads about actual results. So I have decided to take matters into my own hand. (Oh, dear!) Hopefully, actually getting results will make up for never actually posting any finished work on the forum. Maybe get some respect, you know, whatever. Anyway, here's what I did:

I took my JG M-4 SOCMOD RIS AEG which fires .20 or .25 grain 6mm bb's at 450-475 ish fps and loaded her up. Regrettably, my battery was slowly losing life. :'( But she worked fine for the test, so there.

My ODST helmet was made by my good friend Kirrou. I pepped it, resinned it, glassed it, bondo-and-sanded it, etc. Put a paint job on her for kicks and giggles, and set her on some cinder blocks in my back yard.

Most of the airsofting I do is usually quite close quarters, so I decided that a close quarters test would be sufficient. THIS SHOULD ACCOUNT FOR MOST AIRSOFTING, BUT NOT ALL. Someone somewhere has harder hitting equipment than I do. Anyway, the bb's lose momentum as they travel, so farther away would yield smaller damage. Back to the topic.
The distance from muzzle to helmet was as average of 10 feet. Some shots were as close or closer to 6 feet. Mostly I used the semi-auto setting, just to keep the bb's from spraying all over creation and so I could watch the individual bb's hit and the damage they caused.

Here are the results, just as soon as I can get the pics uploaded..... (Insert "Theme from Jeopardy"...) ...still waiting...

Anyway, while we're waiting for the pics to finish uploading, the helmet was constructed with patches on the inside varying in thickness from way super thick on the top to no fiberglass at all on the sides, just a layer or two of resin. The visor was installed kinda like Longshot-X's, with the Great Stuff expanding f the front of the "brim" broke. it was repaired, it just looks crappy. Actual installation of the visor was simple hot glue around the edges. (Yes, I even shot the visor.)


Ok, screw it. The Gun:

I bought it from Hitguns.com.

The Helmet:

The results:
Side, with no fiberglass behind the resin or paper:

View from the inside:

Front top, fiberglass and resin, maybe 1/4 inch thick tops including bondo and all that crap:

Very top, multiple layers of fiberglass, thick resin, lots of bondo (and sanding :'( ):

Almost as thick as the last picture, slightly less, on the side, shot by my friends' Dragunov sniper (that kicks butt, holy crap!) No idea what fps.... But she made my brother bleed from across the field. This shot was taken as the helmet rested on the bed of a truck, and we stood near the other side of the truck and shot the helmet. :

The visor:

And thus are the results of my test. Hope they prove useful and interesting. I was surprised at how well the visor stood up. Any questions, please feel free to ask or PM me. Rock on!

 

[Cirkob5477]

Wow, this means I have to make sure I make my armor with a lot of layers of fiberglass....

PS: Are all the guns on that site high quality?
Because I feel like buying myself one and play around with my neighbourhood

 

[ventrue]

Respect! ;-)

Did you fire all those shots perpendicular to the surface?

 

[Devious]

Awesome!

@cirkob you cant import airsoft guns to Canada. You have to get them from a canadian airsoft retailer like Mach1airsoft.com

 

[J326]

now we should see how some 1's eva or rubber foam stands up since its not a completely hard surface its possible the energy of impact is dispersed more evenly.

 

[soul products]

can anyone say "authentic battle damage" lol

cool test though, i imagine smooth cast and the like would take more of a beating though

 

[Mensrea Prod]

Would like to see how foam stands up also.

 

[GunGryphon]

Awsome, I've been wondering when someone would get around to doing something this.
My thoughts is that using foam mats to make a shell around a paintball helmet would probably be the safest way to make a battle worthy halo helm. And you dont have to worry about repairing cracks in the bondo. I've thought about doing this for my next suit.
Anyway, in the thickest armor spot, how many fiberglass layers are there?
-Gryphon

 

[Sean Anwalt]

Anyway, in the thickest armor spot, how many fiberglass layers are there?
-Gryphon

I don't think there would be more than 3 or 4 layers, because I'm pretty much too lazy to put more than that, but the helmet dried upside down during the last phases before completion, so the resin pooled in the top.


For Cirkob, yes and no. If you're Canadian, then it probabl doesn't matter, but if you're just beginning, I'd start with something small. Plinking around your backyard with a high end AEG is kind of frowned upon, just because the bb's have a SLIGHT more tendancy to bounce farther and so forth. If you're going high end, definitely JG, Tokyo Marui, etc. Those companies are pretty good, and will give your armor a run for it's money.

To answer Ventrue, yes, mostly. I stood up with my assault rifle airsoft gun and pointed it at my helmet, so I guess it was a little below a straight shot, but most of them were, excluding my friends Dragunov shot, which was aimed at a more curved surface.

 

[ventrue]

To answer Ventrue, yes, mostly. I stood up with my assault rifle airsoft gun and pointed it at my helmet, so I guess it was a little below a straight shot, but most of them were, excluding my friends Dragunov shot, which was aimed at a more curved surface.

That's exactly the one that caught my attention, because it looks like the bullet kind of "bounced off" ;-)

 

[Captain Recon]

Interesting to see that armour can actually stand up to airsoft impacts.

I take it back - well-reinforced parts could be adequate, but if anybody is trying to do it, I would seriously suggest against it unless they know what they're doing. There should never be any compromise on safety.

 

[Toacrabman]

now we should see how some 1's eva or rubber foam stands up since its not a completely hard surface its possible the energy of impact is dispersed more evenly.

Prediction: it might bounce, trampoline effect.
or it might go in, and it will absorb the round.

 

[Sean Anwalt]

Interesting to see that armour can actually stand up to airsoft impacts.

I take it back - well-reinforced parts could be adequate, but if anybody is trying to do it, I would seriously suggest against it unless they know what they're doing. There should never be any compromise on safety.

I agree. That's exactly why I used that motto "safety first!" and had someone ELSE put the helmet on while I was testing it. Just kidding. This actually isn't the first piece that I've had shot with an airsoft gun. The little walmart specials don't do anything hardly, if your pieces are reinforced enough, but the bigger stuff can still to damage. In face, my ODST chest piece took quite a beating from point-blank C02 hand gun bb's and, though the resin on the inside had cracked, it did not have any MAJOR problems with getting shot. Thinner armor will surely yield and die. Make sure your stuff is thick, preferably with lots of fiberglass cloth underneath and thick layers of resin where possible, and armor should hold up to most airsoft abuse. For $$$$$ purposes, I can't do a paintball test, but if someone wants to document a paintball test and send it to me, I'd be happy to post it with the first test results. ...If I figure this stupid computer out...

 

[Zat German]

Someone asked what Airsoft does to foam:

Raw 1/2" Harbor Freight foam

This was at around 5 feet with .23 BBs. The gun's measured FPS with .2 BBs is 278fps. There is a good half centimeter penetration on most of the hits. Also, they bounce spectacularly at that distance. Heh.

 

[Toacrabman]

it could possibly take a 400 fps shotty spread and still be alright for another 10 or so in the same place!

 

[Cirkob5477]

Thanks Sean, I'll definitely think about that :3

 

[Mensrea Prod]

That would be some good looking battle damage.

 

[ss138341]

i know hot glue is hard to smooth but i thing hot glue is ahrd enought but yet its soft also so maybe it could work not sure though

 

[Sangheili811]

I did a test like this when I first started my armor:
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/20742-Airsoft-Vs.-Pep-Pieces

Rondo will stop almost anything. You get lit up at close range by a DMR and you'll have some repair work to do. My test doesn't take into account the paint chipping, however, and that would probably happen after every hit.

That said, the suit I've been working on for the last year and a half (hopefully I'll finish it for the CE remake launch) has been built to be airsoft-proof. I used to think about it as an "airsoft ODST loadout," but I've since changed my stance. The opportunities to field it will be few and far between, so I now think of it more as a "skirmishable costume":
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/21189-Airsoft-Odst-Loadout/page5

 

[Paul E Morphius]

I made a few contact shots (with an Ares T.A.R. 21 Tavor, 350 fps) at a thick layer of hot glue on a piece of cardboard. It barely did any damage. Just a few shallow bumps. But yeah. It wouldn't look nice outside the armor, but perhaps can be used as reinforcement from the inside.