A vest is a piece of protective gear designed to stop injury and loss of life when you are involved in a street fight. If you were to buy yourself some good body armour, you would want to be able to wear it in an active combat situation as quickly as possible. For this reason, vest manufacturers have invented many different types of protective body armour, from the cheapest and lightest models right through to very thick and solid armour. This is why we hear so much about soft armor vests and hard armor vests – they are able to withstand the harshest street fighting conditions and still keep you protected.
In order to stop high calibre rifle rounds, modern body armour manufacturers have developed metal and ceramic plates which fit snugly in front of an original heavy duty body armour panel. Hard armour plates are usually placed in the back and front of a vest, protecting vital organs on top of your torso. ballistic plates are also used in this way but their weight means they are not really designed for this purpose, instead being used for less important areas of the body.
Bulletproof vests are also another type of protective clothing, often referred to as body armour because they can stop handgun fire. The primary difference between bulletproof vests and bulletproof jackets (which can only stop bullets fired at extremely fast speeds) is that jackets can also stop other projectiles, such as shotgun pellets and other fireworks. Although there are some people who believe that body armour jackets can only stop rifles, this is untrue as any calibre of handgun can be shot through a bulletproof jacket. The jacket only needs to be sufficiently thick to stop the projectiles, not prevent them from entering at all. As long as you are not aiming at a vital organ, there is no reason why you should not wear a bulletproof vest if you are attacked by attackers.