Will a modern helmet save a soldier from being hit by a bullet from a rifle or machine gun

  • Jul 29, 2022
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Will a modern helmet save a soldier from being hit by a bullet from a rifle or machine gun

Since World War I, infantrymen have worn protective steel helmets on the battlefield. Nowadays, helmets are increasingly made of synthetic and ceramic materials, including Kevlar. At the same time, photographs of different wartime times now and then come across pictures of protective helmets pierced for takeoff. A fair question arises: can a helmet really protect from a bullet, or is it needed only for a sort of form of complacency for soldiers?

You can often see this. |Photo: Twitter.
You can often see this. |Photo: Twitter.
You can often see this. |Photo: Twitter.

There is plenty of evidence that during World War II, some Soviet soldiers ignored the wearing of steel helmets, considering them burdensomely useless. No helmet saved from a direct hit of a bullet anyway. As a result, the Soviet command was even forced to start a real disciplinary war against this phenomenon, so how the grassroots rejection of personal protective equipment increased the number of seriously injured and killed in divisions. So, looking ahead. it’s worth saying right away: even a steel helmet on your head can save you from being hit by a bullet.

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Much less so. |Photo: guns.allzip.org.
Much less so. |Photo: guns.allzip.org.

The helmet is heavy and uncomfortable, it constantly rings and tends to slide off somewhere, even when properly secured. Especially if it is a helmet from the times of the 20th century, designed and created to be worn in the "mass army", where they do not bother much with the individual physiological data of an individual soldier. However, all of the above does not make it useless. And the key in this matter is exactly how the bullet hits.

Modern helmets do even better. |Photo: m.glavnoe.ua.
Modern helmets do even better. |Photo: m.glavnoe.ua.

The whole point is that if you take all the statistics of hits in manpower, then not every hit will be direct. Often, bullets hit people after ricocheting on some surface or object. Moreover, after all, the bullet will not necessarily fly into the forehead of the helmet. Most likely she will go into some kind of bend. Without this bend, a fatal hole would be guaranteed to form in a person’s head. Another thing is when a metal bend of a helmet comes across in the path of a bullet, which can cause a saving ricochet.

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A helmet may well save a life. |Photo: military.com.
A helmet may well save a life. |Photo: military.com.

Actually, this is the main function of the helmet. She should not "drown" the bullet in her material. First of all, she must provoke the same rebound and save a person at the expense of it. Any oblique angle made of material of sufficient rigidity and hardness can deflect a projectile. Alas, even the cheapest and low-quality steel copes with this task better than a human skull. In addition, when shooting is carried out at a great distance, the helmet may well “drown” the bullet in itself, if it is already at its end.

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Better for four to carry than four to dig. ¦Photo: yaplakal.com.
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Another thing is helmets made in our time using modern ceramic and synthetic materials. Such helmets are not only capable of provoking a ricochet, but they also have quite a good chance of “drowning” the field in the material. Modern "synthetics" cope with the absorption of kinetic energy much better than conventional metals. There will definitely not be pleasant sensations from such a hit in the head. Moreover, most likely the soldier will still have to be hospitalized with a severe neck, head injury or concussion. But the main thing is that the person will remain alive and it will be possible to put him back into operation.

If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about
what divisions of the red army fought with medieval bows and why.
Source:
https://novate.ru/blogs/010522/62871/