Mail armour provided an effective defence against slashing blows by an edged weapon and penetration by thrusting and piercing weapons ; in fact a study conducted at the Royal Armouries at Leeds concluded that " it is almost impossible to penetrate using any conventional medieval weapon " Generally speaking, mail's resistance to weapons is determined by four factors: linkage type ( riveted, butted, or welded ), material used ( iron versus bronze or steel ), weave density ( a tighter weave needs a thinner weapon to surpass ), and ring thickness ( generally ranging from 18 to 14 gauge in most examples ).

In addition, new technologies and tactics were developed, making most defences obsolete ; this led to the construction of star forts, specifically designed to withstand artillery bombardment though these too ( along with the Martello Tower ) would find themselves rendered obsolete when explosive and armour piercing rounds made even these types of fortifications vulnerable.

It was thought in the late eighties that the protection level of the Future Soviet Tank ( FST ) could exceed 700 mm of rolled homogeneous armour equivalence at its maximum thickness, which was effectively immune against the contemporary M-829 armour piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot.

Although not armour piercing, the bullet more than sufficed for the time.

In the 14th century, the basic long axe gained an armour piercing spike on the back and another on the end of the haft for thrusting.

The term can apply to any type of armour-piercing shot but typically refers to a modern type of armour piercing weapon, the armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot ( APFSDS ), a type of long-rod penetrator ( LRP ), and not to small arms bullets.

Essentially all anti-tank munitions ( with the exception of HESH ) work by piercing the armour and killing the crew inside, disabling vital mechanical systems, or both.

** Estoc, a French and English sword designed for piercing armour

In common with most British tank units at the time, the Matildas ' 2-pounder ( 40 mm ) guns had only armour piercing rounds which were not effective against infantry ( high explosive rounds in such a small calibre were considered impractical ).

Beryllium copper has been used for armour piercing bullets, though any such usage is unusual because bullets made from steel alloys are much less expensive, but have similar properties.

It was primarily used to destroy German machine gun nests and concrete reinforced pillboxes with high explosive rounds, but an armour piercing round was designed to defeat the German tanks, making it the first anti tank gun.

The initial role of the musket was as a specialist armour piercing weapon ; it therefore coexisted with the arquebus over the period c. 1550 – c. 1650.

The massively increased operating pressures of the new gun in turn also required a new armour piercing shell to be designed, one which could better cope with these higher pressures.

While the 122mm armour piercing shell had a lower muzzle velocity than similar late German 7. 5 cm and 8. 8 cm guns, proving-ground tests showed that the 122mm AP shell could defeat the frontal armour of the German Panther tank, and the HE shell would easily blow off the drive sprocket and tread of the heaviest German tank or self-propelled gun.

The BMP-3M will also be able to fire ammunition types including new 100 mm laser-guided projectiles, new 100 mm HE-FRAG ( high explosive fragmentation ) rounds and new 30 mm APDS ( armour piercing discarding sabot ) rounds.

This armour kit is intended to provide increased protection against Improvised explosive device, Explosively formed penetrator and 30 mm caliber armour piercing rounds.

In 1944 the BR-471 was the sole armour-piercing round available ( the Germans had armour piercing rounds also, including ballistic nose and sub-caliber variants ).

The arrows were long and heavy (' clothyard shafts ') with armour piercing ' bodkin ' heads.

The most common types are the armour piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot ( APFSDS ) with a tungsten core and the high explosive anti-tank ( HEAT ) round.

Explosive, incendiary, noxious ( biological, chemical ) and armour piercing ammunition types are prohibited for civilians, although this ban created a problem for the authorities as expanding ammunition is needed for hunting and vermin control.

Though little was known about the gun itself, it was capable of firing standard and armour piercing rounds.

Its ammunition includes standard bullets, rapid fire ( all types of ammo ), explosive grenade rounds, the " double-whammy " ( twin rounds fired simultaneously in different directions ), armour piercing rounds and signal flares.

Iron armour could be carburised or case hardened to give a surface of harder steel.

* Water hardened leather for armour

Laminar armour from hardened leather reinforced by wood and bones worn by native Siberians and Eskimos

It has been mistakenly suggested that the bodkin came into its own as a means of penetrating armour, but research has found no hardened bodkin points, so it is likely that it was first designed either to extend range or as a cheaper and simpler alternative to the broadhead.

The English army was provided by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and combined several different types of martial forces, and included cavalry, artillery, infantry and longbows using hardened steel arrows designed to penetrate armour more effectively.

Ashigaru armour varied depending on the period, from no armour to heavily armored and could consist of conical hats called jingasa made of lacquered hardened leather or iron, chest armor ( dou or dō ), helmets ( kabuto ), armoured hoods ( tatami zukin ), armored sleeves ( kote ), shin protection ( suneate ), and thigh protection ( haidate ).

To aggravate matters, these were training vehicles, not fitted with hardened armour but boiler plate.

Leather vambraces were sometimes reinforced with longitudinal strips of hardened hide or metal creating " splinted armour ".

It has been mistakenly suggested that the bodkin came into its own as a means of penetrating armour, but research has found no hardened bodkin points, so it is likely that it was first designed either to extend range or as a cheaper and simpler alternative to the broadhead.

It has been suggested that the bodkin came into its own as a means of penetrating armour, but research by the Royal Armouries has found no hardened bodkin points, though only two bodkin points were actually tested, not a statistically relevant number.

Despite their technological superiority — the Spaniards, protected with armour and shields, fought with blunderbusses and cannon — the Guanches, fighting naked, attacked them from the slopes with stones and spears of hardened wood ( known as banotes ).

Image: Japanese scale armor. JPG | Japanese ( samurai ) fish style scale armour " gyorin kozane " from a helmet neck guard " kabuto shikoro " made from hardened leather ( nerigawa ).

While these Palliser shells were effective against unhardened iron, British doctrine held that only shot ( i. e. non-explosive projectiles ) were suitable for penetrating the new hardened armour being developed in the 1880s ; hence the gunpowder filling was discontinued.

Most armour was made of hardened leather and iron, lanced together onto a fabric backing, sometimes silk.

Well known armour types in European history include the lorica hamata, lorica squamata, and the lorica segmentata of the Roman legions, the mail hauberk of the early medieval age, and the full steel plate harness worn by later medieval and renaissance knights, and breast and back plates worn by heavy cavalry in several European countries until the first year of World War I ( 1914 – 15 ).

Soldiers in the American Civil War bought iron and steel vests from peddlers ( both sides had considered but rejected body armour for standard issue ).

A trend toward composite armour is taking place in place of steel-composites are stronger for a given weight, allowing the tank to be lighter for the same protection as steel armour, or better protected for the same weight.

Often this protection is provided by armour plates and steel jackets.

the plates of lorica segmentata armour were soft iron inside and ( some at least ) were mild steel on the outside.

In a modern test, a direct hit from a steel bodkin point penetrated Damascus mail armour.

However, even heavy-draw longbows have trouble penetrating well-made steel plate armour, which was used increasingly after 1350.

Higher-quality armour of steel would have given considerably greater protection, which accords well with the experience of Oxford's men against the elite French vanguard at Poitiers in 1356, and des Ursin's statement that the French knights of the first ranks at Agincourt, which included some of the most important ( and thus best-equipped ) nobles, remained comparatively unhurt by the English arrows.

Modern tanks possess very thick composite armour consisting of layers of steel, ceramics, plastics and Kevlar, and these materials have melting points well above the burning temperature of gasoline, which makes the vehicles themselves invulnerable to Molotov cocktails.

In a modern test, a direct hit from a hard steel bodkin point penetrated Damascus chain armour.

However, there is no sound evidence that Edward ever wore black armour, although Harvey ( without citing a source ) refers to " some rather shadowy evidence that he was described in French as clad at the battle of Crecy " en armure noire en fer bruni "-in black armour of burnished steel ".

On screen it is almost impossible to distinguish between the polyurethane stunt armour and steel armour, much of which was also made by Armordillo.

Heath Ledger's armour was originally made in steel along with 3 x Polyurethane stunt replicas.

The stopping power of glass exceeds that of armour steel on a thickness basis and in many cases glass is more than twice as good as steel on a thickness basis.

It used an armour known as Combination K, which apparently is glass-reinforced plastic sandwiched between inner and outer steel layers.

Chobham sandwiches a layer of ceramic between two plates of steel armour, which was shown to dramatically increase the resistance to HEAT rounds, even in comparison to other composite armour designs.

The armour, at some places a foot thick, consisted of a layer of concrete sandwiched between layers of steel, successfully rendering the vehicle impervious against small arms fire and small explosives.

While slashing attacks were still moderately effective against infantry wearing half-plate armor, cutting and slicing attacks against an opponent wearing plate armour were almost entirely ineffective in providing any sort of slashing wound as the sword simply could not cut through the steel, although a combatant could aim for the chinks in a suit of armour, sometimes to great effect.