Despite all efforts, the current PDW small caliber ammunition has not yet established a general trust as a acceptable personal defense ammunition. To many people, current small caliber ammunition is not suitable for the wide range of conditions in which law enforcement officers are engaged in shootings. Current small caliber PDW ammunition has failed in a lot of shooting incidents. These failures provide small caliber PDW ammunition with a bad reputation and make them unreliable.

 

The mean reason of the PDW ammunition failures are caused by the vague NATO -CRISAT demands, which only talk about the drill performance and give only a vague description about the demanded performances for- and after the penetration of a CRISAT body armor. According the NATO core briefing “ The defense system which satisfy it most to the operational needs will be selected” this is not a clear baseline to develop efficient personal defense ammunition.

 

This new VBR - FBI - CRISAT -Ballistic test protocol has the objective to draw a new baseline for handgun ammunition suitable for the modern combat situations in which law enforcement officers, counter terrorism teams and military personal are involved.

 

One of the toughest selection tests for personal defense ammunition is the FBI Ballistic Test Protocol, which simulates a series of operational conditions in which law enforcement shootings are engaged. If PDW ammunition should be able to satisfy the FBI Ballistic Test Protocol this should make PDW ammunition much more reliable.

 

To be acceptable for military use, PDW ammunition must satisfy the NATO CRISAT demands of penetrating 1.6 mm titanium and 20 layers for Kevlar at 100 meters (Collaborative Research In to Small Arms Technology). This covers the majority of levels of body armor used in criminal and terrorist activities. The VBR-FBI-CRISAT Ballistic test protocol goes further then the old CRISAT program and evaluates also the possibilities to penetrat a level III body armor. 

 

To give the term “operational needs” a clear description, VBR-Belgium has set-up a new test protocol with a clear description based on a merge of the FBI Ballistic Test Protocol and the NATO - CRISAT demands.

 

The origin of the FBI ballistic test protocol goes back to the 1986 FBI Miami shootout.

The FBI Miami shootout was a gun battle that occurred on April 11, 1986 in Miami between multiple FBI agents and two heavily armed and well-trained bank robbers. The firefight claimed the lives of two FBI special agents as well as the two bank robbers. Five other agents were severely injured during the gunfight.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_FBI_Miami_shootout) 

The incident is infamous because, the suspects were not incapacitated by repeated traumatic hits from the agents' standard-issue handguns, and finally, the suspects continued to fight after being shot!  

This incident is important because it ask serious questions about the needed performance for personal defense ammunition. One bank robber was still fighting even when he was hit by a 9mm Silvertip bullet. The bullet struck at first the upper arm then penetrated in the chest cavity and stopped less then one inch from his heart. With a bullet less then one inch form his heart the bank robber killed two FBI agents and wounded sever others.

As a result of the failure of the 9x19 mm Silvertip bullet the FBI convened the first Wound Ballistic Seminar. Based on the bank robbers chest wound it was concluded that a minimum of 12” penetration would be an unbreakable rule.

This rule is not yet being learned in Europe! A lot of police ammo and specially the small caliber PDW ammunition penetrates barley deeper the 10” (250 mm).

 

The FBI Firearms Training Unit set about developing the first standardized test procedure for handgun ammunition. Based on conditions observed in a large number of actual shooting incidents a test protocol of eight events was developed.

 

In a few shooting incidents small caliber PDW ammunitions has failed. If the PDW ammunition was evaluated according the FBI Ballistic Test Protocol, the current small caliber PDW ammunition would  never being selected!

 

The only conclusion is, before a PDW bullet can be accepted as a reliable ammunition it must comply with the FBI Ballistic Test Protocol and not only the CRISAT demands.

 

Therefore we at VBR-Belgium feel de need to set-up a new test protocol special for PDW ammunition.

 

The VBR-FBI-CRISAT Ballistic Test Protocol.

 

Briefly, the performance standards are simple. A handgun bullet must consistently penetrate a minimum of 12 inches (304 mm) of tissue in order to reliably penetrate vital organs within the human target regardless of the angle of impact or intervening obstacles such as arms, clothing, glass, etc. Penetration of 18 inches (457 mm) is even better. Given minimum penetration, the only means of increasing wound effectiveness is to make the hole bigger. This increases the amount of vital tissue damage, increases the chance of damaging vital tissue with a marginally placed shot, and increases the potential for quicker blood loss. This is important because, with the single expectation of damaging the central nervous system, the only way to force incapacitation upon an unwilling adversary is to cause enough blood loss to starve the brain of oxygen and/or drop the blood pressure to zero.

 

Test event 1 : Bare gelatin

 

The gelatin block is bare and shot at a range of ten feet measured from the muzzle to the front of the block. This test event correlates FBI results with those being obtained by other researchers, few of whom shoot into anything other than bare gelatin. It is common to obtain the greatest expansion in this test. Round which do not meet the standards against bare gelatin tend to be unreliable in the more practical test events that follow.

 

Test event 2 : Heavy Clothing.

 

The gelatin block is covered with four layers of clothing: one layer of cotton T-shirt material ( 48 threads per inch) ; one layer of cotton shirt material (80 threads per inch); a 10 ounce down comforter in a cambric shell cover (232 threads per inch); and one layer of 13 ounces cotton denim (50 threads per inch). This simulates typical cold weather wear. The block is shot at then feet, measured from the muzzle to the front of the block.

 

Test event 3 : Steel obstacle.

 

Two pieces of 20 gauge, hot rolled steel with a galvanized finish are set three inches apart. The steel is six inch squares. The gelatin block is covered with Light Clothing  and placed 18 inches behind the rear most piece of steel. The shot is made at a distance of 10 feet measured from the muzzle to the front of the first piece of steel. Light Clothing is one layer of the above described T-shirt material and one layer of the above described cotton shirt material, and is used as indicated in all subsequent test events.

 

The steel used as obstacle is the heaviest gauge steel commonly found in automobile doors. This test simulates the weakest part of a car door. In all car doors, there is an area, or areas , where the heaviest obstacle is nothing more than two pieces of 20 gauge steel.

 

Test event 4 : Wallboard obstacle.

 

Two pieces of half-inch standard gypsum board are set 3.5 inches apart. The pieces are six inches square. The gelatin block is covered with Light Clothing and placed 18 inches behind the rear most piece of gypsum. the shot is made at a distance of ten feet, measured from the muzzle to the front of the first piece of gypsum. This test event simulates a typical interior building wall.

 

Test event 5 : Plywood obstacle.

 

One pieces of three-quarter inch AA fir plywood is used. The piece is six inches square. The gelatin block is covered with Light Clothing and placed 18 inches behind the rear surface of the plywood. The shot is made at a distance of ten feet, measured from the muzzle to the front of the plywood. This test event simulates the resistance of typical wooden doors or construction timbers.

 

Test event 6 : Automobile glass

 

One pieces of A.S.I one-quarter inch laminated automobile safety glass measuring 15x18 inches is set at an angle of 45° to the horizontal. The line of the bore of the weapon is offset 15° to the side, resulting in a compound angle of impact for the bullet upon the glass. The gelatin block is covered with Light Clothing and placed 18 inches behind the glass. The shot is made at a distance of ten feet, measured from the muzzle to the center of the glass pane. This test event with its two angles simulates a shot taken at the driver of a car from the left front quarter of the vehicle and not direct in front of it.

The preliminary VBR-FBI-CRISAT test program.

Calibration of our ordinance gelatin blocks.