Forgotten Weapons

Testing 9x39 SP6 AP Ammo Against Body Armor (Ad-free) (Patreon)

Published:

2026-07-17 12:00:00

Edited:

2026-07-17 15:59:15

Imported:

2026-08

Content

The round sails through the soft armor, of course. But on the hard plate, it fails - even when I managed to hit right next to a previous round's impact, which would have been it's best opportunity to get through.

Of course, this is not really surprising; this is the performance intended from 9x39mm subsonic AP, and I'm not the first person to demonstrate it. But I wasn't going to turn does the chance to do it myself!

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Testing 9x39 SP6 AP Ammo Against Body Armor (Ad-free)

Today I have a chance to test out a couple rounds of SP6 armor-piercing 9x39mm ammo, using an ex-Russian AS Val rifle. First I'll try an MNIJ Level 3A soft vest, which is rated for pistol rounds. Second, I will move up to a VPAM6 hard plate. That's a European standard certified for 7.62x39mm ball (roughly on part with NIJ Level 3). The round sails through the soft armor, of course. But on the hard plate, it fails - even when I managed to hit right next to a previous round's impact, which would have been it's best opportunity to get through. Of course, this is not really surprising; this is the performance intended from 9x39mm subsonic AP, and I'm not the first person to demonstrate it. But I wasn't going to turn does the chance to do it myself! The best firearms reference books: https://www.headstamppublishing.com http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons http://www.floatplane.com/channel/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.forgottenweapons.com