Ballistic protective properties of material representative of English civil war buff-coats and clothing

May, Brian; Critchley, Richard; Carr, Debra; Peare, Alan; Dowen, Keith

Abstract

One type of clothing system used in the English Civil War, more common amongst cavalrymen than infantrymen, was the linen shirt, wool waistcoat and buff-coat. Ballistic testing was conducted to estimate the velocity at which 50% of 12-bore lead spherical projectiles (V50) would be expected to perforate this clothing system when mounted on gelatine (a tissue simulant used in wound ballistic studies). An estimated six-shot V50 for the clothing system was calculated as 102 m/s. The distance at which the projectile would have decelerated from the muzzle of the weapon to this velocity in free flight was triple the recognised effective range of weapons of the era suggesting that the clothing system would provide limited protection for the wearer. The estimated V50 was also compared with recorded bounce-and-roll data; this suggested that the clothing system could provide some protection to the wearer from ricochets. Finally, potential wounding behind the clothing system was investigated; the results compared favourably with seventeenth century medical writings.

Citation

May, B., Critchley, R., Carr, D., Peare, A., & Dowen, K. (2020). Ballistic protective properties of material representative of English civil war buff-coats and clothing. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 134, 1949–1956. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-020-02378-x

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 15, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jul 21, 2020
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Sep 7, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 22, 2021
• Journal: International Journal of Legal Medicine
• Print ISSN: 0937-9827
• Electronic ISSN: 1437-1596
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 134
• Pages: 1949–1956
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-020-02378-x
• Keywords: Pathology and forensic medicine; Leather; Linen; Wool; Behind armour blunt trauma; Pencilling; 12-bore
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/6284334
• Additional Information: Received: 19 March 2020; Accepted: 15 July 2020; First Online: 21 July 2020; : ; : The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.; : Ethical approval for this work was granted through Cranfield University Research Ethics System (CURES/4945/2018).; : All authors agree to the publication of this manuscript. No informed consent was required throughout this manuscript