vest buster

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vest buster (plural vest busters)

1. (firearms) A handgun or cartridge that can fully penetrate a contemporary bulletproof vest.
   • 2004, Violence Policy Center, Vest Buster: The .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum—The Gun Industry’s Latest Challenge to Law Enforcement Body Armor:

     Yet, according to data published by the company, the gun press, and the federal government, it appears that the .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum is plainly capable of defeating the highest level of police body armor worn in all but SWAT-type situations. It is a vest buster.

   • 2008, Kerrie Droban, Running with the Devil: The True Story of the ATF's Infiltration of the Hells Angels, page 121:

     Joby nodded, “I'll wait,” and offered his support—two live rounds of 9mm Black Talon ammunition. “Vest busters,” in case the cops harassed him.

   • 2011, Clare Ribando Seelke, “Merida Initiative for Mexico and Central America: Funding and Policy Issues”, in Current Politics and Economics of the United States, Canada and Mexico, volume 13, number 4:

     for, among other things, improving regulations to combat “straw purchases,” better regulating how weapons that are particularly attractive to criminal groups (such as “vest-buster” […]

   • 2013, Tom Diaz, The Last Gun: How Changes in the Gun Industry are Killing Americans and what it Will Take to Stop it, page 166:

     A related design and marketing innovation has been the sale to civilians of “vest busters,” handguns specifically designed to penetrate body armor.

   • 2016, Melanie Thompson, The Virgin Shifter:

     After the vest-buster big boomers came out and appeared on the scene in Seattle, Jax bought the forty-four.

• Violence Policy Center: Big Boomers: Rifle Power Designed Into Handguns
• Violence Policy Center: Vest Buster
• Uncle Fester. (1996). Vest Busters: How to Make Your Own Body Armor Piercing Bullets Festering Publications. →ISBN

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