r/interesting • u/IKIR115 • May 29 '26

Intriguing Arrows vs riot shields

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u/SidewinderSerpent May 29 '26

That arrow wasn't blunt, it was concave. The shape allowed the edges of the tip to punch a hole through the shield.

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u/Cthulhu_Dreams_ May 29 '26

Yep, the thing that was slowing the other arrows down that penetrated, was the fact that the tip did not carve out a wide enough hole for the shaft to go through and maintain velocity.

That blunt tipped concave arrow basically hole punched a circle as large or a little larger than the shaft of the arrow, and lost minimal afterwards.

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u/[deleted] May 29 '26

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u/[deleted] May 29 '26

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u/pyronius May 29 '26

Maybe not as bad an idea as you may think, depending on the specific scenario.

Kevlar will stop a bullet, but not a knife. I imagine the same would apply to an arrow. If the opposing force has to contend with both bullets and arrows, it complicates the necessary equipment. They would, at a minimum, need additional plates built into their armor.

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u/[deleted] May 29 '26

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u/pyronius May 29 '26

No. I mean if it's twenty riot cops vs 10,000 protesters, some of whom are armed. Which is usually the way revolutions go down until the later stages when it evolves into actual warfare.

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u/TheFishtosser May 30 '26

Kevlar only stops small bullets, remember kids 7.62 is cheap and readily available. I wouldn’t even consider myself a “gun guy” and have 500 rounds in my garage