guys,Originally Posted by Vasquez
the iron vest was about blood control in the skin and subdermis. it was used to control blood flow into wounds so that they would knit faster, or prevent massive blood loss/bruising. it was never intended to stop a bullet or prevent a wound: just reduce the bleeding.
there are other hardening methods which will toughen the skin but will not deflect anything.
there became a popular belief durring the Ching/Manchu Rebellion (what the English called the Boxer Rebellion of th 1890's, not the Chinese Boxer Rebellion of the 1860's) that was proliferated by a group of monks whom claimed there was one whom could still do iron palm technique so well as to turn ball from a musket at 100 yards. swatting a hot lead ball travelling 650fps is a heck of a lot different than being bulletproof.