U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Austin Jones and Atlas Arms announced that they have successfully defeated level 3A body armor with their Dagny Dagger round.
The video released by the non-profit research group shows the founder of Atlas Arms firing their 9mm round at level 3A soft body made by AR500. The round blew through the panel and continued into the backstop of the range. What makes their round so revolutionary is that it can penetrate armor without violating the federal armor-piercing ammunition ban.
Much like Congress passing the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988 because of a misconception about Glocks due to Hollywood, they also acted on bad information to ban so-called “armored piercing” bullets. In 1982, NBC ran a story on Teflon-coated bullets. Various gun control groups called these rounds “cop killers.” The report claimed that the bullets could defeat police body armor. The news organization’s claims were fake.
Hollywood helped spread anti-gun propaganda about the bullets in movies such as Ronin and Lethal Weapon. Companies using Teflon to coat their bullets was just a marketing scheme. In actuality, the coating did nothing to increase the penetration of the bullets.
Congress took the word of the anti-gun groups, the fake news, and Hollywood on the ammunition’s deadliness and enacted a ban.
Austin Jones of www.atlasarms.org decided that he needed to use the skills he developed in making durable inflation sections for the International Space Station to defeat an unjust gun law. The engineer and his team decided to take a multifaceted approach to defeat the ban.
One of the best determinations on if a bullet can penetrate armor is the speed of the round. The law doesn’t restrict how fast a bullet can move, so the team shed some weight from the bullet and found the optimum amount of powder to use in the round. They developed a 9mm round that shooters can fire at 2225ft/sec out of a Glock 19 and 2300ft/sec out of a Glock 17.
The Federal ban also restricts jacketed bullets, so Atlas Arms made their rounds hollow points with a spike in the center. The hollow point causes a massive cavity when it hits soft tissue. Atlas Arms uses a center spike feature to penetrate the armor.
Atlas Arms uses a still-yet-revealed material for the spike. By keeping it under wraps, the organization hopes to improve its design to defeat even tough armor and avoid federal and state governments’ legal actions. Even if the government does ban the ammunition material, the organization has contingency plans.
The round is not cheap. Jones believes the round will run customers between $2 and $4. Atlas Arms will offer a more affordable alternative that will sacrifice some penetration. Since safety-conscious customers do have a legitimate concern about over-penetration, these cheaper alternatives might be a happy medium.
Atlas Arms plans to release the bullets’ plans so anyone can make rounds utilizing the Dagny Dagger bullets. They also plan to release a cutting code for the Ghost Gunner 3 to make round casings. The company is also filing a patent on the design, so anyone will be able to look up how to make the rounds even if individual states try to make sharing the plans illegal. It would make the federal government the one sharing the designs online.
Readers can find out more about the Dagny Dagger at www.atlasarms.org.
About John Crump
John is also an Amazon best selling author and investigative firearms journalist. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and two sons. He can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
“In actuality, the coating did nothing to increase the penetration of the bullets. Congress took the word of the anti-gun groups, the fake news, and Hollywood on the ammunition’s deadliness and enacted a ban.”
Don’t forget the LEOPA was literally written by the NRA. LaPierre can’t be gone quick enough.
Imagine what it would look like if any of the anti-gun groups wrote it. That’s what would have happened if the NRA had not written a workable one.
Norm,
Imagine what it would look like if it had been countered instead and NOBODY wrote it. We aren’t supposed to to have high and low justice in this country.
Jeez Norm. Listen to yourself. You’re OK with having your rights trampled as long as it’s the NRA doing the trampling. If you send me donations and membership dues, I’ll be glad to tell you what kind of ammunition you can have, and what kind of gun you can shoot it from. Give me your money. NRA’s gotten enough….
That excuse is the reason that EVERY single piece of anti-RKBA & anti-gun federal legislation in the last 86 years has passed congress with the blessing of the NRA. All that the anti-gun groups need to do is find one fool Democrat to introduce an anti-gun ‘Wish List’ bill that they know has no chance of passing. The NRA will immediately jump on the bandwagon with a massive fund-raising campaign to fight the bill. The left will respond with a massive fund-raising campaign to “Fight the NRA” and both sides rake in the big bucks from donors who fall for… Read more »
You nailed it!
Does Wayne’s khock taste that good?
EXPLAIN: There were 19 up-votes. I pressed to UP-VOTE this article and the count went DOWN to 18! CENSORSHIP???
“The round is not cheap. Jones believes the round will run customers between $2 and $4.”
Oh, about what a 9mm JHP runs in many places, these days.
We are a headlines only country, non gun owners will take this article in a way that will fall right into the anti’s propaganda. In that respect, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot here.
Dan, I’m so glad I am not the only one to see this. Thanks for your post!
We cannot worry about that as those that are anti-rights having been fighting against our inalienable rights since Man discovered self-defense tools. As examples, look at the knife sword laws going back numerous centuries or more.
Exactly it can be used to open new doors.
A 12 gauge round to the lower extremities will defeat body armor every time. Once hit the victim will loose all thought of attack making a follow up kill shot much easier. No fancy bullets needed. A 12 gauge slug center mass will also offer a deterrent factor to a body armor wearing aggressor again making for an easy follow up kill shot. If you are looking for a good slug option I recommend Hog-Balls. They are some evil shit.
Just shoot em’ in the nut sack? I mean, we ARE going for “head shots” are we not?
Mozambique Drill.
Belted magnum’s, (.30 cal and higher) with “solids” go through any body armor like a hot knife through butter.
Use carpet stop concrete nails. You will have to come up with a way to cut them accurately. Then use/form a hollow point that the nail fits into properly. Load em hot. If you are really careful, with a little work they fit Into.,224 jackets. Been useing them for years. That point will go through lots of stuff. Test them yourself. Remember that consistency leads to accuracy.
Arm up and carry on
I thought the Teflon coating was designed not for “armor-piercing”, but to mitigate destroying the rifling in the barrel. Here is a link to a story that explains just that.
Alright, I read down through several of the comments here, most of them good, some not. Let me tell you something right now that 99.999% of everyone misses on, because nearly everyone wants to perform some kind of a magical dance in a confrontation with the laws and defeat them, instead of just stepping around them! In a nut shell, and you can call me nuts if it really makes you feel any better, I won’t mind it at all, but the fact remains that the ENTIRE legal system is a scam! That means it’s a series of crimes that… Read more »
Sounds to me like the round to have loaded in that pistol you keep behind the front door.
You keep behind your back or in front of you or in a shoulder rig, etc, etc.
An interesting, but politically dangerous, approach. I’ve no doubt that the penetrator is a ceramic material. Most people have the means to make something like this. Similar results could probably be obtained by turning a bullet out of aluminum, or perhaps nylon or HDPE, and inserting a spike ground from some hard rock such as granite or diorite. The danger is that the political response, especially in areas controlled by the Left, probably won’t be sensible or practical. Here in the PRK, open carry protests designed to promote debate over concealed carry restrictions, instead resulted in an open carry ban.… Read more »
Indeed. There could be a push to outlaw any ammunition that penetrates Level 3A. Thanks jerkoffs.
There goes green tip and basically every rifle round.
And your tampon supply!
anyone remember the Agila round for .45ACP, only sold in the US for about a year or two, something like 1600 FPS on a very light round that would penetrate hard object (3A) such as a car door, and open up in soft tissue…
“Die on your feet or live on your knees!”
It appears that this round would make a 9mm into a viable bear defense caliber. Might have to play around with it to see what it would do.
Hmm.
Dagny “Dagger”. Atlas Arms.
{shrugs}
PATRIOTS, ONE AND ALL!
Imagine my surprise of seeing a 2 year old article in ammoland news…. Just kidding there is no surprise here. Although they still say they don’t recycle stories… that being said, has there been any advancements in this? Or is it at the same stage of development without any progress?
They have a video on their site, link in article. But you still can not buy any components or ammo. Seems they having a little financial hold up since the sweet & sour sniffles hit.
Sweet & sour sniffles. I like that!
Not so much financial but logistical. The economy is in shambles and supply chains are borked, so the already long lead times to tool-up for injection molding have been even longer, but you’re right that it’s because of all the despotic covid policy. We’re months away from production now, though.
You can already DIY it from the specifications and detailed descriptions in the patent, but I’ve been working on the full FOS manual to be released no later than commercial availability.
Oh, and the bullet penetrates IIIA+ plate armor (ALL pistol armor now), so that’s an update.
Thanks for the update. Looking forward to try them out once they are on the market.
I’m getting a mixed message here…
Sweet!
@John Dunlap Crump, if you are reading these comments, please correct the spelling of the Dagney Dagger round in this story.
Heed,
When I look it up on the Net it comes up as Dagny.
The article has been corrected. Earlier it was Dangy – thoughout the entire story, including the title. The hyperlink I have in my email notification of your post still has it as Dangy Dagger:
https://www.ammoland.com/2020/10/dangy-dagger-9mm-round-defeats-level-3a-body-armor/comment-page-1/#comment-2845454
Heed,
Thanks, I saw that. Weird spelling. I went back and started to correct it to your spelling when it occurred to me that I’d better go to the source. Everything could be changed except the URL without screwing up the article. Good catch.
I also noticed that the video showing the developer firing the rounds into ballistic gelatin and through what was identified as body armor are no longer embedded in the story.
Heed,
That’s odd, I see a video at the top with this URl:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHDYMyR-7Ts
called 3A armor penetration test. Have you tried dumping your cache?
Wonder if we can figure out the construction, weight and powder data??
Gotta keep the construction secret till ready. Bullet is 48.5gr, powder load is 9.2gr Winchester Autocomp for now, but still in development.
too bad they were supposed to release this 2 years ago
Back in the 80s they used to have a mini-SHOT show at the L.A. Police Academy. I went to the event and remember talking to a bullet manufacturer, TPK, comes to mind but I may be wrong. Anyway they were the manufacturer of the “teflon” bullets. The bullet was a tungsten core with a special teflon-like coating, not the frying pan stuff. Their specs were impressive but they ended up being banned and went out of business.
If you want a penetrating bullet, go with the 7.62×25 round.
On my job, I see criminals wearing armor. I’d like to have some, to see for myself. Hradshots leave a bloody mess, and getting sued for liability, isn’t exciting.
This sounds very dangerous if materials are available to individuals to make as well. The Hugh ans cry against ammo and the 2nd A could get much stronger! Please reconsider releasing the plans to all.
I’ve reconsidered many times, which is why my resolve is so strong. Shut up your NRA conservative cowardice of piecemeal prohibition. You’re playing Chamberlain pacifying the Hitlers of American gun control, and the extent that gun rights win in this country is the extent to which your kind is increasingly irrelevant. Conservatives are defined by a “do nothing, now is good” philosophy, which means you always lose and then support the new-norm policy which you opposed 10 years prior, all while attempting to likewise discourage we who actually care and take a stand and put in the work and personal… Read more »
Good grief. This is moronic.
Will it be moronic if the military, LEOs wants to use them ? Or just the common citizen ? Maybe look in the mirror. Then decide who the Moron is.
Dude, it’s moronic to push this garbage. It only draws more unwanted and unnecessary attention from the commie media and goobers in Washington all while doing absolutely NOTHING to further the 2A. So yeah, it’s moronic AF.
I hope we give them more so called garbage to chase than they can deal with. It just may open a few more eyes. Unfortunately NOT yours.
Now bc of this NO ONE has any defense…without having Level IV armor!
And they are, in this article saying they are working on a round that may pierce Level IV!
SERIOUSLY!
How can this be a good thing!
What comes to mind is…….
“Just because u can…..doesn’t mean u should!”
Now NOBODY has a defense……..
Ahhhhh poor Bubba. You wear it on your head too ?
Agreed. It is complete horseshyte.
I have wondered why anyone would need pistol ammo to penetrate body armor. Cops would not be very smart if they carried AP ammo in their own pistols, since 10-20% of cops are killed with their own gun. I don’t know why a private citizen would need AP ammo, since they run extremely low risk of engaging an assailant wearing armor. It seems like a product without a market. I know that when I was a police officer I didn’t want such ammo, I wanted good JHP loads. As a private citizen where shootouts are even less likely, I still… Read more »
Perhaps you are also one to ask, “why does anyone need high capacity magazines and assault weapons?”
If you knew anything about history you would not have asked this question. But since you asked: I don’t know anyone who owns an assault weapon. M4 rifles are automatic and restricted to the military. I do know some people who own AR-15’s that are semi-automatics. They own them for many reasons: target shooting, hunting and self defense. They are easier for women to shoot because they are lighter and offer less recoil. The biggest reason for the AR-15 has been true even before the Framers of the Constitution and their acknowledgment that self defense was not bestowed by government… Read more »
You didn’t waste your time writing this… EVERYONE needs a refresher course in HISTORY so as to strive to not make the same mistakes twice… Which we are about to get another history lesson on the 6th of January by some extremely ignorant people that believe the Whitehouse is theirs to own and will give them this mythical power over us… Bless their ignorant little asses.
A better question is “why is it your business what I feel I need or want?”
For the same reason anything is made/purchased. Somebody decided to make it, and like expensive automobiles, someone will buy it. Who needs a car with a 500 hp engine? It is unlikely that it will be driven on a race track. Such a gimmick! Same argument. The video that was embedded in the story earlier made it appear to have better ballistics than a federal JHP, being shot into ballistics gelatin. That would be a selling point, regardless of its being “armor-piercing”. It may also have a better ability to go through automobile glass. That is something that police would… Read more »