While food, water, and shelter are the three main areas any prepper should focus on having covered when preparing themselves for potential threats and disasters, something else that deserves an equal amount of attention is protection against possible attacks. You very well may find yourself in a shootout during a real survival setting, and as such, you’re going to need proper protection. Now’s the time to ask the question, “Is carbon fiber bulletproof?”
Carbon fiber is a material that’s often brought up when discussing body armor and protection, but so many preppers seem to be confused as to whether or not the stuff is actually bulletproof or not.
We’re told that carbon fiber is an extremely rugged and durable material and that it’s supposedly able to stop a bullet, but is any of this actually true? You need to know every little detail about the tools you use to keep you and your flesh and blood safe in a violent or dangerous world, and today, we’re going to be educating you on everything you need to know about carbon fiber body armor.
The myth surrounding carbon fiber’s bulletproof nature
Before we dive into all of the other points and facts we want to mention in this article — is carbon fiber bulletproof?
In short, no.
Carbon fiber is frequently mixed up with another material by the named of Kevlar — which is actually bulletproof.
Kevlar is made by DuPot, and it’s what is usually used when creating bulletproof vests.
Carbon fiber still offers a high amount of protection against various elements and objects, and it’s something that you’ll frequently see used for race car drivers to protect themselves against large amounts of force.
It’s a material that you can still use to keep yourself safe and unharmed from certain things, but when it comes to bullets, this is something you should turn to Kevlar for instead.
Carbon fiber could one day replace steel
Although it isn’t a great asset for protecting you against bullets, one potential use case for carbon fiber is to use it as a replacement for steel.
Carbon fiber is often referred to as graphite fiber, and its most notable properties have to do with the fact that it’s extremely strong, lightweight, and stiff at the same exact time. Because of this, there’s talk that we could one day see this material being used in place of steel for a number of different projects and products.
Airplanes, sporting goods, and race cars are some of the first things that come to mind when thinking of items that could benefit from this material, and this is good news for the prepper world. Think about all of the tools or equipment you have that are made out of steel. Although steel is extremely tough and durable, there’s no doubt at all that it can be quite heavy at times — especially if you’re lugging around a lot of items that are made using it.
Imagine being able to carry all of your steel-made equipment but having it be considerably lighter and even stronger than it is now.
This is the future that carbon fiber could one day allow us to live in, and while we still have some way to go before we’re completely ditching steel for carbon fiber instead, each day that passes is one more that we’re closer to a future like that.
Saving precious gas
One of the most valuable assets that you’ll need at one point or another when surviving is a car or vehicle of some sort. Finding one that is filled with gas and will get you where you need to go will likely be quite difficult depending on how bad the world may one day get, but should you manage to find one, you’re going to need to be as frugal with your gas supply as you possibly can.
Thankfully, this is another situation in which carbon fiber could be extremely useful.
Similar to what we just talked about, steel is used in cars for quite a lot of their construction. It works fine right now and doesn’t have any major issues, but what would happen if we managed to replace all steel-made components with carbon fiber?
We could get cars that are 35-percent more fuel efficient.
Should we ever have carbon fiber-made cars in a survival world, this could be huge.
Having a vehicle that’s this much more efficient on gas would result in you being able to drive a car further and longer with the same amount of gas than what you’d be able to get out of car made from steel, and while this is certainly looking quite a bit towards the future, isn’t that what the prepper lifestyle is all about?
As a prepper, should you care about carbon fiber in its current form?
Looking at future use cases for carbon fiber is important, but circling back to our main point, is there are argument to be made for using carbon fiber armor?
If you plan on going in an area where you’re going to be taking a lot of bullets and need the best bulletproof protection around, we highly suggest looking into options that are made out of Kevlar. This is better-equipped for bulletproof protection, and while carbon fiber could help you out in such a situation, you can trust Kevlar a bit more during these times.
With that said, carbon fiber can still offer ample protection while out and about in a survivalist world.
The lightweight and durable nature of carbon fiber means that it won’t weigh you down while worn, and should you be struck by some sort of object or have a nasty fall, it’ll keep you better protected than roaming around without it.
It’s a good idea to have both carbon fiber and Kevlar if your budget allows as they’ll serve you nicely for different scenarios, and if you want to be the most prepared that you can, this is the route that we suggest you follow.
Final Thoughts
We’ll likely see even more improvements to carbon fiber body armor as time goes on, but in its current form, it’s something that will come in handy during certain events as someone who strives to be as well-equipped of a prepper as they can be. It may not be our go-to choice for bulletproof protection, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth adding to your collection of survivalist equipment and tools.
