CREDIT goes to SWAT A4 for creating the original thread:
http://miairsoft.proboards.com/thread/3006/durability-test-mesh-masks?page=1Durability Test - Mesh Masks.
Written by: SWATA4
Introduction:One day while I was sitting in the staging area at a local field, I saw that a few kids were wearing a wire mesh mask. I thought to myself, that entire concept sounds dangerous. I decided that I wanted to test that theory out, but no locals wanted to give up their eye protection for me to shoot, which I can easily understand. I talked to Trinity Airsoft about it, and as soon as the word "safety" was mentioned, they told me the box of 2 wire mesh masks will be shipped out later that evening at no cost. Many players buy wire mesh masks because of every airsofters worst nightmare, fogging. Buy not "fogging," are you putting your health at risk?
What am we trying to find out?:Are wire mesh masks actually safe? Many players use them, no major injuries have been discussed, stores sell them. They must be, right? Can they stop a high velocity BB? That's what we are here to find out!
After Effect:I took about 10 shots with .12 bb's from a $39.00 spring rifle, assuming that's what many of the non experienced players would use. I figure that to be about 200 fps. The bb's were lime green, so they would be easy to see if they go through or not. Then I shot about 15 rounds of .25 ICS bb's out of a KWA ( Gas Blow Back) Glock 19. The ICS Stealths are high quality bb's that I fire out of my upgraded AEG, not some cheap garbage like the .12's. Below are pictures of the damage that the (approximately) 25 bb's did. (This was from about 6 inches away, Figuring the low FPS of the weapons used, as well as the possibility of close shots from CQB )
Initial Result:While looking at those 3 pictures above, you can see that it bent the mesh pretty good, but did not actually penetrate it. The wire mesh go a little closer to where the users eyes would be, but none of the mesh gave way or cracked. It's all still tightly woven together, just bent inwards. After seeing that result, It's pretty scary, but seems safe. WRONG. We did what most players would most likely do, shoot it up, and it seems safe. One thing I did not tell you above was that I taped a bag onto the back of the mask before I shot anything at it. My worries were about small debris from the bb flying through. I securely taped it all around, so it would catch only the objects that went directly through the mesh, as you can see below.
Final Results:The bag caught a lot of debris. There is no telling how fast that flew into the bag, but that really scares me to think about what could have been in my eye. I've had a scratched eye before, I can't even begin to explain how bad that is. One of those small chips floating into your eye is all it takes for your eye to get scratched. The impact may not cause it, but as soon as you blink it may drag under your eyelid. And that's not even talking about any larg amount of force at all.
So, What's all this mean?:I will give you a quick color chart here, to help explain what all that junk is.
Black Chips: All the paint from the wire mesh, that got shot into the back of the mask when the bb hit.
White Chips:High Quality .25 BB
Green Chips:Low Quality .12 BB
There is a HUGE chunk of .12 that got through. That may have seriously hurt someones eye.
Conclusion:Should you still wear the mask? I would say no. I'd say it's as good as garbage, and buy a paint ball mask, or certified airsoft goggles to replace them. That is a lot of garbage that got through too easily. That's a very large chunk of bb in that picture above, so out of 25 shots, about 3/8 of an entire bb got all the way through. I'd rather buy goggles and a $10 fan to prevent fogging. My eyes are to valuable to lose over something so stupid.
