Piercing Butted Chainmail with Medieval Arrows - Video 15

The purpose of this test was to answer those re-enactors who maintain that even modern butted mail will stop an arrow.

Butted mail was not used in the middle ages as the rings are not securely joined. Authentic mail would have been constructed from a mix of rivetted and solid rings, which would be a great deal stronger, and afford better protection.

Unfortunately we did not have a padded jack or Gambeson to put behind the mail, and although this would help stop the arrows, we don't think it would be enough to prevent injury. The solid straw boss is not meant to replicate a human torso as it is a bit hard but once again it is all we had. We know this is not very accurate but it was great fun! Take from this video what you will.

As our intro says, some historians and academics will tell you that medieval mail (i.e. rivetted) will stop arrows. We disagree and hopefully in the future we will perform a test on such mail and post our findings here.

For now I hope you enjoy seeing how useless butted mail is against arrows, and why it was never used in real battle!

Best wishes,

Nick

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