Russian re-enactors created an entertaining and historically accurate video (2017) about the protective features of riveted chain mail (the 4-to-1 pattern) against different medieval weapons.
They tested several types of chain mail:
Chain mail (A)
10 kg -- wire thickness: 1.2 mm, ring diameter: 10 mm (A)
14 kg -- wire thickness: 1.6 mm, ring diameter: 11 mm (B)
15 kg -- wire thickness: 1.6 mm, ring diameter: 12 mm (C)
18 kg -- wire thickness: 2.0 mm, ring diameter: 12 mm (D)
Naturally cuts -- slashing cuts -- were not very effective against this personal armour. As expected they failed to penetrate the chain mail at all, but their impact could have caused serious blunt traumas to warriors wearing chain mail. Thrusts with a sabre, and later with a straight sword having pointy tip penetrated chain mails rather easily. How much the blade had penetrated the armour, depended on the characteristics of a particular sample.
Chain mail (A) against a sabre [2]
In this particular case we can see a really deep penetration, somewhere around 20-25 cm, which could have caused a mortal wound.
An approximate length of the blade
which penetrated the chain mail sample (A)
The thickest chain mail (D) against the pointy straight sword (1.5 kg).
This much!
Most definitely one wouldn't want to have so much steel through his chain mail.
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- It is better to use the term chain mail, because ring mail is a different type of armour: „an assumed type of personal armour constructed as series of metallic rings sewn to a fabric or leather foundation”. (Wiki) Also it is advisable to avoid the term scimitar.
- In the video they called it Horde sabre (0.7 kg), meaning that is a replica of a sabre used by warriors of the Golden Horde.
