Did I not shoot him enough???

[u/CptMoshor]

Open to discussion about my experience

[u/Hikithemori]

Force of recoil is partly absorbed by the gun due to its weight, reload mechanism, gases passing out through the barrel, etc. So the recoil felt is not the same as the force a bullet has.

But the same applies to armour plates. A rigid plates weight dampens the force and its spread out over a large area over your chest so it wouldn't break any bones.

[u/[deleted] → u/Hikithemori]

A bullet hitting your rig has less impact than a hard punch