segmentata

[Dan Howard]

Dan what makes you the "expert" to speak such a final say so?

It was a pretty safe statement since:
1. the poster implied that the test he witnessed didn't even involve riveted mail.

2. only a few people on the planet can make mail that actually resembles that used on the battlefield. "riveted" does not equal "historical"

A test needs to be done using a target that was reproduced as closely as possible from an extant sample of Roman mail. Preferably several examples since there were different types used. Even then it won't address the question of the subarmalis since no-one can agree on how to make one.

Mail was the dominant type of body armour for at least a thousand years and the most common threat on the battlefield during the whole of that period was from arrows and spears.

There have been few modern tests that actually involve decent mail reconstructions but all of them come to the conclusion that mail was far more resistant to points than many assume. Read Dr Williams' book. It is by far the most comprehensive work done on this subject.