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Bullet-Proof Sheets of Carbon Nanotubes
An anonymous reader notes a CNN.com report on Nanocomp Technologies, the first in the world to make sheets of carbon nanotubes. "In April, [CEO] Lashmore had a mechanical multicaliber gun shoot bullets at different versions of his sheet, each less than a fifth of an inch thick. ... Army tests show the material works as well as Kevlar. The military also hopes to replace copper wiring in planes and satellites with highly conductive nanotubes, saving millions of dollars in fuel costs."
People also used leather as armor, but so far no one has dug up a leather sword. The physical properties of kevlar as used for armor are entirely different from the physical properties of a good bullet. Kevlar has very high tensile strength allowing it to spread the impact over a large area by deforming and pulling on all the threads around it. With a bullet, you want all the force located in one small, strong, pointy area for penetration; which is why armor penetrating rounds are jacketed or tipped in a metal much stronger than lead or copper(steel, tungsten, depleted uranium).
Orwell was an optimist.
All or most armor manufacturers use a table top mounted "test gun" that they can change out the barrel and receiver to fire different caliber to test the protective effectiveness of their product. I don't think anyone can buy one of these you have to get them specially built.
If you ever watch any History or Discovery channel show(s) about fire-arms chances are they show a few of these.