[from occupied ga]

Is it the best weapon for such without the aforementioned flechette rounds? Probably not, but it is still not useless

Flenchette rounds are not common. Probably most people don't have them.

significant blunt trauma to the individual wearing the vest

Agreed, but I'll take penetration of the enemy over blunt trauma any day, and the military style rifles beat a shotgun for that Of course a good ol' 30-06 has pretty good penetration too. I'm not sure even a trauma plate will stop one of those. Mostly the trauma plates are rated for .308

[harpseal]

We really have no real disagreement. It so happens I purchased some flecette rounds a few years back. I most heartily agree that a good rifle is what is needed when dealing with body armor. Penetration will do the job whereas blunt trauma might give a chance for a good follow up shot. I really have not seen many tests with the .308 AP round against body armor vs the .30-06 vs body armor. I would also think the .300 win mag might do well or any number of sabot rounds. Again no data to base this on but it seems logical.