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Originally Posted by David R
To the best of my knowledge a lot of that Mahdist mail had been made in Birmingham (UK) originally as dress armour for the Khediv's troops, and then looted by the victorious Mahdists. They were made of split rings, and so were in fact spring steel. Swords weren't the problem, but high velocity jacketed 303 were.
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While digressing a bit here re: mail, it is salient to consider the durability of metal with quality, age and compromising through neglect etc.
Much of the mail made for the Khedive's troops was indeed made in Birmingham as noted, and was more dress intended than the more substantial mail for combat that was well known from various other sources. If I have understood correctly, the butted ring type mail (as I think this was) would split and separate on impact, so the considerable impact of a bullet with velocity would not only penetrate, but shatter, adding to the shrapnel of the bullet itself.
While sword impact would not necessarily penetrate, the mail would carry the force through leading to blunt force trauma in according degree.
There was a degree of older mail extant with sources mostly Mamluk which had circulated for years, but as with older metal compromised by corrosion through neglect, much of this was likely unserviceable in the same manner.
Corroded metal is of course susceptible to shattering when impacted by strong force.