The field of study that concerns this question is called terminal ballistics.

The force of impact of a bullet is not a simple problem. It is governed by the

concept of conservation of momentum, not energy. 

As an example I will use a 150 gr. Bullet traveling at 2000 ft/s, which
impacts a deer and penetrates 12 inches. These will be converted to SI
[you know as metric] since it is easier than converting to the English
equivalent of ‘slugs’. The bullet mass is 0.00972 Kg. and the velocity is
609.6 m/s. The bullet has a Kinetic energy of 1806.172 joules and a
momentum of 5.925 Kg m/s. 

This is most important to answering your question: On impact the bullet will
be brought to a complete stop in 0.001 seconds [12 inches or 0.3048
meters]. 

The force of the collision [impulse] will be 5125.212 Newtons. [One Newton
is approximately the force that a McDonald Quarter Pounder exerts on your
hands as you lift it to your mouth] IF YOU KNOW THE FORCE in pounds
[1152.193 pounds], then you divide that by the square inches of bullet area
to get the psi. If you assume a .38 diameter bullet (and NO expansion, not
a safe assumption), then you get (1152.193 pounds/0.38 sq. in.) = 3032 psi
exerted over .001 seconds. 

While this is a pretty good wallop, it is a far cry from the 1332 ft lbs of
energy which, if applied correctly, would lift a 300 lb deer over four feet into
the air.

Obviously, if the bullet area is larger, the psi is lower; if the bullet stops
faster, the psi is higher. You don't want the bullet decelerating over 12
inches if that 12 inches is you. The bullet has to stop within 2 inches, which
means the psi must rise dramatically.

A bullet-proof material was reportedly able to withstand shock pressures

generated by the impacts of up to 250 metric tons-force per square
centimeter (24.5 gigapascals; 3,550,000 psi). During the tests, the material
proved to be so strong that after the impact the samples remained
essentially unmarred. Additionally, a recent study in France tested the
material under isostatic pressure and found it to be stable up to at least 350
tf/cm² (34 GPa; 5,000,000 psi).

When you are exploring bullet-proof materials, you may find that ordinary
material properties are not useful, rather, the shock loading (impact)
properties are more useful. It isn't a question of ultimate tensile strength as
much as how fast a crack can progress in a material (at the speed of sound
in the material), and the amount of energy CONSUMED in slowing down
the bullet. There is a property called impact energy, measured in ft-lbs, that
will guide you in finding suitable materials. 

For example, there is a plaster, reinforced with polypropylene fibers, that is

good at absorbing energy. There is also a laminated steel, with layers of
soft steel interleaved with ultrahigh carbon steel, that exceeds 200 ft-lbs
impact (on a small Charpy/Izod sample).

Aside: The energy of a bullet is important in determining the amount of

work necessary to get the projectile going, but on impact most of it will be
converted into heat. The same thing happens if it does not encounter an
impact. The air will be heated by its passage.

Perfectly inelastic collisions

A common example of a perfectly inelastic collision is when two snowballs
collide and then stick together afterwards. This equation describes the
conservation of momentum:

mv+mv=(m+m)v
1 1 2 2 1 2 

It can be shown that a perfectly inelastic collision is one in which the

maximum amount of kinetic energy is converted into other forms. For
instance, if both objects stick together after the collision and move with a
final common velocity, one can always find a reference frame in which the
objects are brought to rest by the collision and 100% of the kinetic energy
is converted. This is used all the time in car accidents to find (quite
accurately it turns out) what the initial velocities of the cars must have
been.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_ba…
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthr…
http://www.beartoothbullets.com/rescourc…
http://www.martindalecenter.com/Calculat…
http://yarchive.net/gun/ammo/penetration…
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthre…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stopping_po…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_p…
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hba…