Apparently I have taken it upon myself to knit another set of chainmail. This evening, I absolutely could not resist dropping this chunk (which at the moment is just about six inches across; this is just a subset of it) into my photo box. I find the proportion of rings at this wire gauge and diameter particularly pleasing for whatever reason.
It's also made of aluminum, so the protective aspect is even more diminished. I can tell you from experience that even butted steel links can protect you from a surprising amount of stuff, though, unless people are swinging morning stars at you or something.
When I made my first set of steel mail, even with its butted links, obviously the first thing my friends and I did was drape it over a watermelon and later each other and have at it with knives, swords, axes, bats, etc. It was able to stop everything we had to hand. Fortunately we weren't dumb enough to try firing any arrows at it...