Looking Again

[Sparkyprep]

With the election coming up, and expecting the chaos ensuing no matter the outcome, I am once again thinking of buying some personal protection. No, not condoms. (I hate those things.) I am talking about body armor. It is quite a large chunk of change to drop on something that you hope and expect to never need. BUT, perhaps it is a worthwhile investment, because, you know the old saying. "Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it." So, I have been looking at this.

https://www.spartanarmorsystems.com/spartan-ar550-body-armor-and-achilles-plate-carrier-package/

What does our little community think of this package / brand? Do you have any other recommendations?

[Inor]

That is quite a bit cheaper than I thought. If they do indeed work, I would definitely go for it if you have to travel to a city.

[Dwight55]

I have a nephew . . . an Lt with a Tx police dept . . . one of those guys that researches way down deep before spending any heavy coin.

His dept went with a certain mfg . . . and I don't know what it was . . . he bought his own . . . AR500.

When I made up my mind to buy . . . I followed his lead . . . have a carrier . . . soft Level IIIA . . . plus the pads to go behind them. They'll stop up to and including 44 mag . . .

I'm super happy with mine . . . though they have never had to do their job . . . take a look at some of their videos . . . you'll be impressed I'm sure.

There are cheaper . . . but all you are talking about is the difference between the two offers . . . is that amount of money worth your life??

May God bless,
Dwight

[BucketBack]

Steel is heavy, but it's thin, so concealable. I run Large Sapi's , with IIIA soft armor. AR500 armor 6 x 8" side plates ( not steel), in a LBT 6094 clone

All AR500 armor is not the same

AR500 is just a type of steel

Some good reading here.

http://www.bulletproofme.com/

arf has a Tackyankool subforum


https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/Tactical-Gear/10/

Think it's "Buffman" that does the plate testin

[juskom95]

With the election coming up, and expecting the chaos ensuing no matter the outcome, I am once again thinking of buying some personal protection. No, not condoms. (I hate those things.) I am talking about body armor. It is quite a large chunk of change to drop on something that you hope and expect to never need. BUT, perhaps it is a worthwhile investment, because, you know the old saying. "Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it." So, I have been looking at this.

https://www.spartanarmorsystems.com/spartan-ar550-body-armor-and-achilles-plate-carrier-package/

What does our little community think of this package / brand? Do you have any other recommendations?


A few things to keep in mind about body armor:

1-Its only good ONE TIME. Now while the Lvl IV is rated for multiple 7.62 AP rounds, its integrity is compromised after the first round
2a-If you can afford it, get the ceramic plates. They are significantly lighter
2b-Ceramic has a MAJOR drawback, if you drop it, micro-fractures are created which compromise the armor's integrity. This also goes for the newer ballistic helmets.


The above stated, I have those plates. I bought this kit:
https://www.spartanarmorsystems.com/spartan-omega-ar500-body-armor-active-shooter-kit-police-tactical-gear/

I use a different plate carrier though:
https://www.ar500armor.com/testudo-gen2-plate-carrier.html

Get the curved plates with the upgraded coating and the shooter's cut if they offer it. It is extremely more comfortable than the ESAPI plates I was issued back in the day.


I have a set of AR500 flat plates and a carrier as a backup rig (I had a buy one get one free offer from AR500) and you can feel the difference, even in a nicer plate carrier. The curve makes all the difference in terms of comfort.




One final thing, just like holsters, it might take you a while to find the right carrier for your setup and your body, so expect to have several different ones lying around and gathering dust.

[juskom95]

Steel is heavy, but it's thin, so concealable. I run Large Sapi's , with IIIA soft armor. AR500 armor 6 x 8" side plates ( not steel), in a LBT 6094 clone

All AR500 armor is not the same

AR500 is just a type of steel

Some good reading here.

http://www.bulletproofme.com/

arf has a Tackyankool subforum


https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/Tactical-Gear/10/

Think it's "Buffman" that does the plate testin

AR500 and Spartan (the companies) are both certified, which means they went through the same vetting process as the military body armor. Steel is heavier, but it doesn't suffer from the same micro-fracture problem the ceramic SAPI plates do. I personally didn't bother with the IIIA soft armor but that is more because of my choice of plate carrier than anything. So far, I still haven't found anything as comfortable as my old IBA from the Army.

[BucketBack]

I have a woodland and that crappy universal camo OTV with XL Kevlar . The Large Sapi's are a little short in them though.

[Innkeeper]

I still have my DCU IBA from my 2005-6 deployment. I just don't trust the ceramic plates any longer.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[juskom95]

I still have my DCU IBA from my 2005-6 deployment. I just don't trust the ceramic plates any longer.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

I have my old DCU one, but it is a medium (not gonna fit me any longer!) and it doesn't have the soft padding.

The up-side is, you can buy the IIIA padding from just about any body armor retailer and it should fit the 5x7 plates, and the Large might fit the 8x10, but before you order a plate reach out to a vendor. They can say for certain.

[Sparkyprep]

I also noticed that the composite plates only have a 5 year shelf life. Does the composite break down over time?

[Innkeeper]

I have my old DCU one, but it is a medium (not gonna fit me any longer!) and it doesn't have the soft padding.

The up-side is, you can buy the IIIA padding from just about any body armor retailer and it should fit the 5x7 plates, and the Large might fit the 8x10, but before you order a plate reach out to a vendor. They can say for certain.Mine still has the Kevlar soft padding, but I know tge ceramic plates were supposed to be inspected every 5 years. Mine is an XL so still fits I have been thinking for a couple of years about getting steel plates.
I have been thinking about Testudo carrier as a second carrier.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[Innkeeper]

I also noticed that the composite plates only have a 5 year shelf life. Does the composite break down over time?It can break down over time from exposure to the sun which is part of the reason they inspect it, that and they are looking for damage from it being tossed around and hitting things.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[juskom95]

Mine still has the Kevlar soft padding, but I know tge ceramic plates were supposed to be inspected every 5 years. Mine is an XL so still fits I have been thinking for a couple of years about getting steel plates.
I have been thinking about Testudo carrier as a second carrier.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

I like my testudo 2 carrier, but it still needs broken in. The steel plates are heavier (and I'm out of shape) but overall, once I put a load on the vest I don't notice too much of a difference when all things are considered.