What body armor should I buy? I'm kinda new to all this stuff and I'm looking to get a plate carrier but...

I'm trying to stay around the 500-500 area. I'll worry about side plates later.

You can find a front and back plate for 4-600 easily. As you go up in cost, of course, quality goes up.
Side plates are $1-200 each.

What plate carriers do you guys suggest??

you could check out the very first post on this thread, or some of the other gear threads up

2 of these
hoplitearmor.com/collections/swimmer-plates/products/swimmer-plate-level-iv-10x12-single-curve
And a crye jpc 2.0 swimmer cut. The swimmer cut is slightly less material on the shoulders for increased mobility. My personal preference.
That will put you right at your budget. Side plates aren't completely necessary unless you plan on getting into a sustained gun fight. Gucci gear and attachments can come later.

Did you try Google? Sorry you are literally 6 months late to the party.

Attached: Screenshot_2019-08-14-12-56-05.png (1080x1920, 205K)

Ar500 steel with the linex coating will not spall if you put one of their thin 3a soft armor panels in front of it

>oh boy all you have to do to fix this nigger tier armor is pull a redneck solution out of your ass, spending even more money and adding even more weight than if I'd just done it right

this

You work for hoplite

>akshullllly
There's always one.

>Did you try Google?
The onus is on you to provide info to back up what you were saying.
Not that user, just saying.

yes
t.hoplite employee

Note that the 4400 has been reinstated, and also do note that the notice literally states that officers are encouraged to continue wearing it. The NIJ deals in more than just ballistic competency for its certification program. The cover could have just had a bad wrinkle.

>You won't make it unless you wear 16lbs of armor

I have no need to back up anything, I'm not selling something. Just telling fellow armor anons to keep an eye out for an update to the Hesco situation.

>I don't plan on getting shot in the back.

you

My plates are 4.5lbs each.

Can you post a source saying they were reinstated? That's good news. Also, it wasn't a wrinkle in the spall coating - they submitted 4 plates for a ballistic test and one plate failed to a M2 ball 30-06.

There's a guy in CGG regularly selling Velocity Systems PSA4 new for $350/pair. Any opinion on them? They seem like standard single curve NIJ.05 plates from a good manufacturer for a fair price.

Redpill me on wish level 4 armor

I diagnose you with dead

I bought one of each and shot them with 30-06 ap sourced from .30 cal surplus.

Both absorbed 3 hits with 3 in backface deformation.

Ive heard the militech ceramics from aliexpress are actually decent

The United States doesn't accept any more than 1.5 inches of backface deformation, and even 1.5 inches can seriously injure you or break ribs. Other countries are more restrictive. 3 inches would fuck your shit up, bigtime.

>likely no measures taken to secure the plate
>STILL 3 inches backface deformation
you would be dead as fuck from cardiac arrest, and it's highly likely that if you were actually to secure that plate that it would be penetrated anyway

NIJ ratings themselves are meaningless gimmicks. Cartridges aren't on a sliding scale of "power". Seeing what a plate has been independently tested to withstand without significant backface deformation or spalling is the best measurement.

Ok. I went through this phase about two weeks ago, user.
Do you have a use case for armor
Will the armor you want actually supply significant protection in your use case scenario?
Does the fact you have armor make you significantly better off when compared to more training and better mobility?
I was hot for 3a UHMWPE armor until I figured out it won’t stop M855 at close range. Half of everybody shoots M855 so it doesn’t provide significant protection. AR500’s stuff doesn’t stop M193, which is the other half of everything everyone shoots.
None of it protects legs, lower gut, arms, head, side, etc which is about 50% of area anyway, and in boogaloo those regions are serious injuries which will inhibit you from fighting/fleeing, so do you have friends to rescue you if you get shot anywhere but your armor?
Level 4 armor is quite expensive, heavy, and hot. Which are significant downsides if you are boogalooing solo.

I’m not saying not to get it, just to think about it seriously.

>I don’t plan on getting shot
So I don’t need armor.

oh boy you are fucking retarded
NIJ ratings are given based on the cartridge, the loading (AP vs lead core vs steel core vs copper) and the velocity

One set of plates may be fine but the next buyer's might be crushed up floor tile epoxied together.

I mean, look at it this way.
Combat is messy.
Even a soft vest will prevent you from getting one-deaged like that poorfag in Houston (who was wearing a flak vest)
I figure my chances of survival go up immeasurably if I can actually survive being shot. Not wearing armor means anything that hits you in a vital region will almost certainly kill you.

What is the absolute cheapest I can get shitty plates? Heavier the better. Just want some beaters strictly for practice.

Probably ar500 from spartan armor

How come Botach's offering is so much lighter and cheaper than everyone else's...?

botach.com/battle-steel-level-iv-10x12-ballistic-plates-only-5-5-lbs-80-thick/

because it's shit

To flip that argument around, how many fights can you just avoid if you have 10 pounds less gear?

It looks like it soaks up a helluva lot of lead to me.

youtube.com/watch?v=CgFsHJ53sLE

How much faster do you think you can actually move without armor?
This isn't Insurgency or even Arma. A bullet stopped is a bullet stopped. Tyrese's Glock fawty will kill you if he gets lucky and collapses your lung.

1. It's chinese
2. it's literally still steel
3. youtube 'tests' are almost always sponsored and youtubers are given a huge commission (10-12%) to shill their products

>. it's literally still steel
It's layers of ceramic and poly-somethingorother. 'Battle Steel' is merely the brand name.

ok nvm I thought you were referring to botach's actual steel line
>Battle Steels Ceramic (SIC) PE Composite ballistic armor plates are tested under NIJ-0101.06 IV body armor standards by H.P. White, Chesapeake
>Tested to NIJ Level IV / NIJ Standard 0101.06
>Assembled in the US from imported materials
so not actually NIJ certified (just "tested"), made in china, and a youtube test where the plate wasn't secured, like trying to stab a piece of paper that's floating freely

For less than a hundred bucks I suppose I could do my own test and post the results....

You're the one playing devil's advocate. What would you consider a valid test? What loadings at what range?

No bullshit

What's a top tier lvl4 ceramic plate pair? Front/back?

I can figure out carriers later

Hesco 4800
$1000 per plate

This isn't some chink chinesium labeled as american is it?

These are legitimate plates that will last 5yrs or so?

1. you tap to fag porn
2. you are a fag

Look it up and find out

They are OEMd by american blast systems
They are so cheap because they dont certify them nor have to hold liability for the cost of them
I have shot the piss out of them and they are fine

Attached: BLONK.jpg (1824x2436, 664K)

Dunno, but they sound like good trainers.

And?
Level 3 stops m80 ball but cant even stop m193

I'm telling you not to buy plates that aren't actually tested by the national institute of justice and you're insisting that wearing them is a good idea
do as you wish
basically all these issues
>no testing plates on your own doesn't count for shit
a retard actually believed that a phone book could stop a .50 AE, when he properly held it and it was shot it penetrated and killed him.
your armor plate sitting against a tree doesn't mean shit

exactly, that's why I'm telling people they should buy ceramic

Why are people telling me my Level III+ AR550 is meme tier? Seems like it holds up okay.
>m.youtube.com/watch?v=jDDU0WpvLJk

Attached: F3513ECA-E6F4-4720-A483-31D8ED3D66F0.jpg (611x697, 273K)

It has nothing to do with steel or ceramic. Steel and ceramic can both pass level 3 and be rated level 3.
NIJ standards are completely arbitrary. And using them as end all be all guidelines is dumb. Look up independenantly tested specifications on plates.

>nooo dont trust tests you performed with the plate propped up against something, trust these tests made by a company paid money to test the ppate propped up against something

What does the phonebook thing have to do with armor stopping level 4 threats?
Are you implying that said retard shot a phonebook unsecured with .50ae, which made him think that it would stop it when he held it? Because I don't buy that at all

Buy highcom with a jpc 2.0 and dont look back

because youtube tests are not scientific tests
>NIJ standards are completely arbitrary. And using them as end all be all guidelines is dumb. Look up independenantly tested specifications on plates.
this is the dumbest fucking thing I've ever read on this website and I genuinely hope this is just a troll
NIJ is a government agency
telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/29/us-woman-shoots-boyfriend-dead-youtube-stunt-boost-online-profile/

Nice undersized strike face.

I bought the Botach Lvl IVs because they were cheap and people have show evidence like pic related of them performing. They’ll hold me until I decide to get some Hescos or source some inexpensive ESAPI or XSAPI in the future. I’ll take my chances with budget plates over no plates.

Check the NIJ CPL. It would be strange for them to recommend continued use of the plates if they had a ballistic failure. RMA is known to be leveraging these failures on reddit, so be careful of misinformation.

Homebody there could have literally shot them with a .40 S&W and taken twenty bucks from Botach on the way out. That's a bogus test.

americanblastsystems.com/product-page/nij-level-iv-stand-alone-4-5-lbs-ballistic-plate

Buy the same plate with a NIJ Cert for $200 more, I dont care.

There a multiple YouTube tests of people shooting them on video or is that all CGI?

>tfw level 3++ cati armor
>Tfw it performs great against everything except ar rounds

Thank god I live in fudd ville and everyone has bubbad SKS instead.

That plate has a cheat ring like RMA's 1189 and 1199. Be careful. The NIJ permits such things, but a smart user should not.

Youtube tests are not scientific and are frequently run by commissions. They're not CGI, they're gamed.

Damn my botach bux must be delayed then

Or perhaps you're just too small fry for them to care. Your test wasn't scientific, veritably independent, or done in repeatable batch format like how an independent laboratory like HP White would do it.

As such, sorry pal, test is bogus.

>take steel level 3+ plate
>Add level 3a soft to front
>Bind with Kevlar anti spall sleeve
>Level 4 multi hit for cheap

>Cons; bulky and heavy

You need just over half an inch of AR500 to stop .30-06 M2AP at Level IV-required velocity (2,880 FPS +- 15). That crap won't do it.

I know what the phonebook incident is jackass, I meant how is that relevant to people testing armor

>Shoot plates
>"You need HP white testing"
>HP White tests the plates
>"no that doesnt count it must be NIJ"
Grift elsewhere

Ar 550 can do it at 3/8ths with a 3a cover

Sorry pal, your lack of knowledge is showing. The NIJ doesn't test plates themselves. HP White and other accredited laboratories do. If you get the full NIJ 0101.06 test battery done for your plate at HP White and pay for the certification fees from the NIJ, then you're good-to-go in every respect.

I don’t give a fuck about scientifics for a sub $100 plate. If it will stop 1 round of 30-06 black tip or M855 then its good enough for a cheap ass plate.

Sorry pal, it cannot. IIIA soft armor is totally inconsequential for a rifle threat. M193 will defeat over 100 layers of kevlar, a IIIA panel is often 40 or less.

Without a scientific, kid, you have no guarantee that plate will do its job if it ever needs to do it. I hope it never needs to be tested, but I also hope you reconsider and get something that is guaranteed to work.

>Steel absorbs 90% of energy
>Gets caught In soft aramid
Ap will still penetrate tho.

Way to leave your survival up to how long your opponent's barrel is.

How does one actually purchase armor most sites only have a contact us page, does that mean I have to find a dealer near me and ask them?

Attached: Screenshot (1977).png (377x146, 29K)

I'm in a state that bans level 4, but not level 3+ hard soft composite.

You're in a state under ITAR? Sounds a little bogus mate. Jow Forums hasn't changed. /noguns/ inventing these damn fantasies and all.

Yeah because “scientific” tests done in a lab always equate to real world. I’ll assume the risk. Like I said it’s better than nothing.

dude steel already very bulky and with that youre much heavier and likely even more expensive than level 4 ceramic

Roger that, Botach. I guess this piece of paper in front of me is better than nothing. Remember, RMA and Diamond Age literally have employees shill products on the internet. Botach can too.

Internet tests mean nothing on an anonymous honky

you live in a state that bans level 4? Where?

In the Fantasyville these n00bs use to justify their illogical choices.