Plates for plate carrier?

[Till]

Where to buy them?

Any good places?

[justang1997]

The flea market and the jessie and may army surplus shop over by post. Blackhawk catalog also has a large selection of sizes and types.

[Rem700]

U gonna volunteer to be a target at the July shoot at NH?

[Till]

Thanks justang, I have not seem them at the flea markets am I blind?

I need to measure my plate carrier see what size I need. I found this site.

http://www.bulletproofme.com/Body_Armor ... tion.shtml


Rem, No....

Not even close haha!

Seriously though I just think about it, it's like people stocking up on food, ammo, guns etc.. IF I actually NEED to use my AR/Glocks in a SHTF scenario or whatever it might not be a bad idea to have some protection as well ya know?


I've been reading a lot about a lot haha. One guy has his beside his bed, he says it only takes him 2.5 seconds longer to through it on then leave it sit (as in if someone broke in).

Thinking about it, if someone actually breaks in while your home (as most break ins are while your not home) and they know your there. They are probably just going to shoot you vs run.

Why break in while someones home unless they don't mind killing you?

If it only take another second to two to grab that and throw it on... If the crook gets a quick heads up on you, that could save your life and your family from possibly watching you bleed out on the floor, or worse you watching your family being murdered.


Of course this is just my opinion.

[Rem700]

I here ya on that one Till, makes perfect sense and i know i would feel safer wearing armor if i had to deal with a home invasion or SHTF situation.

[Whootsinator]

Deciding your plate size based on the carrier is 100% ass backwards. Hard plates are for protecting YOU. You measure your body and tailor everything else to fit YOU.

Certain carriers only fit certain cuts/sizes of plates, but you start with your body and work from there.

[Whootsinator]

Here's some reading that would do anyone interested in utilizing personal hard armor some good.

Originally posted by panzerr:
This is often a misunderstood topic so I thought I should share a bit of my anatomy knowledge.

Purpose

Body armor is meant to keep you in the fight. That is, armor is meant to protect your vital organs which, if hit, would immediately take you down and prevent you from putting rounds on target. The possibility of saving your life is a secondary benefit of body armor.

What to protect

With this purpose in mind we must understand those structures we need to protect which we can realistically protect while still maintaining a high degree of mobility. Our primary concern is the heart and the large blood vessels which sprout from the top of the heart: the superior vena cava, the arch of the aorta and the pulmonary trunk. I will refer to these vessels simple as “related vessels” from here on. A hit to the heart and its immediately related vessels will very quickly take you out of the fight and kill you within a minute or two.

Second in importance to the heart is the respiratory diaphragm, the muscle which, when contracting, allows you to decrease air pressure within your lungs and thus take in air. Destroy the diaphragm and you destroy one’s ability to breath.

Protecting the vertebral column goes without saying -we wish to protect as much of this as possible without sacrificing mobility for obvious reasons.

It is important to note that a hit to the lungs may prove to eventually be lethal but is not nearly as lethal as quickly as a hit to the heart and its immediately related blood vessels. The liver and kidneys, while highly vascular, are also not immediately incapacitating.

Front/chest plate

The top of your plate should be at the level of your suprasternal notch aka jugular notch. If you follow your sternum towards your head, the soft spot you reach at the top of it is the suprasternal notch. Your plate should ride at least level with the top of your sternum while standing.

The importance of positioning the plate at the top of the SN Notch is that you have a bundle of large blood vessels which rest on top of your heart and lie behind the manubrium (the uppermost portion of your sternum), most notably the aortic arch. The aortic arch receives blood from your left ventricle and will have the highest velocity of all the blood in you systemic circulatory system. Get hit here and you will be done. So, make sure your plate is riding higher, rather than lower because protecting your aortic arch is much more important than protecting your guts.

Also, as you can clearly see with the image below, a smaller plate allows for more comfort and mobility to the shooter will not necessarily mean you will leave immediately incapacitating areas unprotected -large plates will only cover a little more of your peripheral lung tissue and guts.

Reference image (anterior view)

Red is your heart and related blood vessels
Dark Grey/Yellow is a properly positioned plate
The sternum and clavicle are white with black outline




Positioning of rear/back plate

Find the most prominent bony eminence at the base of your neck. This is your vertebral eminence. Count down two bony spinouses (or measure down about an inch) and that should be above the level of the superior aspect of your sternum. Positioning at least this high will ensure your entire heart and its immediately related blood vessels are protected.

Reference image (posterior view)

The vertebral eminence is marked in the diagram below in blue.



Side plates and shoulder plates

Side plates are intended to protect the highly vascular elements of your abdomen. Side plates were introduced to prevent troops from bleeding out in the chopper on the way to the field hospital. Side plates are not necessarily intended to protect the heart, but if you wear them high up into your armpits you can protect some of the lower portion of your heart.

Protecting your heart from a shot to side is accomplished by shoulder plates, such as the ones manufactured by Crye Precision.

To sum it up

Here are general guidelines to follow at a bare minimum. As always, the more protection you can have without sacrificing mobility the better. This is just the bare bones.

Front plate: should be even with top of the sternum while standing, extend at least 1.5 inches past the bottom of your sternum and should cover the entirety of your nipples

Rear plate: should lie no lower than an inch below your vertebral prominence

Side plates: the higher they ride the better

As a side note, you could consider upsizing your rear plate one size.

[Till]

Deciding your plate size based on the carrier is 100% ass backwards. Hard plates are for protecting YOU. You measure your body and tailor everything else to fit YOU.

Certain carriers only fit certain cuts/sizes of plates, but you start with your body and work from there.

I've already read that.

I know I'm sizing it to me but I can only go as big as my plate carrier will allow.

I wear a medium size plate carrier.

My front can be as big as 10x14
My back can be as big as 16x10

What I am finding is they range at 10x12, which will only leave me 2" short on my front side not a bad thing, I already have my plate carrier set up where it rides perfect (without plates). My only concern is once I get plates can I crank it up enough so the front plate will be where I need it.

The back plate I am finding 10x13 once again same thing as above.



Also what kind of armor is my next step. I'm thinking this.

http://www.bulletproofme.com/RP-Level-4 ... Alone.html

Steel is a little cheaper but more of a chance of ricochet, don't want to get shot then it ricochet through my skull haha!

Thinking I'm going to go with the

10x12 and the 10x13 (13 for the back)


Both should run me 300ish before shipping. Thats the heavy but the multi is more expensive but can take 2-3 .3006 shots...

I don't PLAN to get shot but if I wasn't worried about it I wouldn't even be looking at armor ya know?

So question is do I save for the multi or just go with the heavy?

The front of the multi is only 1lb lighter, and the back is the same weight.

[SNL]

Protect nipples...check.

On a side, logic based, theoretical note.....i think most home invaders dont have $100+ for a decent firearm...and if they had one they would have pawned it long before trying to break in and steal peoples old vcr or microwave. While i wouldnt mind having some sort of armor for the hell of it...i wouldnt wear it around or run and check the door with it if the dogs barked. id most like to have some firearm to equalize 1+ persons of any size with a hammer, screwdriver, shovel and or a kitchen knife, bat, or whatever they grabbed once inside. just a thought...like i said, id like to be bulletproof as much as anyone.

[SNL]

And this is stupid...but playing paintball as a kid i got shot 1/10 times where that plate carrier is, and 9/10 times in the face, arm, leg, dick, kneecap, hip, or throat. I know what whoots link said about returning fire and that...but chest plate covering maybe 1/3 of your.body...you think the risk/reward is there for having that.vs.taking several courses or shooting a few thousand rounds? Are you returning any more fire in your house after a hip shot or chest to face splash off plate than wo the plate? Im interested in answers..basically this thinking over the "more the better" is why i have no bullet proofing

[Till]

Like I said you never know. If SHTF like everyone thinks it will.

Would you rather have a little more possible chance?

I'd rather throw 3-400 down and have a little extra protection. Yeah if I get hit in the arm or the leg it could kill me. Depends on where it hits. If I get his in the chest stomach area it's pretty much garunteed. Head yeah but you know.

I don't understand (not directed towards anyone here) how people can throw down gobs yes gobs of money on survival stuff guns ammo training but never think of armor.

Yeah it might not help but it might.


It's like carrying a gun (in a SHTF scenario), might not need it but you might!


Each their own.

[SNL]

Ive thought about it. but what am i going to do? Keep it in my car all the time? Wear it all the time? Throw it on when my dogs bark? Thats basically my line of thought. Id like something just because im into this type of thing, butsomething with the purpose "to keep you in the fight. to protect your vital organs which, if hit, would immediately take you down and prevent you from putting rounds on target. The possibility of saving your life is a secondary benefit." Is not something i imagine myself ever realistically needing. Id be more likely to buy a soft vest.

[Jakob]

Do you mean soft armor or just the vest SNL? Why even bother with the soft armor if plates are basically useless?

[SNL]

Hey till, http://www.shootsteel.com/3-8-ar500-ste ... 12-static/
9x12 for $45...sure its a target not an armor plate...but if this just a shtf kinda thing that price dosnt break the bank quite as bad....plus its got a hole you can hang it and shoot pistols at it until doomsday or whatever. "Store" it in your plate carrier...maybe round off the corners a lil with a belt sander...whalah.

Jakob, i meant a soft vest. Something meant more to "save my life", cover more area, lighter weight (more protection against pistol, because if im ever getting shot at with a rifle as a civilian...im screwed)

[SNL]

Enter whoots with " choosing by price is the most bass ackwards way to buy serious warfighting gear"?

[justang1997]

I have armor. I invaded iraq with it in 2003 . Its pretty old. Some of the stuff that was replaced as soon as the money was really turned on. I wouldn't use it in a home invasion scenario but I would consider soft armor. There are even vests made with perm pockets for a cell phone light and pistol that you keep by your bed. I sleep nekid so the vest would give me a place for the stuff I may need.

[justang1997]

As for the flea market, till, I never see it at a booth. Its always someone hanging around the surplus army stuff who is trying to sell it and likely the booth owner turned em down. Also at the gun show in lou, I always see people wearing or carrying armor for sell, usually a whole set but they may part out the plates.

[justang1997]

Also something to consider is some non steel plates can fracture and fail. We always had ours xrayed before a deployment. Steel is less likely to have that happen.

[Till]

Hey till, http://www.shootsteel.com/3-8-ar500-ste ... 12-static/
9x12 for $45...sure its a target not an armor plate...but if this just a shtf kinda thing that price dosnt break the bank quite as bad....plus its got a hole you can hang it and shoot pistols at it until doomsday or whatever. "Store" it in your plate carrier...maybe round off the corners a lil with a belt sander...whalah.

Jakob, i meant a soft vest. Something meant more to "save my life", cover more area, lighter weight (more protection against pistol, because if im ever getting shot at with a rifle as a civilian...im screwed)

Thats great!

It wont break the bank. I mean your right is not armor but it's a friggin steel plate haha! IF I ever need it I don't think I'll really mind if its armor specific or not haha!

And steel is less likely to get messed up (thanks justang)


Haha thanks guys!

[Jakob]

I'd like to have a better set of armor, but I can't complain. I have very little actually invested into it.

[gruntmedik]

If you're gonna wear steel plates, or other hard armor, wouldn't it be prudent to wear something to protect your neck and chin/jaw? That bullet is gonna splash, or be deflected somewhere, and trust me, there is shit in your neck you don't want hit.

I'm not knocking anyone's decision to wear armor, hell, I've seriously considered some too.

[Rext]

Check the stuff out at US Palm.They have some pretty good stuff from what I have seen.They also have it priced right.
https://www.uspalm.com/products/armor/a ... rrier.html
I thought about this one above.Watch the video.They also have others.

[Rext]

You can buy these brand new plates cheaper than the ex military plates and they are lighter than steel plates.

[Till]

Check the stuff out at US Palm.They have some pretty good stuff from what I have seen.They also have it priced right.
https://www.uspalm.com/products/armor/a ... rrier.html
I thought about this one above.Watch the video.They also have others.

Thanks rext! Think I might go with that one!

[Till]

Thanks rext found way to much stuff i like hahaa