Reply With QuoteIf you like carrying 3 times the weight and have risk of secondary injuries from spall/fragments. Then ya, go for it.
AR500 Steel Trauma Plates?
I know AR500 steel is commonly used in vehicle armor, but what about personal armor? I've been seeing these around alot lately as a cheaper alternative to SAPIs. Are they effective? Safe?
http://vestguy.com/page9.html
http://www.chapelsteel.com/ar500-ar500f.html
If you like carrying 3 times the weight and have risk of secondary injuries from spall/fragments. Then ya, go for it.
Sure they are save, but the ceramic are better in protection vs weight and the latest ceramic plates are double curved for a better fit. If you are a pro needing these plates, I would spend the extra buck on ceramic plates. But why the hell would anyone need these plates in the first place, unless you're in the military in which case you get them issued.
Some have started adding a vest or plate carrier to their home defense kit. Although I see no reason to have lvl 4 defense in a HD scenario I still have a set of ESAPIs just because. Ya never know.Originally Posted by Frost
Anyone know about the new armor plates being developed by Bourque Industries Inc?
Check out Lineoffire.ca, I just recently bought tactical lev 3 10x12 front and back plates. From what ive read and seen, these are the most advanced plates out there.
Except their plates dont stop AP or even ss109 rounds. They are working on a plate that will stop AP rounds though.
I just re-read ballistic chart on the website, unless I'm blind, it does cover off ss109 equivelant rounds. Pls advise if I'm incorrect as it is 0530 right now for me....
I can only second Bacon - my experience tells that steel plates aren't the safest means of ballistic protection for several reasons.
- Hit creates secondary fragments as a bullet "splashes" on the hard surface - you get nasty, sharp bits of copper jacket flying around.
- While the visible deformation of the plate after hit is rarely significant upon expection, steel is much better conductor of impact than ceramic or polyethylene. Yo might suffer serious internal injuries caused by the transferred impact and concussion, even with relatively mild backface deformation - its the speed of the impact that matters. Modern steel/titanium helmets such as Austrian Ulbricht's Witwe products have a very thick padding to prevent that effect. The plates have none, or just the ballistic layers - that are good for fragments but not neccessarily for moderating the concussion.
- Steel armor plates usually don't do very well against fast going AP rounds - as these rounds, with their extra-hardened core (penetrator) are designed to pierce such steel. Adding from my own experience on vehicle armor - steel armor rated on the same level (B6) but offered in two thicknesses 5mm & 6mm - the thinner was unable to stop 5,56 AP the thicker did it with a narrow margin of safety.
- Steel armor plates are usually a single profile (even if in some improved "SAPI-wannabe" cut) so their ergonomics and sheer weight usually discourages us from wearing them.
- Its hard to tell the actual condition of a steel plate after it gets shot (steel plates are generically multi-hit plates) - you can tell the ceramic plate had enough, you can tell something about condition of a shot PE lightweight plate. It's very hard to tell the same about steel plate - how it will stand? We've shot steel plates from old army vests that stopped the Softpoint .308 at 25 meters and gave up nasty at 15 meters with the same round. That's another reason that discourages me from using Steel Plates.
They have their uses and merits of course - usually low priced, durable (no worries about dropping or temperatures), thin profile. But the real uses are very limited in my oppinion - you'd do better searching for a good deal on Ceramic or PE plates.
About the lineoffire tactical plate - they seem to be a composite PE plates - such plates usually can fulfill NIJ III clas requirements for .308 shooting but SS109/M855 is a whole diffrent story, and I haven't seen any hard data (like test protocole) on the website, stating clearly that their plate can withstand that. I remember the effort it took to create such plate here for one of the demanding users, and its not an easy benchmark. If they would reach it they could market it openly as a NIJ III+ plate, and I don't see this actually - rather some marketing writ, some remarks and suggestions on the performance, no proofs. Not to mention this chart, which is a joke http://lineoffire.ca/pg_TechnologyComparison.php with 600/700 meters stopability... NIJ hard plate testing distance is... 15m, German DIN is 10m!
Check out the thread on Lightfighter about the testing done on multiple different makes of plates. LOF plates were tested and do not stop SS109I just re-read ballistic chart on the website, unless I'm blind, it does cover off ss109 equivelant rounds. Pls advise if I'm incorrect as it is 0530 right now for me....
Catch 22 and One shot, thx for the detailed replies!
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