BODY ARMOR: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

[d-r]

I was in the market for body armor. Did my research on AR500 and Spartan. I found BAM (body armor megastore). I was interested in purchasing level IIIa soft body armor. There prices are about half of everyone else. I was thinking about double up front and back because there so cheap and each insert only weighs 1 lbs. Anyone has these and could provide some comments?

I would advise stay far away from this company. Their "spall armor" is the tired and ineffective "half a plate backer stuck to the front" (with duck tape? Really?!).

This design guarantees that a person standing directly in front of the plate will be safe, but the wearer will catch a focused fan of spall. Hint: spall follows the plate surface. The spall cloud is "tamped" by the aramid face. And note the top edge, like the sides, is open. This is the most vital point to catch spall on a plate.

A test video would show this. Demand a shoot test.

I would do one, but it would be better coming from a disinterested third party.

The soft armor is more than likely UHMWPE. This is not "the best" ballistic material. It turns into milk-jug plastic if exposed to temperatures above 165 F (and the inside of cars can easily get that hot or hotter). UHMWPE should only be used in hard armor applications. There are several companies offering "cheap" body armor that utilizes this material. UHMWPE can be cut with a hot knife, speeding production. Whereas woven aramid requires much more labor intensive preparation methods.

And to put the issue to rest, NO, soft armor WILL NOT STOP rifle rounds. You would need about 120 layers of aramid to stop a centerfire rifle round.

[DeliveryBoy]

It's much lighter than steel plate. Instead of a trauma pad I was thinking about another insert. Maybe stop a rifle round.

It will take 5+ soft armor IIIa vests to stop a 5.56
Not a good idea.

[C.W.M.V.]

People talk a lot about saving weight but staying balanced is important too.
It's a lot easier to move, sprint, get down and hop up if your extra weight is evenly balanced.

[plam408]

Thanks for the link. I'll do steel plate in front and soft armor in the back to shave some weight.

[smashycrashy]

It's much lighter than steel plate. Instead of a trauma pad I was thinking about another insert. Maybe stop a rifle round.

If this is where your mind is at I'd wait a bit before buying anything and do a lot of research. Doubling up iiia ain't gonna help you in a rifle fight.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/01/03/rifle-ammunition-soft-body-armor/

[97F1504RAD]

It's much lighter than steel plate. Instead of a trauma pad I was thinking about another insert. Maybe stop a rifle round.

Not going to stop a rifle round. Are you willing to risk your life on a MAYBE it will stop a rifle round? You want protection from Rifle Rounds Buy Hard plates designed for that purpose. Then you can put the soft armor behind as a trauma pad if you like.

[C.W.M.V.]

It's much lighter than steel plate. Instead of a trauma pad I was thinking about another insert. Maybe stop a rifle round.

Nope.
Not even close.

[plam408]

It's much lighter than steel plate. Instead of a trauma pad I was thinking about another insert. Maybe stop a rifle round.

[97F1504RAD]

Why would you double up on soft body armour? What's the purpose or what do you think that will accomplish?

[plam408]

I was in the market for body armor. Did my research on AR500 and Spartan. I found BAM (body armor megastore). I was interested in purchasing level IIIa soft body armor. There prices are about half of everyone else. I was thinking about double up front and back because there so cheap and each insert only weighs 1 lbs. Anyone has these and could provide some comments?

[d-r]

Repost:

I have a US Armor "Terminal Velocity" IIIA
Model: USA3A-12
NSN: 8470-01-527-5097

It was originally in a Mayflower carrier with 10x12 SAPI plates but now resides in a BCS carrier as a backer for my 11x14 Ceradyne plates.

I assumed I was good in the hood since I got this from a buddy who was a USAF CCT but I decided to pull the panels out and it says that it's: 100% Air Entangled Kevlar

Is this bunk armor? It's supposed to be 100% Kevlar 129 according to what I found on procurement info but is this some of the dreaded laminate I have heard about or is this g2g

You are GTG, air-entangled aramid is great stuff, allows for better threat defeat for same areal density of material.

[FromanMD]

Repost:

I have a US Armor "Terminal Velocity" IIIA
Model: USA3A-12
NSN: 8470-01-527-5097

It was originally in a Mayflower carrier with 10x12 SAPI plates but now resides in a BCS carrier as a backer for my 11x14 Ceradyne plates.

I assumed I was good in the hood since I got this from a buddy who was a USAF CCT but I decided to pull the panels out and it says that it's: 100% Air Entangled Kevlar

Is this bunk armor? It's supposed to be 100% Kevlar 129 according to what I found on procurement info but is this some of the dreaded laminate I have heard about or is this g2g

[d-r]

Even at 1000 m, a BMG is packing the same amount of kinetic energy as a .454 Casull at the muzzle.

It's going to hurt. Alot.

[Buffman]

Thanks, DB. Good to be back. I will be posting a blog article on helmets. Short answer, the newer high cuts are GTG (TC-2001, TC-2002), I do prefer aramid vs. UHMWPE for composition (the weight savings is not worth the chance of denaturing due to heat, since these are more exposed than plates that live in a PC).

Buff, there is personal armor that will stop BMG, but you pretty much will have a collapsed rib cage.

It would depend I guess on range. I mean real world, an ideal shot from 50BMG may be many hundreds of yards out, not 75 yards

[d-r]

Thanks, DB. Good to be back. I will be posting a blog article on helmets. Short answer, the newer high cuts are GTG (TC-2001, TC-2002), I do prefer aramid vs. UHMWPE for composition (the weight savings is not worth the chance of denaturing due to heat, since these are more exposed than plates that live in a PC).

Buff, there is personal armor that will stop BMG, but you pretty much will have a collapsed rib cage.

D-R great to have you back!
What is your opinion on ballistic Tupperware (helmets)? ACH/MICH vs PASGT. I guess also the newer high cuts. Is there a composition/protection difference or is it mostly design/cut difference? And generally what are your thoughts?