Body armor plate carrier reccomendations

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goodlife30

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Greetings. I know this topic has been talked about before ad-nauseum. I am looking for a decent plate carrier/body armor rig. Doesn't have to be mega-high speed but practical and durable. I am aware of how much they weight with ammo as I suffered through two tours wearing this stuff. I am pretty fit 190 6 feet tall 32 waist and hit the gym a lot-so sizing recommendations would help. Do they run big, small,?

But looking for my own set up. So any reccomendations? Hints? Brands you like? Gracias.
 
there are really not that many brands out there. list narrows down further once you plug-in your budget figure. after that it's just browsing few retailers and looking what people buy most often and what reviews they leave.

when i did this research i narrowed down to 3 brand-models that i thought were the best by all criteria. funny thing, my friend did exactly same research and used exactly same criteria and also picked three and as much as we are like-minded on most aspects in this area, out of three best picks we both had, we only got one carrier in common. and for neither of us it was first choice lol.

i'm just saying. you can collect good name brands and popular models but ultimately at the end you need to make your own choice of what looks good to YOU.

when i was shopping i was looking and considering blackhawk and banshee in my budget bracket.

different sizes are available but not all brands offer selection of size. those that do are usually have just two sm-med and lg-xlg
 
If you are looking for something with Molle - I love my tactical tailor modular plate carrier. I also picked up a simple one for my backup plates, max-pro. No Molle - can be concealed under a jacket.
 
Off the top of my head:
Shellback (TAG) Banshee
SKD Brigadine
LBT 6094 (not full retail, they have 40% off deals throughout the year)
 
dnepro-mike said:
there are really not that many brands out there. list narrows down further once you plug-in your budget figure. after that it's just browsing few retailers and looking what people buy most often and what reviews they leave.

when i did this research i narrowed down to 3 brand-models that i thought were the best by all criteria. funny thing, my friend did exactly same research and used exactly same criteria and also picked three and as much as we are like-minded on most aspects in this area, out of three best picks we both had, we only got one carrier in common. and for neither of us it was first choice lol.

i'm just saying. you can collect good name brands and popular models but ultimately at the end you need to make your own choice of what looks good to YOU.

when i was shopping i was looking and considering blackhawk and banshee in my budget bracket.

different sizes are available but not all brands offer selection of size. those that do are usually have just two sm-med and lg-xlg
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What did you end up going with? Very curious as you both came up with the same brand and choice
 
Awesome do these come with plates or is this seperate? Sorry of all the questions, but as they say in the south, I am trying to get all learned up
 
No, usually they don't come with any armor, unless you find a package deal, but now ur lookin at big money, unless u get steel plates and don't mind spalling.
 
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Gearhog was running an awesome deal a few weeks ago that I'm kicking myself for not jumping on. It was a black carrier with one curved AR500 plate with the anti spall Bedliner coating and it was maybe $129 or something like that. Even though steel is heavy, it is still effective if you ever really needed it, plus you can always buy soft plates and/or ceramic later when you find a good deal.
 
goodlife30 said:
What did you end up going with? Very curious as you both came up with the same brand and choice
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the one we both picked was condor, because we are both cheapskates and realistically to sit in the closet 'just in case' cheap carrier will do. we decided on this one here http://www.lapolicegear.com/tg-xpc-exo-carrier.html

however we ran into 'over-production' deal that was going on shellback tactical and got two very decent vests for $50. Some contract for Saudi Royal Guard by Defend-x Armor. never heard of them but vest seems solid and well made despite the price.


Terminator03 said:
Gearhog was running an awesome deal a few weeks ago that I'm kicking myself for not jumping on. It was a black carrier with one curved AR500 plate with the anti spall Bedliner coating and it was maybe $129 or something like that. Even though steel is heavy, it is still effective if you ever really needed it, plus you can always buy soft plates and/or ceramic later when you find a good deal.
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main advantage of steel that it does not disintegrate like soft or composite plates and can take multiple hits time and time again. the disadvantage it's about 40% heavier than equally rated composite plates.

something else i have not heard many people talking about is another type of steel plate. not ar500 but rather MIL-DTL-46100 which is rated to defeat 30-06 AP round. this is bona-fide level IV plate compared to ar500 that is only level III+. makes me wonder why it made so little noise compared to ar500 plates.

Queen Bee said:
Yeh the first spear is light

Once they make it modular and not fixed, they might have a real winner
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as far as hanging sheit directly on your carrier - i've heard .mil decided it's big no-no now. weight in the front makes plate sag and opens up some sternum area at the top. don't know if this is really as big of a deal as some people claim it to be, but i decided to run on the side of caution and not hang anything on the carrier and get chest rig instead. chest rig you can throw on whether you will be wearing armor or decide to leave it off. looks like advantage in my book, although extra weight of the chest-rig is a trade off one must consider.
 
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5.11 tactical "TacTec" plate carrier. Look on youtube for reviews (ymmv).
dkx armor level 3 rifle plate 2.8 lbs, because it's made out of dyneema, you don't need to worry about spalling.
look around youtube. Plenty of reviews / videos.
 
Not sure if it is ok to post websites so please delete if not. Bulletsafe,com
There is a video showing plate vs 30-06
 
Awesome. Thanks guys! I would prefer ceramic plates as all the associated gear gets heavy when you start stacking it on yourself. Any recs for ceramic plates?
 
Anything that has the latest NIJ certification, be prepared to shell out some $$$$$. Remember, it's ur life behind those plates.
 
I got to handle an LBT 6094 the other day, its nice. If you are routing any wires it is nice for that. The plate retention systems kinda suck I thought though.

I have an SKD pig using medium ESAPI plates which so far I like, I'm not a small guy, 6' 200lbs, the pig seems big on me without plates, with ESAPIs it fits well. The retention system is better than the LBT IMO but the side plates literally go in separate pockets and Velcro to the inside of the cummerbund, not an issue so far. I like the extra molle up front I have 3 hsgi tacos and an hsgi blowout pouch up front comfortably. The SKD also takes the wearers comfort into consideration by adding a ridge down your back to allow airflow.

I had a condor before the SKD if you have to stay cheap it will work.
 
rkwjunior said:
Anything that has the latest NIJ certification, be prepared to shell out some $$$$$. Remember, it's ur life behind those plates.
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This is why I went with level iv ceramic. Level III steel is expensive, but not proof against 30-06AP - which is more common than you might think, and also, at close range, AR500 armor is not proof against fast and light 5.56 - such as xm193. Speed kills with the smaller bullets - though hardened ar500 armor will stop xm855, it may not reliabily stop the all lead xm193 because th 193 is moving faster.
 
Smash05 said:
This is why I went with level iv ceramic. Level III steel is expensive, but not proof against 30-06AP - which is more common than you might think, and also, at close range, AR500 armor is not proof against fast and light 5.56 - such as xm193. Speed kills with the smaller bullets - though hardened ar500 armor will stop xm855, it may not reliabily stop the all lead xm193 because th 193 is moving faster.
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I have a bunch of steel plates that say you're full of crap and don't know what you are talking about.

I shoot every single plate I have with at least one round of M855 to check it before it goes in one of my carriers.

image.jpg
 
For the record I would absolutely put that plate shown into a carrier and trust my life to it still. No real AR500 plate will let M193 even leave a mark/dent, let alone punch a hole. If it does, your plate isn't AR500.

All shots shown were taken at 25yards.
 
xtry51 said:
For the record I would absolutely put that plate shown into a carrier and trust my life to it still. No real AR500 plate will let M193 even leave a mark/dent, let alone punch a hole. If it does, your plate isn't AR500.

All shots shown were taken at 25yards.
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what thickness? i have seen 5.45x45 go through 3/8" ar500, it could be cheap metal <AR500 strength but i have the target on my range it has stopped everything else i shot at it.
 
AllaSnackbah said:
what thickness? i have seen 5.45x45 go through 3/8" ar500, it could be cheap metal <AR500 strength but i have the target on my range it has stopped everything else i shot at it.
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The plates I have are .220" thick. Sounds like that 3/8" plate you have is someone hosing you by selling AR400, which won't stop rifle rounds but will stop common handgun with minimal deformation. Rounds like 9mm, .40. 45ACP. Next time I see you I'll bring a 1/2" AR400 plate. The steel we shot last time was AR500 1/2". Those plates have each taken well over 5k rounds each of every variety of 5.56 and plenty of .308. They're over four years old and we use them nearly every training session.

- - - Updated - - -

rkwjunior said:
[rolleyes]


Thanx captain happy.
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Hey, there's a big misconception you can't be happy and a jerk at the same time [laugh][wink]
 
xtry51 said:
The plates I have are .220" thick. Sounds like that 3/8" plate you have is someone hosing you by selling AR400, which won't stop rifle rounds but will stop common handgun with minimal deformation. Rounds like 9mm, .40. 45ACP. Next time I see you I'll bring a 1/2" AR400 plate. The steel we shot last time was AR500 1/2". Those plates have each taken well over 5k rounds each of every variety of 5.56 and plenty of .308. They're over four years old and we use them nearly every training session.

- - - Updated - - -



Hey, there's a big misconception you can't be happy and a jerk at the same time [laugh][wink]
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That's been debunked right here on NES.

At the end of my range session there is a 3" deep trench in front of my gong, this reminds me every time never to put steel on my chest.
 

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