Lightest NIJ IV system

[krisjon]

Those look good. I just got a new carrier and need a shooters cut set of plates.

I'm very happy with them. They went into a new LBT 6094 carrier. Very comfortable and easy to move in. Great quality and weight for the $. Bulletproofme was great to deal with, too. If you want pics or anything, PM me.

[markm]

For sure.

[krisjon]

Here's the video of the test that was done on the level IVs. Damn impressive if you ask me. Talk about multi-hit!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2Y1I4ZQ_A

I'll get you some pics when I get home.

[Adam_s]

A little secret-MOST armor companies don't make their own armor. There are only a few facilities world-wide capable of making these ceramic plates. Everyone-they just buy them from an OEM, and slap their own name on it.

If a plate is tested and certified to NIJ standards, the model number is entered into the NIJ's database, so that you can go and verify it's certification status yourself.

Interesting thing is-if the plate is unchanged between the OEM, and the end-distributor, other than the name on it, but NIJ listed model # doesn't change. A little time with your favorite search engine may turn up some interesting stuff as to who really makes what.

Next point-when you buy armor, make sure the plate is independently tested, and if it is certified, certified to the most current standards. The plate mentioned by krisjon is only NIJ '05 rated, not NIJ '06. In some cases this may not be a big deal, but in others...could be bad. Read up on NIJ '04, Interim '05, and NIJ '06, and make your own decisions.

If a plate is Special Threat rated, (rated for threats beyond the scope of NIJ testing), make sure the testing to establish said rating was done by an outside, independent lab. Before you drop the coin on something that is a potentially life-saving piece of equipment, do some homework. Heck-ask to see the test sheets. I've yet to run into a reputable armor firm that will not freely give this data out to potential clients.

There are some firms who will self-certify armor-that is, test it themselves, but not submit it to NIJ testing or official certification. Take that for what you will. Odds are, there will be nothing wrong, but it is one more data point to keep in mind.

Getting back to things at hand-after discussions with a VERY intelligent armor SME, I would feel comfortable telling you that any armor system capable of stopping M855 and 7.62x39MSC will more than suffice for your protection needs. The higher end Armor Piercing rounds are just not present here CONUS. There is a significant difference in bullet design between an AP round, and your average hunting round, even though the rounds may weigh the same.

Think about it-your average hunting round is designed to impact a game animal, and transfer all of it's ballistic energy into that animal creating a wound channel, thus disrupting the animal's vital processes, hopefully killing it. The only thing that is between said bullet, and the internals of the critter in question are a few layers of fat, muscle, skin, and fur. None of these would pose a serious impediment to the progress of the bullet into the target. Armor Piercing ammunition though is designed to penetrate layers of protection between the bullet and the internals of the target. This is often accomplished by a harder metal core (Steel, tungsten, etc). Upon impact with dense materials-such as armor-the core will separate from the rest of the bullet, continuing to penetrate to create the wound channel, thus wounding/killing the target.

If a non-armor piercing round hits armor, it will most likely deform, and not penetrate the armor.

That is not to say that the person inside the armor will not be spared the brunt of the impact, but they will not have to deal with the round entering their body. Physics dictates that energy has to go somewhere, and even if it is dissipated over a larger area, that is still a whole ton of force to spill out.

Remember, armor is BULLET proof, not PHYSICS proof.