Learn me on plate carriers

[Mr. Goodtimes]

Because of life, shit, work, stuff and things, I quit paying as close attention to certain aspects of shooting as I did a few years ago. When I was really paying attention to what was going on, it was the Eagle CIRAS, Crye CAGE, Mayflower APC and maybe the SKD PIG were all pretty awesome.

What's the best thing going today?

Ultimately the use will be for duty but for now, it's mostly going to be for range use and if things ever got really weird. I'm a career firefighter at a large metropolitan agency and I feel as though having body armor in the event of an active shooter scenario isn't a completely bad idea.

Also as far as plates go, who makes good plates at a reasonable price? I'd like to be all in on a carrier and plates for 1k. I believe that Level III would probably be the way to go as I feel like it's more important to have multi hit protection than protection against 30-06 AP.

I almost picked up a Mayflower APC but I held off as I didn't want to make a premature decision. As for plates, I don't even know where to start as far as quality manufacturers.

[cd228]

I just purchased a set of ATP3s from AT Armor and I was happy with them. Link =http://store.atarmor.com/product_p/at-atp3set-lg.htm The plates are a little thick, but very light. Noticeably lighter than my issued SAPI plates. NIJ certified (you can check the NIJ site) and available in SAPI sizes. It's also been independently tested for select 5.56mm and 7.62x39mm rounds. They also have 10X12s available if price is a major factor. For carriers Mayflower and Crye are still very well regarded. I've heard good things about Blue Force Gear and First Spear. The SKD pig seems to get good reviews and is supposedly adjustable to multiple sizes. I actually went with ATS tactical as I have been using their equipment for about a decade. If you want to do more research hit lightfighter.net's armor forum and primary and secondary's armor forum. Also the gentleman who runs AT Armor wrote a pretty good Armor 101 write up its at http://store.atarmor.com/category_s/1884.htm. Your requirement might be a little different then most, what's your plan for integrating your vest and turnout gear?

[Wake27]

Velocity Systems/Mayflower manufactured every single piece of armor or armor carrying equipment I have paid for. The only exception to that is some side plates I just bought with SKD's massive Trump sale. Even though I got a great deal on them, I already regret using anything other than Velocity armor. There are plenty of decent options out there that work well, but I think it's hard to be Velocity and I think you should be able to get a full package with your budget.


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[cd228]

Here is a fun fact. There are actually very few actual armor plate makers. If you have some spare time, take the NIJ number of your plate and do a find function on the NIJ database. It will only give you data on the certified plates, but you will see that a number of vendors offer the same model. Sometimes you can find the same plate from a different vendor for a cheaper price. I'm not saying that NIJ standard is the do all end, its far from it (MIL,FBI and DEA wrote their own) but it can be used for research purposes.

If you have experience with the Mayflower APC and it meets your requirements, I'd say stick with it.

[firefighter37]

I have an SKD PIG carrier and I find it to be comfortable, but it does seem a little bulky. I have no experience with other plate carriers, but with the PIG I don't feel like I need to look elsewhere. It's not something I wear everyday. I also got it when SKD was doing like 15% off.

[cd228]

I have an SKD PIG carrier and I find it to be comfortable, but it does seem a little bulky. I have no experience with other plate carriers, but with the PIG I don't feel like I need to look elsewhere. It's not something I wear everyday. I also got it when SKD was doing like 15% off.

I noticed your user name is firefighter37. do you use your armor while on duty? The OP mentioned that he was looking at possibly using his armor on duty and Ifigure a fellow firefighter might be a good info source for him for tips on how to wear armor with his gear.

[firefighter37]

I noticed your user name is firefighter37. do you use your armor while on duty? The OP mentioned that he was looking at possibly using his armor on duty and Ifigure a fellow firefighter might be a good info source for him for tips on how to wear armor with his gear.

Negative, I do not wear it on duty... we are not issued Armor nor are we allowed to wear our own, so I would be unable to comment on that. My view is strictly from a personal standpoint. That being said, I would not hesitate to wear it on duty if I had to and was allowed. I will ask the SRT Medics what they wear, the next time I see them.

ETA: I worked in law enforcement years ago. I am a firefighter for a reason... if I had to wear armor, I don't know that I would be happy. We allow the LEOs to clear the scene, once that's done, then we enter.

[48J]

I bought an SKD PIG. The PIG is a minimalist carrier from the standpoint that it is not loaded with MOLLE attachments. The drawback is that the carrier uses Velcro for everything and is therefore noisy.

I am pleased with the carrier. It fits my needs.

[trinydex]

Velocity Systems/Mayflower manufactured every single piece of armor or armor carrying equipment I have paid for. The only exception to that is some side plates I just bought with SKD's massive Trump sale. Even though I got a great deal on them, I already regret using anything other than Velocity armor. There are plenty of decent options out there that work well, but I think it's hard to be Velocity and I think you should be able to get a full package with your budget.


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velocity systems / mayflower is great. to the OP, when purchasing, take very careful note of cummerbund armor size. most armor comes in 6x6 or 6x8. the velsys and mayflower offerings come in a 5x8 configuration and their cummerbund pockets reflect that sizing. if you work for an agency that has freebie 6x8 trauma plates in old vests that have been turned in, then you can shop for a 6x8 or 6x10 cummerbund you can save yourself some money.

again to the OP: it seems like the cool thing these days is scalability. however, i have come to find that you just need different kits for different functions.

allow me to present my case.

a plate carrier has 2 main components, the plate bags and the cummerbund.

most load-outs require real estate, usually in the form on MOLLE, (some of these new slicky systems or load out flaps have sewn in configurations which is less desirable to me. i like my stuff where i like it, not where someone else thinks i should like it).

if you are like most people, you require cummerbund real estate in order to accomplish a sensible load out. this means including a trauma kit, realistic use items like hand held flashlight, multi-tool, communication device pocket (whether it be for a phone or radio), restraints pocket, as well as the 1.5 billion rounds of ammunition everyone is trying to cram on their armor. if you do not use a battle belt type system, that increases the primeness of the armor carrier real estate.

so, what am i getting at?

i prefer my systems to be grab and go. i can't spend the night before rerouting all the communication wiring, or removing it all together, or pulling the MOLLE cummerbund off to switch it out for the elastic cummerbund, and then be forced to make the conscious decision to just go without the med kit and the extra magazine or whatever other stuff i lose from peeling a MOLLE cummerbund off. yes, i'm sure if you really want to, you could figure out some way to "scale" it all, put all the critical stuff on the plate bags and then make the cummerbund stuff what you would add on, or maybe start using a belt (which i refuse to do) and it might involve some inserts that can be pulled off one place and easily inserted in another. i'm not doing it.

i'm setting up 1 kit for 1 purpose and i set up a separate slick kit for the slick purpose. i set up all my kits to resemble each other as closely as possible for the purpose they serve.

just like building a rifle, there's no rifle that just scales up and down to do everything perfectly. there's similarly not going to be 1 kit that does it all without compromising a lot.

so while everyone is buying ferro concept slicksters and piecing together exactly what they want for a lot of money, i just purchased a mayflower APC. full set of velsys level 4 plates.

now this is not to say i didn't buy a ferro or a perroz or similar plate carrier for my slick set up, complete with all the flattened blue force gear 10 speed pouches. i did.

also keep in mind, some of the factors that drove me in this direction are that i refuse to wear a battle belt system and i refuse to give up side armor protection of some type.

[Inkslinger]

OP, if this is something you plan to use for duty as a fireman, you may what to look at a minimalist carrier like the PIG Brigandine. Combine that with lightweight lvl III+ plates and I think you'll be in good shape.

http://www.skdtac.com/PIG-Brig-Plate...-p/pig.400.htm

http://www.bulletproofme.com/RP-Leve...S-Ceramic.html