Soft armor in front of steel plate

[patriot54]

I have heard of people putting soft armor in front and behind their steel plates. This, from what I understand, is to prevent some of the splatter and ricochet from the bullet impacting from hitting you and injuring you further. Is this true? Or just a myth?

thanks, patriot

[Pax]

Round fragments do not stick exclusively to areas of the body covered by BALCS-cut soft armor. In fact, rounds tend to deflect along a path perpendicular to the steel plate, away from any soft armor behind the plate. I do not know if running the soft armor in front of the plate would solve this issue and I do not know what armor carriers would be compatible with this type of setup. I do know the issue of deflected round fragments has yet to prove itself prevalent when using ceramic plates. Hint hint.

[patriot54]

yes and I run ceramics and believe they are better/safer. I just heard it and wondered if it was true. And maybe to put together some low cost rigs, even though you can SAPI's for pretty cheap.

[Pax]

Indeed.. I can SAPI's for pretty cheap..

Also, pardon me. Rounds don't deflect in a direction perpendicular to the plate, but rather more or less parallel to the plate's plane. I was thinking perpendicular to the round's original direction on most one-way ranges, but you knew what I meant. My mistake.

[jenrick]

I had considered doing it when I still used steel plates, but I ended up just using Rhino-Lline (the pickup bed coating). It actually worked extremely well to control spalling from leaving the plate at angles that might cause injury to the plate wearer.

-Jenrick

[cmoore]

Indeed.. I can SAPI's for pretty cheap..

Also, pardon me. Rounds don't deflect in a direction perpendicular to the plate, but rather more or less parallel to the plate's plane. I was thinking perpendicular to the round's original direction on most one-way ranges, but you knew what I meant. My mistake.

Yeah, I knew what you meant :haha:


from Jenrick: "but I ended up just using Rhino-Lline"...

Interesting. How thick of a coating did you use on the plates? My steelies are 10x13's and fit very tight in the plate pocket in the rig I wear @ work. My other personally owned PC is adjustable, but I can't press that into service @ work anymore and have to wear what's issued.

[lymanbishop]

I am a mechanical engineer with over 10 years experience in the body armor industry. My opinion, steel is dangerous and heavy. If your putting soft armor in front of it you will weigh a ton. I recommend PE (polyethylene) plates for Level III applications, and PE / Ceramic composites, III+ / IV for M855 and above. Its light, durable and wont spit spall in your throat. There is a reason that LE and Military dot use steel. I sell armor, and could make a lot more selling steel, but I have a moral objection towards doing so. My website is www.hoplitearmor.com 855-ARMOR-01. Feel free to contact me with any questions. I dont care if you buy from me, but I want people to have real armor and I am happy to educate as needed.

[Auto-X Fil]

Lyman -

I notice that you are a recently joined member, and that nearly all your posts contain commercial advertisements. It comes across as spamming, despite some light technical content. This is not TOS, and the burden of proof lies on the poster here. You certainly appear to have genuine knowledge and a quality product, but I would like to some serious testing performed and documented. Check out Molon's posts for the kind of posting that would be most appreciated around here.

For instance, video or photographic evidence of abuse testing, spalling/fragmenting, multi-shot performance, etc. Hit your plates with a bat, run them over with a truck, drop them, and then shoot them. Set up a fragmentation/spall test with coated and uncoated steel vs poly/ceramic and show how they perform. THAT will sell armor.

[lymanbishop]

Lyman -

I notice that you are a recently joined member, and that nearly all your posts contain commercial advertisements. It comes across as spamming, despite some light technical content. This is not TOS, and the burden of proof lies on the poster here. You certainly appear to have genuine knowledge and a quality product, but I would like to some serious testing performed and documented. Check out Molon's posts for the kind of posting that would be most appreciated around here.

For instance, video or photographic evidence of abuse testing, spalling/fragmenting, multi-shot performance, etc. Hit your plates with a bat, run them over with a truck, drop them, and then shoot them. Set up a fragmentation/spall test with coated and uncoated steel vs poly/ceramic and show how they perform. THAT will sell armor.

Video is in the editing stage at the moment but I will post asap. Ive attached a couple pics in the meantime.
My purpose for posting here is not to sell, but to educate. I see lots of talk regarding steel plates and I feel compelled to state facts. Armor is for safety and there are some serious safety concerns with steel plates that most people overlook.

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[gibsonsg05]

Coated steel plates stop bullets from fragmenting. Soft armor behind is not a bad idea, will also absorb impact.

[Grizzly16]

All the soft armor in front of steel I've seen has been to control the spall/frags. Most of them are more of a pouch to catch it. In theory that saves weight compared to using bed liner (or other coatings) to control spall/frags. There used to be a guy who posted regularly in the EE with premade kevlar pouches. That way you got front spall protection and some back face trauma protection.