I want plates that can do the common 5.56 rounds for SHTF and would like it light weight. I don't want ceramic and metal is 7.5lbs per plate for the most part. But there seems to also be polyethylene which would cut the weight in half.

Well I found a plate that I think meets what I'm looking for, it's extremely lightweight 3.6lbs and is a III+ plate. - which I've been told by BodyArmoroutlet.com that it does in fact do M855& M193 (which apparently is what the + rating adds). It's pricey but buy once cry once and if SHTF and I ever have to use these ill be glad I spent the extra fiat currency while I could.

These even come with one of the best anti-spalling coatings - Line-X

$499 Aries III+ @ BodyArmoroutlet.com

AriesPlate

The other plate I was considering was Armor Express's Titon III+ metal plate which per BAO is one of the most impressive metal plates available and does M855& M193 (hence the + rating)

I would assume the people at BAO know what they're talking about, but figured it doesn't hurt to quadruple check when you're dealing with plates and dropping some serious coin.

One of the guys at BAO said they fired thousands of various rounds at one plate during a training. Said they were the most impressive metal plates hes seen and they were the ones he personally wears/has. I figured he knew what he was talking about since he works at BAO. He also sounded pretty knowledgable in general and didn't sound like he was bullshitting me.

We also talked about AR500 and its hardness of 500 Rockwell and how it cant do M855 & M193 but the Tritons Rockwell is much much higher on the III+ (although he didn't know exactly what is was) and can do them with no issues.

Then I started looking at the other Armor Express plates on their site and found the Aries III+. He said if he could afford it he'd be running them over the Tritons as well. I really love their lightweightness and the fact they're not ceramic and don't have to worry about them cracking & getting X-rays.

The downside is I can't jump in a volcano with them, but these are either going to be stored in a cool dry place or on my body during SHTF so I'm not worried about temp affecting them. I won't be keeping them in my trunk or anything along those lines. I live in the north for what it's worth.

I just wanted to triple check the M193 & M855 stopping ability on the Aries III+ plates before dropping some serious coin on them.

If I wouldn't have found the Aries III+ I would have already bought the Triton plates as they're a top end metal plate for a very reasonable price.

There is probably no perfect anti spalling coating yet, but the Line-X has to be better than nothing and will drastically reduce spalling that tears up your carrier.