Plate Carrier vs Chest rig

[MaxtheNinja]

Besides the obvious benefit of being able to carry plates, does a plate carrier have any other advantages over a simpler and lighter chest rig? When would someone rather wear a chest rig without plates?

[Wake27]

You wear a chest rig when you know you won’t need ballistic protection, or when you’re willing to accept the risk of rollin without due to weather, environment, or mission parameters like having to walk 10 miles before doing your shit.

Almost zero percent of the civilian population will ever be in a situation where they both need ballistic protection and have the time and foresight to don it. But I’d want one even if I wasn’t military. Plate carrier is a great way to do some load carriage PT and you never know when society is going to collapse.


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[AlecBeach]

I would rather have Kevlar. Might hurt like a bitch when you are shot. But it is lightweight and can be worn under most clothes.

[gaijin]

Kevlar, like “Second Chance” ain’t gonna stop a rifle round.

[paulschoon]

Kevlar is good for civilians but as gaijin said its not going to do much good when dealing with a riffle most a good up to a 9 mil I believe

[100]

Side plates leads to the question of which is more important? Mobility or protection? If I were holed up in a bunker, I'd probably opt for side plates. As an aggressive guy who wants to take the fight to the enemy, I'll forego the side plates.

I love dump pouches! When I was a private at Ranger Regiment, we just dumped our spent mags down the front of our tucked-in blouse. When I got to Group, my senior threw me a dump pouch he'd had made by the riggers when I was putting my LBE together. I fell in love with it the first time I went to the field with it! The idea that you're going to have the time to put a spent mag back into it's specific pouch is entirely too Walter Mitty. It's just not going to happen, in my experience. I'm sure there's some CAG shooter out there that competes in 3-Gun competitions when he's not deployed (actually a lot of them do) that can pull it off. I've never met anyone that could do it under fire though.

As far as other accessories, I'll put a post together for the other thread on how I set up my LBE and why.

[Hmac]

Besides the obvious benefit of being able to carry plates, does a plate carrier have any other advantages over a simpler and lighter chest rig? When would someone rather wear a chest rig without plates?

Very dependent on need, I'm sure. I can't even imagine the need for armor of any kind, but my life is pretty secure and must certainly be more benign than those of you who need to consider a plate carrier as part of your kit. OTOH, chest rigs are certainly convenient at high round-count carbine courses and I use one of those routinely for training. I do a lot of self-defense training, don't have much need for actual self-defense. YMMV.

[specialk]

Besides the obvious benefit of being able to carry plates, does a plate carrier have any other advantages over a simpler and lighter chest rig? When would someone rather wear a chest rig without plates?

If you're not sure which one you need, then the answer is "Neither".

[The_War_Wagon]

Kevlar, like “Second Chance” ain’t gonna stop a rifle round.

I've got a carrier, that I've outfitted with III-A soft armor, and a trauma plate, but I did so FOR the mobility. I figure if I'm TAKING rifle rounds, I'm already in a world of hurt. This lighter carrier, is in case of civil unrest (da' COMMUNITY has been protesting of late here in da' 'BURGH over this police shooting - if the officer gets acquitted, I figure I'll be sleeping in this carrier!) - which should offer ample protection from a hail of .25 - 9mm fire. My chest rig, while obviously even more mobile, also has a an 8" x 8" III-A chest pad in it, which is better than NOTHING... if not by much...

[Watrdawg]

I have both and have used both in training class situations. 2 shoot house classes I took required armor. Typically I'm using a chest rig for a typical carbine class or maybe a war belt. The main reason I could see having to don a plate carrier would be in times of severe civil unrest where shootings are occurring and I absolutely can't avoid the area or as has been said everything goes to hell in a hand basket and it's a complete survival situation. Other than in a class room situation I have never had to think about grabbing my plate carrier. Although I'm glad it's there if need be!