Originally Posted by
pag23
RMA level4 are about $135 a piece and 8.3lbs per plate... Is a couple of pounds that much of a difference? It feels that way sometimes between my two PCs lol
HELL YES.
I went from 7lb plates (6lb for plate + 1lb for ICW backers) in a heavy PC, to 4.5 pound plates in a much lighter-weight carrier. Even in a lighter carrier, the 7-pounders were "a bit much" once you add all your other crap. I can't imagine anyone wanting to drag around 8lb plates + required gear even if they were very fit.
The PC you put it in, and how many extra pouches you add (and what they are constructed of) also plays a surprising difference.
I notice a lot of 'new to armor' folks I've talked to only look at the 'per plate' weight to justify it in their heads; "It's only 8/ 8.5/etc pounds".
No... it's 16 or 17 pounds BEFORE you add your carrier/placard/pouches which is going to be between 3-6 pounds, no matter how light you go. So the starting weight, before adding a single clipazine, is 19-23 pounds.
When you point out that your entire 'heavy' loadout with plates/carrier, 6 rifle mags, IFAK, pistol mags, radio, and other small stuff is 26 pounds total... Or that the bare plate weight of 16 lbs is my plates/carrier + 4 rifle mags I get to carry for "free" before I hit their bare plate weight... I've found most of them suddenly have that 'lightbulb' moment.
Multi-curve also makes a big difference Vs singles, but... you gotta do what you gotta do for the money available.
Originally Posted by
Defaultmp3
It's probably because the plate doesn't stop .30-06 M2 in a meaningful manner. The video does not show proper testing procedures according to NIJ; there is no data that I saw in a cursory viewing of the video that dealt with backform deformation. Just because a bullet doesn't fully penetrate doesn't mean that the plate actually is considered to have defeated the round, as if enough BFD has occurred, the wearer would still incur catastrophic injury.
That's a good point. Although, the BFD with 855 looked acceptable to me (versus a variety of other non-lab testing I've seen with a variety of plates). You're probably right though, likely just a CYA thing.
That being said, the utter lack of specific threat-ratings on the LAPG page also bugs me; I don't think I've seen any other armor vendor that doesn't list the rounds it's rated for right up front. So considering nobody on the buyer side has any idea what it's legit rated to stop... the general vagueness on that whole page seems like a big CYA thing.
Unless these are some sort of rebrand/contract overrun of good plates, and they just can't mark/print what they really are?
YMMV... I've also never played around with the ultra-budget armor market (for good reason).
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