BODY ARMOR!?!?!?!

Hmm, so I keep seeing sapi plates being offered up for sale or trade on a local gun board. It peaked my interest and I started looking around at body armor. Now Im not a paranoid end of the world type guy, but I see nothing wrong with being prepared. Im not blind to the ways of the world and I fully believe that the crap could hit the fan in my lifetime though I sure hope that it doesnt... So with the disclaimer out of the way, do any of you guys have much experience in the body armor area? I was drawn to this AR500 plate setup. They are multi hit rated and dont need aditional soft armor to comliment them. At less then $300 for a complete rig its hard to beat. Hell there is enough money left in the budget to pick up an extra plate to do some target/testing on... Now I also firmly believe in you get what you pay for. So Im wondering if this is too good to be true. Seems like they are less fragile then ceremic also. I guess the big trade off might be weight? One of these setups looks to weigh in around 20lbs... So feel free to chime in I look forward to others opinions and advice...


Here is a link to the ar500 stuff....
http://www.ar500armor.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29908

The problem with steel plates is splaying , Thats why some of them are coating them in truck bed liner to keep the splaying at a minimum. Yes they do work and most carriers will have a padded interior to relieve some of the Ping that the steel creates getting hit . They will stop up to a .308 FMJ , however AP rounds seem to do a little more damage than normal .
Yes they work , Yes their cheap, as far as weight is concerned its about 6 more lbs than the SAPI plates , SAPI plates are not all multi hit plates so you need to be aware of what your buying, They are fragile and once broken they are junk . SAPI plates basically grind up a bullet upon entry, the steel impact disintegrates the bullet and the particles have to go some where so on flat steel they will go every where basically like small shrapnel which will destroy a plate carrier in a hurry along with personal damage from the shrapnel and thats why they are coating them in truck bed liners, Kevlar wrapping them, or rubber coating them which does add more weight again..
Multi hit SAPI plates can run anywhere from $750 -$1200+ for 4 plates + carrier ,compared to $150 + carrier for uncoated plates for SHTF the Ar500 steel plates work great as they may or may not never be used, and you dont have $1000+ wrapped up . IF I were going to battle multi-hit SAPI plates are what I would have. Now saying that I do own AR500 steel plates and carriers for myself and my wife

Thanks for the reply. I basically found the sams info after doin further research. My stance is about like yours on the situation. I think ill pick up soms ar500 for shtf supply since i will hopefully never need them. I might try to get an extra plate and coat it with bed liner and.set up an experiment to see if that helps on the shrapnel... thanks again

glockdnloaded wrote:Thanks for the reply. I basically found the sams info after doin further research. My stance is about like yours on the situation. I think ill pick up soms ar500 for shtf supply since i will hopefully never need them. I might try to get an extra plate and coat it with bed liner and.set up an experiment to see if that helps on the shrapnel... thanks again

I coated ours in spray bomb truck bed liner in the can , it took about 2 cans for 4 plates to get enough build up to serve the purpose so roughly another $16 for a set of plates , remember light coats and let dry like 4 hrs before doing it again or it will take forever to dry . Its a several day process doing them all so dont think its going to happen over night .

I have the AR500 plates for my wife and I. Running the PIG plate carriers. They make for GREAT weight vests when running haha