Ar 500 plate armor

[Carter]

I recently found steel plate armor at ar500armor.com which is pretty affordable. I know it's heavier than ceramic, but is it a good product otherwise? Also, how good are their plate carriers?

 

[1KPerDay]

dunno but read this thread for some things to consider
http://www.akfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137814&highlight=ar500+plate+carrier

 

[maxyedor]

FWIW, the US Military was sold on the bed liner to prevent spalling and used to require it on almost all vehicular armor, after they actually tested it, full reversal, it's banned from use in most contracts. It spalls every bit as badly, and in many cases worse than the original surface.

Real deal SAPI plates are expensive, but they flat out work. Lightweight, and easy to wear, 22 pounds of steel is a lot of weight to hump around, especially when you're probably still going to be badly injured by the spall anyway. If you have an honest need for body armor, you need body armor that works.

Be wary of any low cost SAPI plates, there are tons of them failing and being rejected by the DoD, I wouldn't doubt that they're being sold on the civilian market.

 

[Zardaia]

Even among lvl 4 SAPI, weight varies. I been issued some that are heavy by themselves, and others same protection lvl w/half the weight.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Some sort of truck liner seemed pretty effective on small arms fire with this guy's product, which is a AR500 plate with a bedliner variation. He tests a bare plate in a carrier (shredded to bits) vs a plate with some sort of bedliner-like coating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCw1XHFDpTk

However wee need to keep in mind these AR500 plate products might be bargains but generally you get what you pay for. Not that they don't work, because gongs and IPSCs are made from AR500 and work fine for decades. Simply, a lot more money, materials, research, and testing goes into the big name brands that get certification, and you pay accordingly for proven products.