Body armor?

[357wheelgunner]

A friend of mine in private security sold me an unopened vest, still in the packaging. It is Point Blank brand, level IIIA protection. I paid $70 for it.

I know absolutely nothing about body armor, can you guys tell me more about what I have and if I got a good deal on it?

 

[david_the_greek]

seems exceptional to me. I guess pointblank is the manufacturer that got in trouble for faulty vests but I believe most of the product was fine. Perhaps your friend or someone at his work is very paranoid or it was sitting in storage for 10+ years in which case its probably no good. You can probably find a date of manufacture on it somewhere and search from there

 

[357wheelgunner]

There is no manufacture date. There is a batch number though.

Even if it is "expired" I guess it is still better than nothing, right?

 

[NMshooter]

If it is 100% Kevlar you are good to go.

If it is made of Zylon, Spectra, or a laminate containing either material it might provide protection or it might not, and you have no way of non-destructive testing the vest to find out.

At worst you can try wearing it for a while to find out what it is like to wear body armor, and at least you are only out 70$.

 

[Freddymac]

Hey 357...

I know nothing about body armor, but I love you succker, I mean soccer comment. I'm still laughing...

 

[James NM]

I don't know anything about body armor either.

Does kevlar really go bad? Does it really have an expiration date?

Which goes first, the taste or the texture?

 

[Lebben-B]

I've worn body armor quite a bit through my career. NMshooter is 100% correct in his response. Let me add one caveat, though. Inspect the vest for water damage.(water stains and the like.) Although kevlar is pretty sturdy stuff, it's ballistic protective properties degrade with long term exposure to water. The old 1st gen kevlar flak jackets had a warning label that the vest should be worn under clothing during wet weather.

As far as Pointblank goes, the CEO of that company should be on death row for knowing he had a defective product made from a substandard material and not doing anything about it.

Mike

 

[Pilgrim]

As far as Pointblank goes, the CEO of that company should be on death row for knowing he had a defective product made from a substandard material and not doing anything about it.

I believe the company is Second Chance concerning vests made with Zylon.

Pilgrim

 

[Lebben-B]

I stand corrected.

 

[Azrael256]

I believe the company is Second Chance

Point Blank, too. The suit was settled in December of last year. I VERY strongly recommend consulting this list to determine whether or not your vest contains Zylon. If you got it for $70, I would be inclined to believe that it does.

Disturbingly enough, my brother was issued a Point Blank Interceptor in Iraq. It didn't use Zylon, but it's a little bit unnerving.

 

[david_the_greek]

I believe the founder of pointblank is actually running another body armor company. I don't remember its name but I think it is on the thread "bulletproof me", hhhhmmm well actually that might not be it but that old thread does have a couple links to different manufacturers

 

[357wheelgunner]

OK I got my answers. My vest was made in 2003, and is not one of the infamous zylon ones. It is kevlar. They said it is warranted until 2008.

Does this mean that in 2008 it will not be protective? What if I never really wear it and keep it in the vault with my other emergency gear? In 2008 will my vest go "poof" and turn to dust?

 

[sacp81170a]

Generally what makes vests degrade is exposure to heat, moisture and UV light, i.e., sunlight. If a vest is properly stored the company *guarantees* it's good until the expiration date. After that, the company assumes no liability if the vest doesn't work as advertised. However, it may still provide a lower level of protection for years and is certainly better than nothing. We actually take old vests and put them in the door panels of patrol cars for an increased level of protection. It's no guarantee, but it's better than nothin' if nothin's all the city can afford.

 

[357wheelgunner]

Well if my vest "expires" and I get shot, and I die, I guess I won't be around to worry about warranty matters Oh and my wife can cash in on the $250K life insurance. Not bad for a worst case scenario

 

[45s save lives]

pretty good stuff

I am a fan of the Intercepter vest. While in Iraq I assisted medics with a first cav soldier that had been shot twice with an Ak. One round hit his vest in the shoulder just missed the sappi plate but hit the pad underneath. The other went through his legs. The one that hit him in the chest was STOPPED by just the pad it didnt even hit the plates which are rated for 7.62 M80 ball (308). My only complaint is that they are heavy and restrict movement.
I have a friend in 2nd recon Bn (usmc) and they only wore intercepters while in vehicle convoys. While on missions they wore blackhawk STRIKE LBVs with sappi plates. No shrapnel protection just plates, but on missions mobility was more important than shrapnel concerns. In a vehicle where mobility isnt a real concern and IEDs are the main threat they wore intercepters. I know some people in the 19th SF group currently in iraq that do the same. If you got it for $70 you got a deal. Now just try to get some plates and youre in there. Blackhawk sells them. I think Ironwolf Industries does too.

 

[Correia]

There is some confusion in this thread. Pointblank is a different company than Second Chance. Everybody started using Zylon under the belief that it was the new miracle fabric. Second Chance is the one that tried to cover it up, not Pointblank. Plus the Pointblank Zylon vests were heavier, and nobody got shot through one of those that I'm aware of.

I'm a Pointblank dealer.

 

[John C]

Vest expiration dates

If not abused, your vest will provide ballistic protection for many years after the expiration date.

The expiration date is the date which the manufacturer's warranty expires. The expiration date is not like that on a carton of milk. It's set by the manufacturer to limit their liability.

The armorers at my department shot a bunch of vests they had laying around, all of which were over 10 years old. All of the old vests performed to the standard of a new one.

However, vests DO degrade with exposure to adverse conditions. The expiration date is basically the date at which the manufacturers guarantees that under MAXIMUM degradation levels all of their vests will perform to standard. Otherwise, they wouldn't take on the liability if someone were to get shot with a defective vest.

Zylon is a whole other issue. I had one of the early ones and had it for 4.5 years before the recall happened and I got a new one. I wasn't happy about it.

-John

 

[gunsmith]

is it stolen?

my 2nd chance 3a with ceramic insert set me back 600 plus bucks

 

[Biggfoot44]

For $70 sounds as if must be stolen.
Generally the "experation" dates in addition to proper storage & care, presume that vest is worn ALL day, EVERY day for that period (usually 5 yrs). The flexing of the vest as worn , and the fibers rubbing against each other will eventually cause wear & degradation. It could last much longer, but 5 years is min life span under worst case usage.

 

[innerpiece9]

never heard of any vest, going for $70 bucks.... not even stolen ones.........

 

[leadcounsel]

As others said, Kevlar has a long shelf life if not exposed to heat, UV light, and water or as long as it hasn't been shot.

Yours was new in the bag.

I'm willing to bet that it will last another decade with use. It may degrade alittle faster, but it will likely still be very effective.

There were many stolen vests from the US military that were sold on the internet. Look into that.

And, if you don't feel comfortable or trust it, you can always use it as a $70 target with different loads of ammunition to test its effectiveness. Just build a wooden box, fill it with clay (which will mimic the body for absorbing kinetic energy) and shoot it.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Generally what makes vests degrade is exposure to heat, moisture and UV light, i.e., sunlight. If a vest is properly stored the company *guarantees* it's good until the expiration date. After that, the company assumes no liability if the vest doesn't work as advertised. However, it may still provide a lower level of protection for years and is certainly better than nothing.

I have purchased old kevlar panels off of eBay and used them for ballistic testing. Keep in mind that it isn't just moisture and the like, but body sweat.

Now, I don't know that any of the panels I purchased were abused or not. I don't know if they were fully capable of their original rating. I had panels from the late 80s to late 90s and none failed with typical ball .32, .380, 9mm, or .45 acp and never with hollowpoint (which is more easily stopped by ballistic vests than ball because of the hollowpoint's rapid expansion allowing it to be more easily 'caught' by the fibers). All of these were calibers within the ratings of the panels. I even had a panel about 6 years out of day (11 years old) that we shot several times with a .44 magnum at about 5 yards. I will be honest, some of the panels I tested were just plain nasty with body odor and sweat stains. They still worked quite well.

Note, I worked with almost exclusively IIIa vests, but occasionally a II vest. My tests were for insight into how they work. We also shot a couple with calibers outside of their ratings, like 5.56. With the first few shots at 25 yards, I thought something was wrong with my sights as I must have missed the panel since I never saw it move. I had my buddy spot for me and with a spotting scope, he assured me I was hitting the panel as he could see the cover 'flinch' slightly. Sure enough, there was about a dozen little holes in the panel and not a single round stopped.

Maybe I mistyped. I did have panels fail, but ONLY after having suffered massive damage or when a round passed through a hole already created by another round. NIJ used to rate panels for 3 shots. I had panels into which I put 30 or more 9mm and .45 acp before becoming so damaged they started failing. Kevlar is good stuff.

Bottom line, I would be estatic to buy a new, slightly older kevlar vest for $70. I would not doubt it in the least for the calibers for which it is rated.

 

[KIDGLOCK]

Call Point Blank with the serial # . LOTS of Interceptor veste were stolen in '04 .I know . Not going to sat how ........... Look inside under the carrier . should have ser.# and man. date , plus NSN # .


If it looks like this its stolen .

 

[chopinbloc]

dude, point blank makes alot of products besides the interceptor (which i agree is a quality vest). the guy said it was a level IIIA vest and didn't say anything about plates. why is everyone jumping at the idea that it was somehow stolen from the army when in all likelihood it isn't the same type of armor. matter of fact, even a stolen interceptor vest would go for MUCH more than $70. while it is certainly possible that the vest was stolen from the private security company mentioned in the op, it seems more likely that the company was simply getting rid of an older vest.

back on topic, it sounds like you scored. $70 doesn't normally buy a decent leather jacket to stop BBs. it appears that you got a very good vest for a great price. since it appeared to be new in the box, i'm sure it will work just fine unless it was stored in excessive heat. just make sure that you take care of it as well and it should last indefinitely. keep it somewhere cool and dark and store it flat - don't hang it up.