Body Armor Buyers Guide

Jason, I think we can both agree that body armor can save your life and it's a really cheap form of investment that everybody should invest in. Absolutely. Now, I do own body armor. I have several different types of body armor. I even brought in my old school police style armor. Check this out. That one you were chasing. It's really outdated. I'm not going to tell you how old that one is, but I've since upgraded. There's a lot of great armor. It's really come through an evolution as well as the carriers. And I know you own armor as well. Absolutely. You can tell we're really big fans of body armor. As a matter of fact, we think everybody should own body armor. We've got a few tips and some information to help when making your decision which body armor is going to be best for you. But first, important little detail that we need to not overlook. I've got some advice for you. Do not buy steel. No way, no how. Say no to steel as a potentially life-saving device. And we're talking about those steel plates. Right. Steel can actually be dangerous. It can expose you to spalling. That's a word you may have heard. Spalling refers to the fragments of the bullet after it bounces off that steel. That spalling can come up into your neck. It can come up into your arterial area. Potentially being just as dangerous as the original bullet you were trying to avoid in the first place. So say no to steel. That's right. So Denny, let's start talking about some of these different types we got here. That's level 3A. So 3A soft armor tends to be the most popular armor out there. There are some pros and cons though. It is the most comfortable and the most economical type of body armor. But it's typically only rated for pistol ammo. Lately we've been seeing a trend where a lot of people actually take in some of the soft body armor, putting it in their backpacks, putting it in their kids' backpacks when they're away from home. And I think that's really neat. Yeah, I'm following that trend. I have a soft armor panel in every backpack that I own. And again, cheap insurance. So we talked a little bit about pistol armor. Let's talk about rifle armor. So rifle rated armor is usually a hard plate like this one. It's made of different materials. The old school armor was all Kevlar. Things have really evolved. It's polyethylene. It's ceramic. It's ceramic composites now. Rifle rated armor tends to be a little heavier. And it's necessary to be able to protect you from those higher rated rounds. So armor like this, this is level 3. It'll protect you from 7.62x39 like AK ammo. Also protect you from 147 grade 308 ammo, 7.62x51 as well, but not armor piercing ammo. So because of the fact that it does give you a little more protection, a little more manufacturing process, a little more material, it does tend to be just a little more expensive. That's right. So if you want added protection, you can go with a level 4 plate, which is rated for common calibers of armor piercing rifle ammo. Level 4 plates are not only heavier, but typically cost more than lower rated armor. By the way, another thing that can affect the cost of armor is its contour. Multi-contour plates like this one here are plates that are curved to fit your body. They can be more comfortable, but are usually more expensive due to the manufacturing process. Also, some plates are available in different sizes. And the bigger the plate, the more money you're going to spend. Yeah. And there are also a wide variety of plate carriers. I showed you my old school carrier, but we've really come leaps and bounds with these carriers. These are some examples of some upgraded modern carriers. They have MOLLE attachments here. You can put placards, mag placards. What's this? An IFAK, first aid kit, communication devices, you name it. So they've really, really come a long way. Now, one thing you want to keep in mind is when you're trying to figure out what size armor to order that'll fit in your plate carrier, it's really easy. Because for instance, if you hop on the BDU site and you look up a plate carrier, it's going to have a number. It's going to tell you 10 by 12, or what's another size? 11 by 14. So that's the number you're going to use when you're ordering the plate or the panel that you want to put in them. Also, you want to make sure that the panel or the plate you're ordering is actually going to give you the standalone protection that you want without a backer. Backers are small ballistic panels that add a little more protection. That's right. So do your homework and you can be all set. So there's some information that we wanted to share to help you decide what armor is best for you. Yep. Go get some armor, be safe out there, and thanks for watching.