Many thanks for the test, DevL. The only lingering question is whether any of the rounds hit a crack directly?
Considering the relative surface area body armor systems cover from the probability weighted directions of incoming fire - if that’s what it comes down to, it’s just going to be a bad day regardless.
Ceramic plates are remarkably tough, but they’re far from idiot-proof, and there is nothing on this planet that is grunt-proof.
A pile of broken ceramic pieces at the bottom of the plate was still stopping m193. It was utterly decimated and nothing but fractured chunks. I was shocked. The fracture thing is way overblown IMO. Those things are FAR better at stopping rifle rounds than I could have ever imagined regardless of fractures.
worn ceramic plates in the form or sapi and esapi and xsapi for the better part of 5 years with two deployments… never have i had one crack. ive also been known to take the padding off of the seats in my mrap to make more room so its plate to metal contact while bouncing around for hours and still no crack. also riding out the turret of a bradley while your plates are banging against the hard metal lip of the hatch never resulted in a cracked plate. out of a BN of Soldiers ive seen probably 1 cracked plate. everytime ive gone in country they check our plates. this consists of placing the plate against a flat surface and rolling the concave side of the plate against the table while placing body weight behind it to listen and feel for signs of cracks. if the plate fails that inspection then they xray so i think the whole xray thing is overblown as you can do your own pmcs at home. hope this helps.
if I am understanding your question correctly, you could use some trainer plates. I believe TYR Tactical has some plastic plates that way the same weight as real plates. The other option and what I did was buy a set of plastic airsoft plates and filled them with sand to the wright weight. If TYR doesn’t have them, it was Team Wendy, the down side is they are pretty expensive which is why I made my own.
Because of this, my plates have held up really well…:
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If the shtf scenario is that important to you, go for it. You will find that unless you have a very high fitness level, if you don’t wear armor routinely and train in it from time to time, fatigue can build up quickly and your shooting ability can suffer. And it’s additional weight to carry if you’re bugging out. I see most (non le/mil) folks go pretty low profile at carbine classes nowadays with a mag pouch or two on the belt or even spare mags in pocket. It’s up to you but unless you have above average finances (read money to through away), ammo and training classes may be of more utility.
I no longer call it “my carrier”, it is now referred to as “my warrior appreciation kit”. And in that vein, thanks to all of those who “do”…