I’ve set up two of these, one for myself and one for my son. 1st was a Mayflower APC with the Level IV stand alone plate from SKD and the 2nd was the same except the plates were Velocity Systems triple curve level III/IV with backers. I have the backers for both setups. Overall they are still fairly light. Overall the Mayflower APC does everything I want and is easily configurable.
Do you have a budget? That’d be a lot easier to narrow things down.
If it fits the budget, I would go for something multi-curve. If you can invest more then that reduces weight and thickness. These are all ergonomic improvements that will make your time in armor a lot better.
When people ask me about armor, the bare minimum I try to steer folks towards is the HESCO 4400 in Multicurve and dedicated SAPI sizes (only available in Med or Large) as I feel the multi-curve and dedicated sizing is worth it alone.
10" x 12" is just a cookie-cutter solution and in my opinion, not ideal. RMA has some good plates as well.
Bringing this back as I’m doing a little research. What plates did you end up going with? I like the functionality of the carrier you went with.
Thanks.
Well, I ordered a set of the battle steel lvl 4 plates. They carry fine in the minimalist carrier.
I ordered an AWS OCPC with some level 3 tactical scorpion plates to have something a bit more rugged for a class someday.
Thanks for the update. I watched a couple of videos of the Battle Steel, seems like they can take a beating.
A little off topic since you already bought your carrier, but I picked up this Skeletac plate carrier from Cannae, I had some credits and a coupon code that made it cheap enough to take a chance on and it’s really cool.
Cannae doesn’t make it, it’s made by Husar out of Poland imported by Acelink who partnered with Cannae.
I’ve tried it with heavy level 4 and light weight level 3 poly plates and while I haven’t worn for more than a few hours at a time, it’s comfortable.
https://cannaeprogear.com/collections/vests-and-plate-carriers/products/skeletac-plate-carrier
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Interesting setup and features. Probably a little above my budget but very cool nonetheless.
What do you think of those Battle Steel plates? Now that you have had them for a few months, would you buy them again? Thanks!
For the price, I think they are fantastic. They sit in a minimalist carrier. They seem lighter and easier to deal with compared to what I wore in Iraq.
They aren’t as comfortable as my multi curve 3+ plates, but testing shows them to be pretty rugged.
Honestly for less than $200, I really don’t see how you could go wrong.
Thanks, that is what I was leaning toward. Based on what you saw in Iraq how did plates in general work?
The one guy i knew that got shot took an ak burst while in a hmmwv gunners turret.
Plate stopped 3 and one hit below the plate. The 3 that hit were stopped and the 4th tore him up pretty good. He survived.
Thanks!