let me start by saying, i have read most of what i could find here on m4c concerning rifle plates and have tried to understand the information to the best of my ability. i am looking for some stand alone rifle plates that wont break the bank for my plate carrier. having a very limited knowledge of sapi plates (only whats available to me here in the stickies, you tube, and google) i jumped on amazon just to check. well, they were there. most plates claim to be a level 3 but then there is a stipulation that goes like this…“The plates reinforce a Level 3-A vest making it level 4”…and other info that sounds similar, leading me to believe that 1.plates are not stand alone and 2. if not used in conjunction with soft armor they are not in fact the level of protection they advertise? some plates i have looked at claim to be Israeli made while other are made here in the US. the plates that caught my eye the most were TAP Gamma 0 10x12 esapi, mostly for being american made as well as the price. i researched the FAMOSTONE and TAP GAMMA plates and it turns out they perform quite well, at least from what i have read/seen. the TAP GAMMA PLUS plates are stand alone( at least the ones i researched that got a nod of approval were) but i am not sure if the ones on amazon are those specific ones or a lesser model. i know amazon probably isn’t the best place to buy plates but just to give you an idea of the kind of stuff i am seeing, here are some links below. my main questions are, are any of thees credible plates ( mainly the tap gamma)? i do recall hearing good things about FAMOSTONE but now i cant find that info to revisit it. do i need to pair thees plates with soft armor for them to be effective/ stop what the description sites? for inexpensive plates that stop street level threats (9MM -7.62MM?) should i be looking elsewhere?
btw…i am a lawful, trained/training, competent, aware, civilian who appreciates the value of ballistic protection. i am not leo/mil. will most likely never ever need rifle plates but would like to train with plates and know they are at the ready if the world/society goes to sh*t…well, i have children to protect. sorry for the disclaimer. i just wanted to get it out of the way. any way, if you have any advice on my questions or plates in general… i could use any insight you are willing to give, thank you.
credible plates? can i just throw thees in my carrier and still be protected without the use of soft armor? thank you for dealing with my lack of knowledge. God bless.
my confusion comes from the description of TAP GAMMA often being a stand alone plate while other times it says …needs to be used in conjunction with level3a armor ( which i assume is soft armor)? is there multiple types of TAP GAMMA plates out there? some being stand alone and others not? armor is a very confusing subject. i cant get a testimony as i could say, a weapon. if a weapon is no good you can find out pretty quick from someone who used it. when body armor is no good, you never hear " yeah i was shot wearing that armor. bullets passed right through". all i can go off of is research and testing which can be hard to find. with all that said. i think i am going to go with the TAP GAMMAs used as stand alone. i cant beat the price. a lot of folks seem to happy with them.
If they are a level lll plate, they will need soft armor backers. If they are level III/IV SA(stand alone) you do not need backers. You also need to take into account the type of threat you intend to defeat. For your needs you should be fine with level lll plates with backers. As you are not likely to face AP rounds in the states(that’s not to say It’s impossible)
I have the Gamma Plus plates and a Banshee carrier, so far I have been very happy with them. Go the plates off Ebay for 215 shipped, X-rayed at work and they were perfect. As always YMMV. Jeff
Thanks guys. I now understand that the tap gammas are a legitament plate. While shopping around on eBay, I am seeing a lot of level 3 plates for sale at sometimes very low prices for a pair. The sellers usually post a description stating that are plates are in good condition and rather unused but rarely post what brand or manufacture they are. Some times they post that don’t even know who made the plates. I think I can get lucky and possibly score maybe a higher level of plate, lighter, and/or thinner by shopping around and waiting for a good deal on there. Am I being foolish? Can you possibly provide me with any tips for buying plates from a private seller? What do I look out for and stay away from? What do I jump all over? Is there a good make and bad make or model of plate? Or are a level 3 plates the same level of quality? I do understand that buying a “used” plate is always a bit risky, but I have heard a lot of success stories too.
Almost every plate you see on E-bay is gonna be a TAP gamma, a huge number of overruns were sold very cheaply into the civy market. I’d look for a seller that will allow returns. The plates are fairly durable but not immune to damage. I’d also see if you can get em x-ray’d somewhere as soon as you can.
I don’t know about now, but the tap gamma plates used to be $145(I don’t know what current prices are) each. So buying new would probably be the best way to go with those. Your not going to find new plates any cheaper then that(from a retailer) I personally would not trust used plates wen you could get new ones for such a good price. Wen you consider some of the higher quality plates like the velocity system level lll/IV ICW multi hit plates are $1400 each. Another good place to look for lower priced plates would be bulletproofme.com. in a thread somewhere on this sight about buying plates as a civilian, I listed about 12-14 websites that sell to civilians. Try to use the search button to pull it up.
Thank you. i do see that most plates can be had for less than they are often sold for as used. you guys are right ebay is bad idea (most of the time ) I did come across that thread when I was searching . That’s how I found the sources for most plates I was looking at. Very helpful. Using those sources I have come across some ceradyne plates for a good price but cannot find the amount of information that I did with the tap gammas. They are ceradyne level4 stand alone multi curve plates they seem to be an upgrade from the tap gammas with the size and fit options alone. I think they are thinner too. Along with level4 protection. But I don’t know how much they weigh or how durrable they are in comparison to the tap gammas. ceradyne seems like a phenomenal company from the info i have read and the youtube videos i watched. but i cant find too much product specific info on their Level IV stand alone ballistic ceramic rifle plate. Can any one give me a fast crash course in tap gamma vs ceradyne??? Is it worth it to spend the extra money on the ceradyne plates? which would you rather trust if money spent wasn’t all that different?
tap gamma vs ceradyne
The ceradyne are stand alone plates and will take multiple hits from 7.62 rounds with no problems. The ceradyne plates are what the military is using. The gamma plates are stand alone, but the company suggests soft armor backing due to excess expantion from multiple hits. The expantion can cause further injuries in some cases.
I use ceradyne plates as LEO and I have no complaints. owsome plates and worth the money.
FYI- The ebay seller I linked below is Body Armor Outlet. They are a good company to deal with and you know you wont be buying damaged or shoddy armor. Disclaimer, I’m not affiliated with them, just a happy customer.