Run a Large or Small plate?

[trackmagic]

What pc is that ledanek? I like it. It looks nice and simple.

@Ledanek

once I had theVelocity III and IV + kevlar soft, it definitely pulls it down. You gotta play with the straps. Mine is cinched as much as possible.

update: made corrections and links to items

[Ledanek]

@trackmagic

What pc is that ledanek? I like it. It looks nice and simple.

TAG Banshee…follow this modification thread also and about using D3CR with the Banshee

[Jim_D]

@JSantoro

My APC is a SM/Med, and it contains Lg USGI ESAPIs with Lg Velocity Systems kevlar backers. Those plates are stupid-thick, so it’s tight, but they’ll fit.

Check out SKD Tactical, Traid Tactical, Grey Group for plate variants. There are other vendors besides those three, of course.

Food for thought regarding the phrase “multi-hit”; this is from a Q/A portion on SKD’s website (emphasis mine):

Point being, you should query any given plate’s manufacturer as to what THEY mean by “multi-hit.”

You know your measurements, so you know what plate size you need to cover that. That’s your baseline, your minimum size. If you can get a larger plate, and therefore more coverage, without impeding your mobility, go for it. In some cases, the next size up of a swimmer’s-cut plate can get you more actual coverage without binding your arms the way the next size up of a traditional cut plate might. This is difficult to judge without being able to physically experiment…

Actually, a level III plate is pretty much “multi-hit” certified in testing:
http://nist.gov/oles/upload/ballistic.pdf

page 12:

4.1.2.1
Type III
For hard armors and insert plates intended to
provide Type III protection, the compliance
test group shall consist of nine armor panels. Th
e armor panels shall be sufficiently large to
allow for a minimum of six shots per panel. Th
ese requirements are outlined in figure 5. Four
armor panels will be used for the P-BFS testing described in section
7
. A minimum of four armor
panels will be subjected to the
BL test described in section
7
, with a minimum of 24 shots. The
remaining armor panel is a spar
e and be used if necessary.

Level III plates are certified with multiple hits on each plate in testing. A level IV plate only takes one hit per plate in testing.

This is one of the reasons why III/IV ICW plates can be attractive… you know they passed both testing protocols.

I’ve shot a level III plate myself with XM193 from a 16" bbl at 50 yards and that plate soaked up both 5.56mm and .308 lead core ammo before it let anything through it (after about 26 rounds). That was a Point Blank Level III plate (pressed HDPE, model 10260)http://pointblankenterprises.com/paraclete/?product=hard-armor-plates-model-10260-nij-06-level-iii-stand-alone-plate

SA III plates won’t stop M855 or M2 .30-06 AP ammo, but SA III++ plates will stop M855 (green tip).
http://www.armorexpress.com/aries-iii-sa/
SA III++ plates are some of the most expensive on the market now for LE, but make more sense for domestic use than III or IV plates.

SA IV plates are dropping rapidly in price now. For example here is a NIJ.05 certified SA IV shooters cut plate for sub $150/ plate:
http://www.officerstore.com/store/product.aspx/productId/20186/Armor-Express-Level-IV-Single-Curve-Stand-Alone-Plate/

You never used to be able to find new, NIJ certified plates for <$300/set.

[ejb3]

Please bear in mind on the Mayflower APC that when they say that 10X12 plates will fit, they mean 10X12 shhoter’s cut plates and not the square ones. I was at Velocity last week and picked one up, told that 10X12 fit-I got a S/M. Upon bringing it to work, the back square cut 10X12 would not fit. I heard back from Russell at Velocity and he did say that a 10x12 square will only fit on a Large APC.