Ballistic vest for everyday use ... I already searched ..

I've done some searching, but didn't find what I was looking for. I deeply respect the collective wisdom, experience, and practicality of SM, so here it goes.

My brother is in Afghanistan, just got there, and emailed me to ask for some things that the Army is not on top of. One such thing was a new plate carrier. Looking at the carriers and plates, I was surprised at the prices. I always thought they cost more than they do. This was misconception number one.

Misconception number two, was that civilians were not allowed to own them, or they were highly regulated to LE or Military use. I am not in a state that appears to regulate them.

I live in a very decent, suburban area. The actual crime rates in my town are rather low. I work a little closer to areas of higher crime. I periodically need to go into areas of very high crime rates. Nationally ranked at number four for homicides. Over the past six months, I have noticed violent crimes of theft have been creeping our way.

I am interested in concealable armor. I don't really know where to start. Does anyone have a good primer on the subject, as well as any recommendations on sellers?

I'll hang up and listen ... Sorry, listening to a lot of radio ...

 

Second Chance Lv IIIA Body Armor/Bullet Proof Vest MED - eBay (item 140505258810 end time Feb-01-11 16:59:10 PST)

 

I picked up a NICE rig from bulletproofme.com. LV-IV Multi hit 8lb plate and rig for just around 300.00 give or take. I can't recall the actual price, but it was relatively inexpensive in comparison to a lot of others.

..and since we're talking middle-east..we're talking about mostly stopping 7.62x39 rounds
so here ya go.
BulletProofME.com Body Armor - Complete Product List

 

Ah yes, Bulletproofme. One of the all time top suppliers of personal protective gear.

 

Be careful with used vests... their ability to function decreases over time and with excessive light and or sweat.... some out their are still good and others may not do what you want them to do.... if you have the cash buy new.... and watch out for knives and icepicks...

 

With a domain like that and horrid ass looking website, I was hesitant, but it's apparent to me that they don't give a crap about pretty... keeping costs low by not spending 20k on a slamming website helps keep costs down. ****, I'd build them a site and maintain it for 13k and a job. But I digress. Their customer service is excellent. They do ask you why you want the rig and mine was range safety. My wife isn't too keen on guns so it was a small price to pay to get her to agree to not give me any crap about going away for a weekend and staying safe.

I digress yet again.. the rig should be offset with a backplate too (well, at least mine does) or it does tend to slide forward and bounce when running. A tie down to your belt would fix that if you want to stay light.. but frankly speaking, getting shot in the back is not my idea of a good bargain on weight to life ratio. If it's your everyday rig, why not? But hey, I've never had lead slung at me.. so wtf do I know. I'll let you combat vets chew me out on that.. and I'll step aside in lieu of your experience over my speculation.

 

You might be able to fire your own ceramic plates for them also.

 

What do you mean by offset? Do you mean "balanced" with front and back plates, or does offset refer to something else?

 

yes, exactly that (Balance).

 

Specific material to avoid is Zylon® (NOT carried by Bulletproofme.com) which show significant degradation when exposed to moisture/heat (sweat, baby) etc.

Stab resistant vests are available.
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A link to the article which contains the recommendations:
NIJ Journal Issue No. 254: Body Armor Safety Initiative

 

for the rifle plate get a local Line-x-dealer to spray them with the socalled heavy duty spray that they have for building to help with the keeping the building from becomeing large missle chunks when it hit withsomething ..

the spray acts something to help harden up the plate even more a standard plate alone ..

i use second chance as my main personal concealment under the shirt armor with front and rear trauma plates with a 5.11 trauma pad t-shirt carrier under the shirt for wearing to help with the shock and trauma of the round hitting the vest and to protect the inside from beening made into jelly from the shock wave from the round ..

 

I was thinking Blackhawk themselves but bulletproofme has better deals.

 

I got mine from bulletproofme. Looked online at the options, then called customer service. Gave them my measurements and they let me know what they had. Even got a couple of free shirts to wear under the vest.

 

Safariland has some real nice vests.Check out the Prism on their site Second Chance® Prism

I know somebody who wears this everyday.