Plate carriers?

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    MacGuns

    MacGuns

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 14, 2013
    1,899
    Chester
    I picked up a plate carrier and AR500 plates from ar500armor.com sometime last year when they were having a sale (~$150.) I just weighed them and they come in at 22.8 lbs.

    Like Surt, I have been using them on training hikes and ruck marches. I'm training for the March for the Fallen hike in September (28 miles with 35 lb pack.)
     
    MacGuns

    MacGuns

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 14, 2013
    1,899
    Chester
    JPG said:
    When you guys start getting these can you post some photos. Like to see what they look like in real life
    Click to expand...

    Here are some photos of the plate carrier I got from AR500armor last year during their sale.

    MDA-20200708-1181-L.jpg


    Here is a photo of the plates with the trauma pad.
    MDA-20200708-1191-L.jpg


    As mentioned above, these are AR500 steel plates, so they are heavy. Total weight with carrier, plates, and pads are 22.8 lbs.
     
    MaxVO2

    MaxVO2

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Oct 30, 2012
    10,794
    North Potomac (ok.ok.. Rockville..)
    niftyvt said:
    Now this is some cool tech. Kind of scared to check the price! :lol2:

    It flexible rifle rated armor.

    [YT]Cs8Cym9wLSs[/YT]

    Edit: Just checked the price. . .$1600ish
    Click to expand...

    *****Worth every penny if you have to wear something every day and be at least reasonably comfortable. Soft versus hard is no comparison, at least compared to the hard plates I have on my rig (10X12 multi curve...) which for a guy my size feels stupid heavy and impractical if I have to move around. I feel like I'm in a turtle suit!

    One of my friends from college is in the Secret Service, and he let me try his body armor as he is my size. It's form fitting, very lightweight, protects back/front and sides and has a really cool quickly removable vapor barrier/coolmax under thing that makes it easy to wash the undergarment without the armor part. It's soft, and has some kind of impact trauma barrier behind the armor that feels like jelly. He carries either an HK MP5 with these dinky little bullets, or a Glock 19(!!!), and has the coolest looking AR in the car trunk that is stupid light (it feels like 6 lbs max... I thought my SBR was light at 7.8 lbs...his is made by Knights Armament). Anyway, the armor is custom fit, tailored, and feels like a second skin. He also had a service shotgun that looked like a regular Remington 870 but had a non-typical sight on it.

    I have some more typical 10X12 multi-curve plates that are Level III only and my carrier and plates feel insanely heavy compared to the soft armor I tried out. My rig, which I would only wear if the zombie apocalypse was happening, or some dystopian end of the world crap weights close to 20 lbs!

    Totally impractical (at least for me..) for every day use. I paid about $300 for mine. I got it from AR-500. My friends rig was $7k (!!!) including like 5 of the undershirt anti chafing and vapor barrier thingies, and has a limited service life. I assume it's provided to him as that's a huge chunk of change and he doesn't make that much money even at his level of seniority, has kids, bills, a high maintenance 2nd wife, and dyspepsia.

    It's only money I guess... ;)
     
    Norton

    Norton

    NRA Endowment Member, Rifleman
    Staff member
    Admin
    Moderator
    May 22, 2005
    122,879
    Man, I am super impressed with Chase Tactical right now.

    I ordered plates a couple of weeks ago and then spent some time looking for a carrier. I ended up getting a screaming deal on a very basic carrier from Chase that was separate from the plate order.

    Order placed on July 4. It was in my house on July 7.

    After seeing another member here saying that they'd already gotten the ship notification from Chase on their armor, I realized I'd never gotten an order confirmation mail from them though they'd charged my card.

    Shot them an email and the customer service guy got right back to me within 30 minutes and apologized. Had a FedEx tracking number from the manufacturer.

    I told them no apology needed and that I appreciated the excellent communication.
     
    Surt

    Surt

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    Aug 2, 2019
    193
    MacMoov said:
    Here are some photos of the plate carrier I got from AR500armor last year during their sale.

    MDA-20200708-1181-L.jpg


    Here is a photo of the plates with the trauma pad.
    MDA-20200708-1191-L.jpg


    As mentioned above, these are AR500 steel plates, so they are heavy. Total weight with carrier, plates, and pads are 22.8 lbs.
    Click to expand...

    The real upside to steel plates is they also double as training plates. I run Ceradyne ceramic plates as my *real* plates and have a set of Team Wendy training plates in my SKDTac PIG carrier right now so I can have a tumble or throw them in the back of the truck and not worry about that *tink!* noise that lets you know you just cracked and compromised a several hundred dollar ceramic SAPI.

    I'm still considering getting a bargain-priced AR-500 setup to keep as a bang-around truck kit I don't need to worry overmuch about. It'd go with my standby AR pistol and Walther Creed as a kit to have on-hand that I can also afford to take a loss on for whatever reason.
     
    N

    niftyvt

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 21, 2010
    1,891
    Virginia
    Surt said:
    The real upside to steel plates is they also double as training plates. I run Ceradyne ceramic plates as my *real* plates and have a set of Team Wendy training plates in my SKDTac PIG carrier right now so I can have a tumble or throw them in the back of the truck and not worry about that *tink!* noise that lets you know you just cracked and compromised a several hundred dollar ceramic SAPI.

    I'm still considering getting a bargain-priced AR-500 setup to keep as a bang-around truck kit I don't need to worry overmuch about. It'd go with my standby AR pistol and Walther Creed as a kit to have on-hand that I can also afford to take a loss on for whatever reason.
    Click to expand...

    Thanks for the Team Wendy Training plate shout out. I didnt even know that those were a thing. OpticsPlanet has the set for $103 with free shipping so I have a set of them on order now. :D
     
    Norton

    Norton

    NRA Endowment Member, Rifleman
    Staff member
    Admin
    Moderator
    May 22, 2005
    122,879
    Going to continue to say nothing but good things about Chase Tactical.

    Plates received today and I've got a quality complete setup and did so within the space of just a couple of weeks rather than the 12-16 weeks that other places are quoting.

    I had a question on my plate order and customer service got back to me within 1/2 a day with a notification that they'd already been shipped before my inquiry.

    I put everything together today and while they aren't the lightest things around, I'll make do. Hopefully they'll just be a training tool anyway and then hang in the closet until I'm an old man.

    Carrier will probably get replaced at some point and then use this one for some weighted rucking with some cheap AR500 steel.

    But, again, based on my experience Chase Tactical has been rock stars.
     
    Alphabrew

    Alphabrew

    Binary male Lesbian
    MDS Supporter
    Jan 27, 2013
    40,757
    Woodbine
    Just ordered the only in stock model active shooter kit from Chase Tactical. Not cheap but beats a round to the chest!
     
    N

    niftyvt

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 21, 2010
    1,891
    Virginia
    I was wondering what I could get to prevent that whole "protester" shoots through the rear window while you escape thing from happening (as seen recently) and the best I could find is this panel that can strap to the back of your car seat. Does anyone know of anything else that could up armor the seat of a car? If I went this route I would probably also get some quality (standard from Amazon) single piece pull over seat covers to go over the seat and the panel to hide it.

    https://bulletsafe.com/products/the-protect-o-panel-the-worlds-most-versatile-bulletproof-panel
     
    N

    niftyvt

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 21, 2010
    1,891
    Virginia
    J

    jimboman2000

    Active Member
    Jan 9, 2014
    271
    Cecil!
    niftyvt said:
    Those are exactly what I ordered. :) They seemed like a good compromise between protection, price and weight. Do I want the HESCO lvl IVs, heck yeah!, but they are over $1k per plate so right now its a no.

    Check out RMA and HESCO too.
    Click to expand...

    For a while now I have been looking at the L210 plates from hesco. These are just a tad more then the L210 and offer more protection. I may have to go with these new chase tactical ones.
     
    Rattlesnake46319

    Rattlesnake46319

    Curmidget
    Apr 1, 2008
    11,032
    Jefferson County, MO
    Norton said:
    I think those are the exact same plates I ordered. They are rebranded HighComs.



    They look like they are up to the specs and they fit well. But, yes - they are heavy.
    Click to expand...
    Cinch the vest so your hips take the weight. Wear it around the Undisclosed Location for conditioning. Gets easy pretty quick.

    If I was able to walk 1.5 miles and climb a 3 story staircase every day in full battle rattle, you should be able to wear the plates for an extended period of time. Granted, I was wearing K-9 plates...

    Regarding the AR500 Reddit thread, OP is a co-worker. Grunt and former NC Highway Patrol.
     
    J

    jimboman2000

    Active Member
    Jan 9, 2014
    271
    Cecil!
    Norton said:
    I think those are the exact same plates I ordered. They are rebranded HighComs.

    They look like they are up to the specs and they fit well. But, yes - they are heavy.
    Click to expand...

    As far as being heavy I am starting to realize that the situation where these are needed won't last long. Either it'll be over and I can take them off, or I didn't make it. I just can't envision a situation where I would be in these for days/weeks on end.
     
    Norton

    Norton

    NRA Endowment Member, Rifleman
    Staff member
    Admin
    Moderator
    May 22, 2005
    122,879
    Rattlesnake46319 said:
    Cinch the vest so your hips take the weight. Wear it around the Undisclosed Location for conditioning. Gets easy pretty quick.

    If I was able to walk 1.5 miles and climb a 3 story staircase every day in full battle rattle, you should be able to wear the plates for an extended period of time. Granted, I was wearing K-9 plates...

    Regarding the AR500 Reddit thread, OP is a co-worker. Grunt and former NC Highway Patrol.
    Click to expand...

    I'm going to see if I can score a Murphy vest for cheap and use that for my conditioning rig. The tip about letting the hips take the weight is a good one.

    I'm running this thing slick with the idea that i can throw my chest rig over top of it if need be.

    I tried this out under a big flannel shirt as well as my rain slicker. It's passable.
     
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