Poll: Body Armor....What say you?

[jeepguy88]

You can waste your entire life on that premise. Sure, "insurance" is a good idea, but much like the lottery, you're simply playing the odds.

I'm lucky enough to have lived over half-a-century and never needed a firearm. What are the chances I will the next 50 years, should I be so luck to live that long?

I like to wear it around property and make my illegal weed growing/ thieving neighbors nervous.
Ive also got a serious bear problem. I didnt see the vest advertised as claw and bite proof, but Im pretty sure its 90% bear proof.

 

[EPS]

You can waste your entire life on that premise. Sure, "insurance" is a good idea, but much like the lottery, you're simply playing the odds.

I'm lucky enough to have lived over half-a-century and never needed a firearm. What are the chances I will the next 50 years, should I be so luck to live that long?

Accully they way things are going around here and all over the world.
The chance of you needing a gun are pretty good .

 

[CamoDeafie]

Accully they way things are going around here and all over the world.
The chance of you needing a gun are pretty good .

probably true on that count. But he might have meant; "what are the chances that I would be able to live to be a century old man; with or without a gun?"

I don't really have body armor per se...I do have an ancient PASGT vest but that thing is more for display than for actual use

My take on this? It depends on where you live.
Anywhere within 10 miles of a large urban center? Better to have it since there's a good chance (better than 50%) that armed undesirables would start marauding and loot neighborhoods within 10 miles of their cities.....

but if you're way out in the woods, in the mountains or the deserts or even in the large agricultural valley, with clear lines of sight for miles, and your nearest neighbor is a few acres away? I don't know. One would be best to use road blocks on driveways and make it difficult to get to your homestead than to invest in armor for close combat.....

Again, it depends. With nearly 90% of the population living within 50 miles of urban centers.....It's a good chance that the majority of these people would die off, either by turning onto each other, by diseases, by starvation, or by stupidity.... That would leave about 30 million people surviving and possibly thriving, as there's still gonna be quite a lot of resources to take advantage of.... we might see a sort of return to a feudal system, depending on what happens politically (this of course, is after a major national event that knocks out 99% of the urban centers)

 

[CamoDeafie]

More thoughts.

Be serious here.

What happens if you just go about your everyday activities, looking like you're deployed to Iraq/Syria/Afghanistan, with external carriers, helmet, Ar15, mags, pistol, a rucksack..... but there's only a riot happening.... what are the police gonna consider more of a threat, some kid in black with red mask and a molotov cocktail, or the guy who looks like he just came out of "Tactical operator convention"?

Depending on which police (Potland is one example...) the fully armored, camo wearing, AR-15 toting guy might be the first to be neutralized, while the kid throwing the molotov cocktail gets away...

There's not a lot of concealable armor that accommodates level IV plates without making it obvious

 

[shibbershabber]

More thoughts.

Be serious here.

What happens if you just go about your everyday activities, looking like you're deployed to Iraq/Syria/Afghanistan, with external carriers, helmet, Ar15, mags, pistol, a rucksack..... but there's only a riot happening.... what are the police gonna consider more of a threat, some kid in black with red mask and a molotov cocktail, or the guy who looks like he just came out of "Tactical operator convention"?

Depending on which police (Potland is one example...) the fully armored, camo wearing, AR-15 toting guy might be the first to be neutralized, while the kid throwing the molotov cocktail gets away...

There's not a lot of concealable armor that accommodates level IV plates without making it obvious

Definitely not recommended.

Average Joe owning armor would really only be useful in a few situations. Wading into a riot is not one of them.

I think if one were looking to escape from an area affected by an actual riot or other civil disturbance(not just an antifa tantrum)... Throw it on under a windbreaker or something while you're out loading your crap up to GTFO. Stray bullets being the more likely threat.

I, at least, look at armor as being a defensive tool. Not as protection while engaging in combat. Honestly, none of us civilians here are going to be in that sort of situation.

BUT if we had to flee that situation, some plates would be nice... just in case. Don't even need to have it as some 'tactical' setup, there are plain carriers meant only to hold plates.

Unless of course Russian paratroopers start dropping out of the sky... then you might need some MOLLE on there

 

[Rickenbacher39]

I thought about body armor for a bit and then I remembered I don't live in Chicago or South Africa.

 

[CamoDeafie]

there's gotta be an answer..how come there's no armor kit (other than the Bulletproof me coats) where the hard plate is behind the soft armor?

Just wondering.
I agree on evacuation, getting out, or fleeing, and I agree a Level 2 or better soft armor might be more useful underneath clothing.... On the other hand, it can be quite difficult if one is not in say...a conventionally good body form/shape.. especially harder if one is lugging a keg belly, or spare tire, and such.

 

[Ops]

10mm hot loads now that's how to roll. body armor might stop the ammo but the force behind it is what kills. double tap a heart and it stops

 

[CamoDeafie]

10mm hot loads now that's how to roll. body armor might stop the ammo but the force behind it is what kills. double tap a heart and it stops

Naw. .338 LM

 

[CamoDeafie]

in all seriousness though, a 10mm hot load out of a PCC would probably defeat most body armor except maybe the Level IV and IV+ hard plates. BUT..... a gut shot(probably a larger mass than the vital zones on big people), head shot, leg shot, pelvic shot...any of these could hit an artery, and kill the person within minutes.... if not seconds, depending of course on accuracy, how big a hole you made, and how many holes.

 

[American123]

Coming from a sports/football background. A plate carrier and the weight of it isn't anything to write home about. Where it for a couple hours at a time doing work around the house and over time your body starts to get used to moving with the weight on. Just like when you first started carrying a gun and it felt like a foreign object and now after lots of experience it has become a part of you.

I've addressed several varmints at odd hours of the night messing with the cars in the neighborhood. When you can slap on a vest that covers most of your torso and stops .223 and .308 projectiles and lesser threats, it reduces the overall likelihood that if something did go south quickly, a vital area would be damaged.

I think that armor is a great idea for unlikely scenarios and to strengthen the militia capabilities of the American population, but is defensive in nature, not offensive, if you are putting on armor to go mix it up with commies at a rally, I see that as seeking trouble.

I'm the crazy guy who puts the plate carrier on and plays tennis in it though, because at the end of the day it's just a weighted exercise vest with ballistic protection. I've noticed more and more people are getting used to the idea and if men can walk around in women's clothes, than me wearing ballistic protection to exercise isn't any worse.

 

[Ops]

well I guess could pull out the 308 pistol too. 50rds of 145gr at 2500ftlbs

 

[cigars]

So I look at it like this...........
Armor is like any other form of insurance, you pay for it and it sits there gathering dust.
Until you need it.
If you don't then you spend your dying breath or last dollar thinking...If only I had......
Other things that fall into this category:
jumper cables
fire extinguishers
condoms
spare tire
fire alarms
antibiotics
car insurance
house insurance
toilet paper
flood insurance
food storage/ production
water storage/ filtration
actual cash money/ barter
power generation/ storage
There are a million more...
Armor is uncomfortable and heavy, hard to fight in and hard plates will pinch the bubblegum out of you if you try to put them on in a hurry with no practice.
Do you need all these things all the time? No.
Do you need them under certain circumstances? Yes.

So better to have a gun and not need it than to need one and not have it?

 

[shibbershabber]

So I look at it like this...........
Armor is like any other form of insurance, you pay for it and it sits there gathering dust.
Until you need it.
If you don't then you spend your dying breath or last dollar thinking...If only I had......
Other things that fall into this category:
jumper cables
fire extinguishers
condoms
spare tire
fire alarms
antibiotics
car insurance
house insurance
toilet paper
flood insurance
food storage/ production
water storage/ filtration
actual cash money/ barter
power generation/ storage
There are a million more...
Armor is uncomfortable and heavy, hard to fight in and hard plates will pinch the bubblegum out of you if you try to put them on in a hurry with no practice.
Do you need all these things all the time? No.
Do you need them under certain circumstances? Yes.

All the time?

With my wife's cooking I need fire extinguishers and toilet paper all the time

 

[Alexx1401]

in all seriousness though, a 10mm hot load out of a PCC would probably defeat most body armor except maybe the Level IV and

Well no, it will not defeat the soft armor. If you look at the testing the better stuff will stop any hand gun rounds EXCEPT the ones that were designed to defeat soft armor. You could easily make a 10mm round to do this but it would, AFAIK need to be made. Have not seen any offered yet.
When soft armor first hit it was given letter designations. Can't remember them now, too lazy to look. The early stuff was defeated by a couple things. One was the .22WMR coming out of a rifle. The other was standard 9mm ball ammo. Only the top of the line would reliably stop these. What wants to get past soft armor is small and fast. It's why stab vests are made to stop ice pick type weapons. There are a couple commercial hand guns rounds now that would be hard to soft armor to stop. Small caliber FMJ rounds loaded on necked down cases to give them a lot of velocity.
Now another thing TV has done, talk to someone who has been shot while wearing soft. It does not leave them feeling nothing. It hurts and can even kill. The armor may stop the round but it has to give to be something people will wear. As with carry caliber everything armor is a compromise. How much protection vs how much discomfort the user is willing to put up with. I wear soft at work. Very easy to work in. Will stop most anything including a shotgun. Does not mean I would not be hurt after. Does mean I would not have an extra hole in me. It will also do great against a blade and being hit or kicked. Have been tagged a few times by someone we had to put down. I did not even notice they got me until after when others were asking if I was OK. They said they tagged you good. I did not notice. The soft armor will absorb a lot of this.
For someone who wants a "just in case" but does not want to buy nice soft those inserts for a back back look interesting. Could buy and external carrier and I think easily set it up to hold one or 2 of those inserts. Be cheaper than buying a nicer Vest and external carrier. The carrier looks like a shirt. If you have anything on over it with sleeves few would ever spot that you had it on. Fast to put on if needed. May be a way to have something for "just in case" and save a few bucks.

 

[Flymph]

I like to wear it around property and make my illegal weed growing/ thieving neighbors nervous.
Ive also got a serious bear problem. I didnt see the vest advertised as claw and bite proof, but Im pretty sure its 90% bear proof.

It will keep your entrails in for a little longer, I assume.

 

[slidecreek]

I am one lucky man!

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Doubt Ill ever need it, but yes Ive invested in hard and soft body armor.. mostly because the antis dont want me to have it. Purchased before I couldn't.

Ive gone the cheaper coated AR500 route and applied more material to aid in preventing severe spawling. The coating works very well, but the peace of mind of adding a few more layers of various "materials" in order to catch fragments helps.

My armor pretty much sits in a safe and the soft body armor I have in the house.. but again.. I doubt Id have time to put it on let alone ever use it.

 

[Artilleryman]

It's not on my list at this time

 

[DB is Here]

You can waste your entire life on that premise. Sure, "insurance" is a good idea, but much like the lottery, you're simply playing the odds.

I'm lucky enough to have lived over half-a-century and never needed a firearm. What are the chances I will the next 50 years, should I be so luck to live that long?

Everything is playing the odds, until your numbers called...but I digress.