Individual Officer purchased rifle plates & carrier recommendation

[coldcase1984]

Like probably most of y'all, my agency only gets rifle plates and carriers for our SWAT team.

Looked around a bit saw First Spear has a black Level IV rig for $495 officer price that includes M4 magholders and a ready to fill trauma kit pouch.

Also saw Chase Tactical has a Level IV with molle only carrier in a choice of colors, including Multicam, for $410.

Can anybody suggest any other sources because want to buy one today?

Was issued mil surplus MICH-type helmet about 18 years ago that I'm digging out. Do those things have a shelf-life; is it shorter if it rides in a car trunk all the time?

Thanks!

[voodoo_man]

Everything has a shelf life.

Plates if they are ceramic should be x-rayed every year and handled with care.

Poly hybrid plates are good but expensive, and titanium/steel are nice but difficult to find cheap and light.

The FS first on kit with plates is nice. I don't know the type of plates but I'd always error on the side of side plates.

I am in the process of getting myself a work PC and I think the strandhogg or tyr tactical PC will be the one I order with a full Cumberbund.

[Default.mp3]

AT Armor has multiple LE-only carrier/plate packages: http://store.atarmor.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1928

I'd go with their budget option over the Chase Tactical package. Mike at AT has a stellar reputation, and was an active part of Lightfighter back in the day, while these days, he's the Primary & Secondary armor guru. Also, you'd be getting a better plate carrier from the AT package.

Note that both the Chase Tactical package and the budget AT Armor package both come with single-curve plates, which are not very comfortable for long periods of time. I do not know if the FS package comes with multicurve or single curve, though I'd guess it's the latter; still, it's worth calling in and asking.

[AMC]

I've been using an old Eagle LE PC w/cumberbund for years......couple of rifle mags, couple of pistol mags and an IFAK. Been planning on downsizing a bit, actually, and the First Spear "First On" is what I'm looking at. Two rifle mags and a trauma kit pouch built-in. I really like the tubes attachment system.....very fast to get on, which is unlike anything with a cumberbund. I'm trying to lighten my load.....carrying enough crap as it is. Our stations each have 10 Protech PC's with the compressed Dyneema plates......no one ever takes them out. Not because they're bad......cops are just apathetic and stupid about this stuff.

[Erick Gelhaus]

AT Armor has a solid rep. I like the First Spear package especially for patrol; if I needed a set that would be it and I've recommended it to coworkers. It's design can prevent overloading.

One consideration to throw out is the color of the carrier. Two advantages to colors matching uniform shirts ... Less drama from admin or others over militarization (which is baseless but still) and it takes away aiming points from the BadGuys. There is foundation for that concern.

[txdpd]

I don't mean to sound like a snob, but this is definitely one place where you can't afford to go cheap and roll the dice on quality. Would you carry $400 a gun show franken AR on duty? If I told you that the Franken-AR was mil-spec and just as good as a Colt 6920 would you believe me? Cheap armor is cheap because corners are getting cut somewhere or lies are being told. There are a lot of snake oil salesmen peddling body armor.

I can't buy one AMI TAC3S for what most of the plate and carrier packages cost. Unless you're really tall the AMI TAC3S is hard to beat, they're not cheap, but they are durable and can take a serious amount of punishment from close range high speed 5.56, .223, and 5.45 threats.

[coldcase1984]

Got a link, Tex?

[Jason M]

I have these plates. Here is the link:

http://armoredmobility.com/products_tac3s.php

[BehindBlueI's]

Kieslers just sent this out in an email, $749 for a helmet, plates, and carrier: http://www.kiesler.com/police/produc...at=0&pid=23695

ACITVE SHOOTER PACKAGE COMES WITH SIGMA LEVEL III PLATES FOR $749.00 AGENCY AND FIRST RESPONDER PRICE...




I know nothing about the package and am not recommending it one way or the other, just making folks aware.

[txdpd]

It's a bit dated but here's DocGKR's review of armor from a few years ago.

http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread....rol-Armor-Test

I'm certainly no expert on body armor, that DocGKR guy might know a thing or two about what he's doing.