I suggest we all re-read what Erick G and paherne wrote above....
I suggest we all re-read what Erick G and paherne wrote above....
Facts matter...Feelings Can Lie
First, Safariland Hardwire is probably the best soft armor on the market at present. Hardwire 68, the thinner of the two variations, has been demonstrated to meet NIJ backface deformation requirements against 300gn .50AE at 1517fps, while being 0.18" thick and 0.68lb/ft^2. Hardwire 74 is slightly thicker and heavier, and even more protective. Your brother has extremely good soft armor and should keep using it.
Second, SafeLife's demonstrated knowledge of their marketspace is deeply concerning, their product is made in China (I've tracked down their suppliers, which are linked below), their products are excessively thick, heavy, and inflexible for their given protection, which is dubious due to the lack of NIJ listing, and their marketing statements are not realistically believable.
Also, the FRAS doesn't bend enough to actually provide NIJ-spec overlap. https://youtu.be/LOPFRY_ZFvk?t=59
Safelife's components are made in china:
SafeLife Concealable Armor Carrier
Chinese concealed vest
SafeLife Armor panels
China Xingxing Armor Panel
SafeLife FRC
Alibaba supplier for SafeLife FRC
SafeLife MOLLE outer carrier
Alibaba supplier for that carrier
Excellent post, thank you!
@DocGKR
#RESIST
After showing him this thread he has decided to stay with his Hardwire armor. I did however find some Lvl3+ ICW Hardwire hard plates that stop m193,m855,and 7.62x39. It shows stopping m855a1 on one part of their site,and m855 on another. Does anyone know if m855a1 can legitimately be stopped by this? I'm not too worried about a perp having this,seeing as how hard it is to get,I'd just like to be 100% sure before I recommend it to him. Here's a link,thanks!
https://hardwirellc.com/products/mul...evel-3plus-icw
You'll only know for sure if it has been tested against that load. And you can get the documentation of the testing.
While it probably isn't terribly common, I'd imagine the closer you are to a military installation the greater the likelihood of encountering M855A1 would be.
Knowing what my old org was and wasn't seizing in terms of calibers, and specific loads within those, did have an impact on my hard armor decisions and recommendation.
M855A1 isn't listed in the test document, so I wouldn't depend on it to stop M855A1.
There are plates that can stop M855A1, such as the Velocity Systems PBZ (or any of the same base material plates made by Tencate), but I think they're about a pound heavier per plate than what you linked here.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
Looks like I was correct. Unit #4 is an unlucky number; they should have picked Unit #8 when importing Chinesium excrementa.
Thank you everyone for your help,I was wrong,the ICW plate shows m855a1 on Safariland's website. I won't count on that round being stopped.