Suspects With Body Armor Thread

[HCM]

As mentioned in this thread: https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....(culled-posts)

we’ve seen an increase in suspects with body armor at various “civil unrest” events and four of the suspects I’ve arrested in the past year have had body armor, mostly AR-500 plates.

Another recent thread included this video of a homeowner shot at by car burglars, one of whom is seen wearing soft body armor.


Then while looking up a Las Vegas Metro PD shooting I saw this bolo regarding a random shooting at a gas station involving a suspect wearing a plate carrier.




https://www.fox5vegas.com/news/suspe...5b46e4612.html

So in this thread we will document and discuss suspects wearing body armor.

[UNM1136]

Mozambique. Was going to say Failure Drill or Failure to Stop Drill, but, yeah, hell yeah. The double tap to COM is and should be the A response, but assess, assess, and act!

The first time I tested for SWAT we had a stress course to shoot. One of the targets had an Uzi pointed up, and was wearing soft armor. I hammered the body and put one in the nugget. I cleaned the course, but only got a 96%. I lost two points each for each part of the hammer to the body. They were a couple of inches or so apart COM, but I lost points beccause of the poor decision to put two into the visible body armor. My arguement was that his day got worse, not better, when I put two pills COM, and could have ended the fight if he decided to toss the gun and hit the dirt before the third round arrived. SWAT sergeant was not moved. Gotta think on your feet, not default to a standard response.

pat

[jmf552]

I am no expert, just a defensive carrier with a fair amount of training. What I notice about both situations is how much body area the vests don't cover. I think I would start putting rounds in the groin area by just dropping my COM hold down about a foot. I know the pelvis is a controversial target area, but like a guy on another forum says, "All hits are better than no hits." A head shot would be great, but at my level of skill, the guy would have to be not moving for me to want to go there.

[Rex G]

One of the several reasons I favored having a shotgun, while on duty, was because it would simplify dealing with armor.ed opponents. Not that I expect the pellets to penetrate body armor, but because a swarm of pellets directed at the throat, face, flank, abdomen, or pelvis would be likely to have such a serious effect. Or, of course, if the upper body is well-armored, the legs and feet can be quite vulnerable to shotgun pellet injury.

I never arrested anyone actually wearing body armor, 1984 to 2018.

[DocGKR]

Yup--simply shoot above or below the armor.

[breakingtime91]

Yup--simply shoot above or below the armor.

What Doc said. I had a really good talk with my vehicle commander when I was a young marine about his time in Fallujah. Some of the bad guys were running armor and his squad had figured it out the hard way when a bad guy wouldn't go down as quickly as they were used to. They took to the SOP of shooting high chest (above where the plate carrier or armor would be) or in the stomach until the guy was more stationary and then make sure with a security round to the face. That has kind of always been my plan since.

[fly out]

I hope this doesn't seem frivolous in a Law Enforcement thread...

If I'm in a stop'n'rob when that guy comes through the door, one of two things happened. Either I'm out of town and refueling, in which case I probably have 16 9mm, or, I popped out for something, and I may only have five 148gr wadcutters.

Do I spend one or two of those five precious rounds going below the armor, or do I save them for above the armor? I realize this is going to be dependent on how things are developing, but...would the assembled minds have a general rule of thumb?

A few more videos of miscreants in body armor and my milk run/j-frame calculus might be rejiggered, permanently.

[blues]

Do I spend one or two of those five precious rounds going below the armor, or do I save them for above the armor? I realize this is going to be dependent on how things are developing, but...would the assembled minds have a general rule of thumb?

A few more videos of miscreants in body armor and my milk run/j-frame calculus might be rejiggered, permanently.

Maybe a pelvic shot (or two) and a head shot if the opportunity is present. Really depends on the kit the individual is wearing and what is presented to you.

[El Cid]

I hope this doesn't seem frivolous in a Law Enforcement thread...

If I'm in a stop'n'rob when that guy comes through the door, one of two things happened. Either I'm out of town and refueling, in which case I probably have 16 9mm, or, I popped out for something, and I may only have five 148gr wadcutters.

Do I spend one or two of those five precious rounds going below the armor, or do I save them for above the armor? I realize this is going to be dependent on how things are developing, but...would the assembled minds have a general rule of thumb?

A few more videos of miscreants in body armor and my milk run/j-frame calculus might be rejiggered, permanently.

Or…. wear an appropriate firearm all the time when out in public. Even if I lived in Mayberry, a snub or G43 type weapon will not be my only/primary. In addition to armor, bad guys seem to be traveling in larger numbers lately.

[blues]

Or…. wear an appropriate firearm all the time when out in public. Even if I lived in Mayberry, a snub or G43 type weapon will not be my only/primary. In addition to armor, bad guys seem to be traveling in larger numbers lately.

Don't ruin it for me, K. I still want to be able to wear my 642 for walking around the home area. A Glock for wherever I drive to.