Does the existence of plastic ballistic plates completely make steel armour obsolete? >cheaper >lighter >less spall
Do you mean ceramic plates?
Nevertheless, even pure UHMWPE plates are often better than steel, in a general manner of speaking. M855 is a bit less common than M193, and UHMWPE Level IIIs are way lighter, don't spall, and have the curious side benefit of providing buoyancy.
Fast as frick 55gr and 62gr green tip are arguably the most common ammo in the US though. God knows what percentage of 5.56 is made up of those two rounds.
If you're going to spend the money and effort to carry 5.56 rated plates, you'd want to target the two most common rounds.
>God knows what percentage of 5.56 is made up of those two rounds.
Probably at least 90%, probably more
Anything besides M193 or M855 is like twice as expensive and nobody but autistic LARPers buys that shit
There's some super-thick PE III+ plates now that stop M855 out of a 20" barrel at the usual NIJ test distance. Not great (M855A1 and M995 still mog them hard) but they exist. I think Buffman did a test on one and it performed as advertised.
what is m855?
i'll take my chances with steel and play the distance game of hoping my enemies bullets lose enough energy at 200-300 yards until i can afford proper ceramic or uhwmpe/ceramic combo plates
dont get me wrong uhwmpe plates are fricking cool stops lots of shit and double as water floaties but if it cant stop all intermediate perpetrator rounds offered in 7.62x39 or 5.45x39 or 5.56 is it really worth it?
Maritime security gay here. If I weren't worried about drowning, I would wear ceramics. Since I am, I compromise with UHMWPE, but if I get shot with anything steel core or tip, I am going to die 100%.
Steel is not obsolete. Not all steel is shitty AR500 that 5.56 can go through. Steel can take hits indefinitely, whereas ceramic takes one and it's no longer usable. Polymer plates are shit, there are none high rated enough to compete with top level steel and ceramic plates. I would trust them against pistol threats only, and much more comfortable, lighter, and wide covering fabric armor can defeat those.
>Steel is not obsolete. Not all steel is shitty AR500 that 5.56 can go through.
Yeah it does this by being thicker and heavier than the armor that is already far heavier than ceramic.
>Steel can take hits indefinitely, whereas ceramic takes one and it's no longer usable.
Decent ceramic plates can take a half dozen or more hits and maintain integrity.
Are you legitimately moronic? > Steel can take hits indefinitely, whereas ceramic takes one and it's no longer usable.
Google "Buffman Colossus Armor" - a plate takes six hits at way above the Level IV spec. > Polymer plates are shit, there are none high rated enough to compete with top level steel and ceramic plates.
The Hesco 3800 weighs 2.4 pounds and will reliably stop multiple hits from M80 Ball, M193, and 7.62x39mm. That's pretty astounding, tbh.
A "Level III" plate from AR500 weighs nearly 10 pounds unironically, and won't even stop M193.
Not to be a shill, but admin results had a pretty good video on it. Think it was called will steel get you killed or some shit. Basically confirmed the suspicion on it
>LA Police Gear, literal chinese trash, gets holes knocked in it by unspecified threat
Non chinkshit or (fudgepacking RMA either) next time please, we want to keep up appearances that we arent just shitposting.
Steel is not obsolete. Not all steel is shitty AR500 that 5.56 can go through. Steel can take hits indefinitely, whereas ceramic takes one and it's no longer usable. Polymer plates are shit, there are none high rated enough to compete with top level steel and ceramic plates. I would trust them against pistol threats only, and much more comfortable, lighter, and wide covering fabric armor can defeat those.
>none high rated enough to compete with top level steel and ceramic plates.
Ill post my multihit, heavyweight tungsten-core rated plates (VPAM 12)that weigh 6.5lbs, and an unknown Ceradyne Swimmer, you post your similarly rated steel :^)
>most likely 54r api rated.
FOI request still pending, but yeah most likely answer. I might shake down Avon and see if theyll dig for me too, since I have them in hand.
Not seeing Steel hit even that mark, its a shame. Actually, is it even practical to make even a BZ API plate out of steel? It punches through enough of it, that youd end up with a 15lb plate.
BZ API is considered a higher tier of threat than M855 as I recall, more analogous to M855A1.
Steel is not obsolete. Not all steel is shitty AR500 that 5.56 can go through. Steel can take hits indefinitely, whereas ceramic takes one and it's no longer usable. Polymer plates are shit, there are none high rated enough to compete with top level steel and ceramic plates. I would trust them against pistol threats only, and much more comfortable, lighter, and wide covering fabric armor can defeat those.
There are pure UHMWPE Level III plates that defeat 7.62x54r LPS, so to say that they can only stop handgun threats is silly.
On top of that, Level III UHMWPE plates generally start stopping M855 at around 2500 FPS and some of them do significantly better than that, meaning that with some combination of a sufficiently short barrel, distance, angle, and luck, they can also resist M855 under field conditions.
Yep. Only problem is a lot of plate carriers don't fit em because they're thicker too. But, they also float. So swimming certainly gets a whole lot easier.
IT's probably more than five years, but they have to draw the line somewhere or they'll have to deal with warranty claims/lawsuits from people who had a plate in and out of a 150F car trunk for a decade and are pissed that at some point it lost its ballistic effectiveness
They already were obsolete
Yes
Do you mean ceramic plates?
Nevertheless, even pure UHMWPE plates are often better than steel, in a general manner of speaking. M855 is a bit less common than M193, and UHMWPE Level IIIs are way lighter, don't spall, and have the curious side benefit of providing buoyancy.
Fast as frick 55gr and 62gr green tip are arguably the most common ammo in the US though. God knows what percentage of 5.56 is made up of those two rounds.
If you're going to spend the money and effort to carry 5.56 rated plates, you'd want to target the two most common rounds.
>God knows what percentage of 5.56 is made up of those two rounds.
Probably at least 90%, probably more
Anything besides M193 or M855 is like twice as expensive and nobody but autistic LARPers buys that shit
Or the SPR people... Speaking of, should I be making my own 77 gr rounds or are they still cheaper to buy factory?
>gets bodied by anything with a steel penetrator, even lmaoM855
There's some super-thick PE III+ plates now that stop M855 out of a 20" barrel at the usual NIJ test distance. Not great (M855A1 and M995 still mog them hard) but they exist. I think Buffman did a test on one and it performed as advertised.
>super-thick
doesn't count
literally no reason to run it unless you're maritime and are legitimatly worried about your pl8s being neutrally bouyant
Actually, there are several and they're not very thick or heavy either. Some are even affordable.
What sort of conversation is this? have you never heard of ceramics? pretty much makes both obsolete outside of niche uses
what is m855?
i'll take my chances with steel and play the distance game of hoping my enemies bullets lose enough energy at 200-300 yards until i can afford proper ceramic or uhwmpe/ceramic combo plates
dont get me wrong uhwmpe plates are fricking cool stops lots of shit and double as water floaties but if it cant stop all intermediate perpetrator rounds offered in 7.62x39 or 5.45x39 or 5.56 is it really worth it?
U dead
Maritime security gay here. If I weren't worried about drowning, I would wear ceramics. Since I am, I compromise with UHMWPE, but if I get shot with anything steel core or tip, I am going to die 100%.
Why not just get one of those First Spear plate carriers with integrated floaties?
FS won't sell it to you unless you are a government buyer.
big gay
very obviously yes
Steel is not obsolete. Not all steel is shitty AR500 that 5.56 can go through. Steel can take hits indefinitely, whereas ceramic takes one and it's no longer usable. Polymer plates are shit, there are none high rated enough to compete with top level steel and ceramic plates. I would trust them against pistol threats only, and much more comfortable, lighter, and wide covering fabric armor can defeat those.
>Steel is not obsolete. Not all steel is shitty AR500 that 5.56 can go through.
Yeah it does this by being thicker and heavier than the armor that is already far heavier than ceramic.
>Steel can take hits indefinitely, whereas ceramic takes one and it's no longer usable.
Decent ceramic plates can take a half dozen or more hits and maintain integrity.
Are you legitimately moronic?
> Steel can take hits indefinitely, whereas ceramic takes one and it's no longer usable.
Google "Buffman Colossus Armor" - a plate takes six hits at way above the Level IV spec.
> Polymer plates are shit, there are none high rated enough to compete with top level steel and ceramic plates.
The Hesco 3800 weighs 2.4 pounds and will reliably stop multiple hits from M80 Ball, M193, and 7.62x39mm. That's pretty astounding, tbh.
A "Level III" plate from AR500 weighs nearly 10 pounds unironically, and won't even stop M193.
Not to be a shill, but admin results had a pretty good video on it. Think it was called will steel get you killed or some shit. Basically confirmed the suspicion on it
>Non steel plates
oof
>LA Police Gear, literal chinese trash, gets holes knocked in it by unspecified threat
Non chinkshit or (fudgepacking RMA either) next time please, we want to keep up appearances that we arent just shitposting.
>none high rated enough to compete with top level steel and ceramic plates.
Ill post my multihit, heavyweight tungsten-core rated plates (VPAM 12)that weigh 6.5lbs, and an unknown Ceradyne Swimmer, you post your similarly rated steel :^)
> tungsten-core rated plates (VPAM 12)that weigh 6.5lbs
lmao, he'd need to post a 1" thick steel plate that weighs 40 pounds.
looks like a ceradyne improved tactical standalone spear plate, an unknown variant of the earlier gen spears, most likely 54r API rated.
>most likely 54r api rated.
FOI request still pending, but yeah most likely answer. I might shake down Avon and see if theyll dig for me too, since I have them in hand.
Not seeing Steel hit even that mark, its a shame. Actually, is it even practical to make even a BZ API plate out of steel? It punches through enough of it, that youd end up with a 15lb plate.
I've gotten to play with some BZ API and it's pretty rowdy stuff. Steel just isn't up for it.
if its anything like standard steel core x39, its very soft, even moreso than 855
BZ API is considered a higher tier of threat than M855 as I recall, more analogous to M855A1.
There are pure UHMWPE Level III plates that defeat 7.62x54r LPS, so to say that they can only stop handgun threats is silly.
On top of that, Level III UHMWPE plates generally start stopping M855 at around 2500 FPS and some of them do significantly better than that, meaning that with some combination of a sufficiently short barrel, distance, angle, and luck, they can also resist M855 under field conditions.
>buy chinesium plate
>get chinesium performance
shocking
Yep. Only problem is a lot of plate carriers don't fit em because they're thicker too. But, they also float. So swimming certainly gets a whole lot easier.
Does UHMWPE plates have an actual expiration date or is Big Armor trying to scare people into buying a set every 5~ years?
IT's probably more than five years, but they have to draw the line somewhere or they'll have to deal with warranty claims/lawsuits from people who had a plate in and out of a 150F car trunk for a decade and are pissed that at some point it lost its ballistic effectiveness