- May 22, 2005
- 122,906
This thread could easily go into Preppers or Training, but most of the body armor stuff has been here, so for the sake of consistency.
We had a lengthy discussion about what body armor and carrier to consider during the riot season earlier this year.
I shared that I ended up with the Chase Tactical Level IV Curved Plates (they are rebranded HighCom Plates) and then put them in one of their house branded low visibility plate carriers.
It's not high speed tier 1 stuff, but I'm convinced I made the right choice when considering quality, affordability and likelihood of usage.
They biggest trade off is that they are HEAVY compared to the tier 1 stuff.
So, I had tried it on under a flannel shirt some time ago and was super surprised at how well I could completely hide these things and basically looked like a typical middle aged dude carrying a few extra pounds.
What I hadn't done was to actually get out of the house with it on.
The wife was gone today, and the weather was nice so i threw everything on and took an hour walk around the neighborhood on a route with a mixture of uphills and downhills, but all on sidewalks or the road.
Some things:
1. Yes, they are heavy - heavy on your legs, heavy on your shoulders. I thought I had cinched up the cummerbund appropriately per Rattlesnake's real world experience but I clearly hadn't. My shoulders are worn out.
2. Yes, you get winded. I am neither the least or most fit person in the world, but I do exercise and have been doing up to 8 hours hikes this year. Adding this weight makes a huge difference.
3. It changes your center of gravity and even on pavement/sidewalks it pulls you side to side more than you think. I need to get off the pavement and work on that lateral conditioning.
4. It's HOT. Even with it being right around 43 degrees, and only wearing a flannel shirt over the carrier and a t-shirt, I was hot.
5. You'll find the places that are rubbing you. I have couple of spots on my back where the bottom of the carrier was rubbing. Need to figure out what's going on there.
6. Curved plates are the bee's knees for comfort and concealability. I deliberately stopped and talked to a few people working in their yards and chatted and no one indicated that they noticed i was wearing it, again with just a flannel shirt on.
We had a lengthy discussion about what body armor and carrier to consider during the riot season earlier this year.
I shared that I ended up with the Chase Tactical Level IV Curved Plates (they are rebranded HighCom Plates) and then put them in one of their house branded low visibility plate carriers.
It's not high speed tier 1 stuff, but I'm convinced I made the right choice when considering quality, affordability and likelihood of usage.
They biggest trade off is that they are HEAVY compared to the tier 1 stuff.
So, I had tried it on under a flannel shirt some time ago and was super surprised at how well I could completely hide these things and basically looked like a typical middle aged dude carrying a few extra pounds.
What I hadn't done was to actually get out of the house with it on.
The wife was gone today, and the weather was nice so i threw everything on and took an hour walk around the neighborhood on a route with a mixture of uphills and downhills, but all on sidewalks or the road.
Some things:
1. Yes, they are heavy - heavy on your legs, heavy on your shoulders. I thought I had cinched up the cummerbund appropriately per Rattlesnake's real world experience but I clearly hadn't. My shoulders are worn out.
2. Yes, you get winded. I am neither the least or most fit person in the world, but I do exercise and have been doing up to 8 hours hikes this year. Adding this weight makes a huge difference.
3. It changes your center of gravity and even on pavement/sidewalks it pulls you side to side more than you think. I need to get off the pavement and work on that lateral conditioning.
4. It's HOT. Even with it being right around 43 degrees, and only wearing a flannel shirt over the carrier and a t-shirt, I was hot.
5. You'll find the places that are rubbing you. I have couple of spots on my back where the bottom of the carrier was rubbing. Need to figure out what's going on there.
6. Curved plates are the bee's knees for comfort and concealability. I deliberately stopped and talked to a few people working in their yards and chatted and no one indicated that they noticed i was wearing it, again with just a flannel shirt on.