Black Friday not enough? How about Black November. AR500 Armor has rolled out sitewide discounts on body armor plates, carriers, packages, AR500 targets, shooting accessories, and more with discounts of up to 50%.
All items on Black November sale can be found HERE.
With all the craziness this year, starting with quarantine and progressing through open riots in the streets, body armor has been hard to get. Not quite as bad as ammo or self-defense-oriented firearms, but many manufacturers sold out immediately and are now months backordered. Looks like AR500 Armor not only has stuff in stock and ready-to-ship, but also on sale. With an election happening, you know, today, we thought we’d share.
I’ll be looking at this today and buying if the prices and stock are acceptable. Everyone else, please move along. Nothing to see here. At least, not until I’ve made my own purchase…
Just make sure its not the steel they try to pass off as armor, I think they mostly went towards ceramic but I haven’t followed them much after a friend shredded a plate of theirs with .243 and 5.56 lead core.
Purchased and done. Used the sale discount to offset costs for the upgrades to the better quality plates.
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So then, Dan, here’s a TTAG’er who has now purchased from two of the sponsors of the site (KaliKey and AR500). Very happy with the first, and will soon be able to inspect the second.
All I saw on sale were the steel plates?
Or do you mean that you bought a carrier on sale and bought ceramic that weren’t on sale?
I opted for the multi-curve, coated III+.
Before anyone reading this goes all “but muh ceramic” on me, understand that I’m happy just to have a quality setup. I took a shotgun course led by a former career Marine. He was the “breach” man in an entry team that did a lot of room clearing in the Middle East, and was given his golden ticket to early retirement from the Corp. after taking a load of buckshot to the chest point-blank from a Tango, just as he had busted open the front door. Knocked him unconscious and resulted in cardiac trauma. When I asked him specifically if he recommended steel or ceramic, he said ceramic if possible, but only because he wore his gear all day, every day. He said quality steel is just as good for normal wear, and the more expensive lightened steel is acceptable.
Armor rated steel is acceptable just be aware when it isn’t armor rated you may run into trouble with higher speed/bc rifle rounds. NIJ certified is your friend but given what is available if you are mostly looking at 7.62×39, shotguns and pistols ar500 is probably fine.
It’s not defective products. That’s like saying soft Type II is useless because it doesn’t stop rifle rounds. You need to pick your threat level and match armor to it. M193 from a long barrel will go through AR500 steel, but it will be stopped by poly armor. M855 goes through poly, but gets stopped by AR500. Ceramic will stop both, but it won’t stop multiple rounds and gets damaged by rough handling.
For the 5.56 on whatever batch that plate came from 20 and 18 inch barrels had little trouble with the 55 grain inside of 100 yards. I doubt the pistol ar’s would be as effective but wish we had a 16inch at the time. 243 punched it out to around 150ish yards. Keep in mind this was less than scientific redneck testing on a plate from 2013 or so and I would hope the product has improved since. For all around if it can be found I would go for ceramic at the highest rating that covers most of what you are likely to see. With that said every situation will be different so know your threat and your equipment’s limitations as you just covered quite nicely.
SPALLING. One of the(many) Drawbacks with steel. You have to get the Anti-spall coating or else your body is gonna be a magnet for shrapnel.
Just your throat, nothing important…
/sarc
I have been noticing that more and more of the Andy Ngo tweets of Antifa arrest photos show plate carriers in the ‘evidence’ photos.
Awhile back I bought some of the cheap Chinese 3+ plates from LAPG but that the ceramic ended almost an inch before the edges of the 10×12 plates bothered me even if the part of the plate with ceramic tested very well with Buffman and Mr. Gunsngear. Then I just took the plunge and bought RMA 3+ plates for almost 3x as much and am now actually happy with both purchases.
Well sheeeit.
Too bad I’ve already got mine.
Pretty good prices.
got mine last year…level IV. loved it.
What did I do today?
Vote for Trump? YES
Buy more guns before a $300.00 gun cost me $600.00? HELL YES
Pfft, those plates are HEAVY. Ain’t no effing way am I lugging around 17+lbs so I can save $500. A LOT better options around. Only newbs buy this shit.
I guess it depends on your plan of use.
If you’re thinking that you’ll be running and gunning for hours at a time then the extra money for the super lightweight space age stuff makes a lot of sense.
If you just want something to defend the Alamo with (i.e. largely stationary) then your limited resources might be better spent.
When I bought hard armor back in 2012 or so it was to throw in my car just in case I was dealing with an active shooter situation. I went down the middle with standard ceramic (i.e. not the latest stuff that’ll float… but a lot lighter than steel). Of course back then it was cheap and arrived in a week.
Things go right you can probably pick up an upgrade for 300ish (front and back) in about 5ish months. Kinda wish I did back around 2017 but oh well kevlar for now.
Check out those lead times, 14 weeks? No thanks
Last time I tried to order from AR500 they claimed a 6 week lead time, and it took 5 months. So you might get your plates sometime next year. They need to stop with the sales until they catch up with inventory.
Yup N
I’ve been through that “lead time” with them twice over the years. It won’t happen again.
I found out they had stock on the shelf in the store and yet weren’t filling orders. He stated that it wasn’t going to change and I was going to wait.
Steel armor is trash. Laughs in UHMWPE
M855 I choose you
Stay away from steel armor, it sucks. Buy real plates, don’t cheap out on armor. Nothing is more valuable than your life.
Body armor has its places.
And sometimes it does not.
Things go badly, dont think anyone has a MRAP in the barn, and your pickup truck is not a up armored Humvee.
If fuel is in short supply or not available at all, having to hump it in any appreciable distance is going to be exhausting, limiting speed and distance in full body armor and the rest of your gear.
Encounter resistance/ambush, dont be so attached to body armor you are not willing to ditch it for more speed and maneuverability, especially when up against a faster enemy who is looking to out flank you or cut off your escape route.
Body armor is not a Star Trek/Star Wars all encompassing shield. I see a hostile wearing body armor, my aim point is MOG (Minute Of Groin). Be using whatever ammo I have on hand, even if that is BT, SST, AccuBonds, Megas. If you have ever deer hunted with any of those premium bullets, you know what I am talking about.
Its Junk. Will not stop and is not listed to stop a .223 or M193 5.56mm which will be the most common rifle round encountered today. And the stuff is so heavy that wearing front and back plates severely limits your mobility if your an average guy with a beerbelly. Are you going to hope the guy who has you in their rifle sights is using a .308 ? Or that you will be standing still as rounds impact around you.
These guys are selling snake oil. They should be banned from the market. I dont want government minders telling me what I cant buy but selling Abrasion Resistant steel plate as bullet stoppers is criminal. If you spent a grand on your rifle and another 500 or more on a scope then youve got the bucks for a NIJ certified level IV armor package. Your wife and kids will thank you
Learn about the AR Steels
https://www.steelwarehouse.com/abrasion-resistant-steel/
AR500 armor itself is iffy, but how do people rate the plate carriers?
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