THE AMERICAN PARTISAN AR-500 BODY ARMOR TEST
Steel body armor; something a lot of people have bought in good faith. I’ve heard all the arguments, the lower profile, the cost savings versus ceramic, the multi-hit re-usability, etc…heard it all.
One consideration most never make is spalling. This is always due to people not knowing what they don’t know. The psychology of a gunshot is the fear of a penetration of the round from the original point of impact – the origin of a wound cavity being the impact of the round the same way a hole gets punched in a target. That said, anyone who’s shot live flesh with a weapon knows about projectile fragmentation and jacket separation. Jacket separation in particular, the separation of copper from the lead core, can cause incredible damage inside flesh with their own wound cavitation channels.
Spalling is exactly that – inside or outside flesh.
Steel ‘body armor’, regardless of how much ‘anti-spall’ coating put on it, will always throw bullet fragments into the area surrounding the plate. Spalling, from the tiny entry wounds, usually will be missed from an initial blood sweep on part of a responder and in my experience often does not have an exit wound. They are especially dangerous due to internal hemmorage and will always require a surgical response if the wounded will have any chance at survival. Since many don’t seem to believe that steel armor is a hazard for the wearer, it was time for a test.
50m distance, 55gr XM193, 16in barrel. Pillow placed inside Condor plate carrier to simulate sitting position inside vehicle. Three rounds fired.
Notice wound cavitation and spalling on the pillow. Round fragments exited top and sides of plate carrier. Round fragments exited back top side of pillow, simulating entrance and exit wounds to neck.
Steel plate stopped the rounds at point of impact, however, as can be seen in the pictures, the second order wounding from fragmentation, despite the presence of anti-spall protection, would cause severe and likely fatal wounding to upper right chest, clavicle, neck and face.
The proof is in the pics. Steel is for targets, not body armor.
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Spalling ought to make sense to anybody who has ever taken a look at the frame or stand that they have their steel targets hanging on too. But I’m sure you’ll still have some naysayers.
good stuff brother recommendations on what brand lots to chose from with difference in prices I hate buying twice thanks
I personally run Level IV ceramics from LAPG. Good to see you commenting!
Thanks brother
I literally have treated 4×4 posts that look a hundred years old from spall.
Well, shit. Hate to sell ’em to someone else and no money for replacements. Speaking of which, which of the alternatives are acceptable, better, best?
Will soft armor over steel plates mitigate this issue? More bed liner?
Appreciate all feedback………….
Ceramic. Same thing I’ve been saying when asked for years.
dont do it, i tested soft spall blocker the rounds and spalling fly out linear or vertical into where body parts are. and the weight isnt worth it either get LAPG level iv or comparable the prices are so low steel lost its value proposition on price
This.
Amen
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxkJM1elAyc
I’m curious to know your reaction to this short video. Silence, of course, always speaks volumes.
Posted by the company that’s selling the stuff.
Yeah, real objective. That plate was not hit by anything and that test is a fraud.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEGvpvXd9u0
build up coat fragged all over the box
literally ran same test two weeks ago JP has pics, i put a spall blocker insert over the plate. it shot out the side of the spall blocker into the side of the card board box representing torso or an arm, and up the box where your neck would be.
there is also a video out there of a ukranian fighter takes a round square in the plate and the spall zips into and out of his left arm he had to apply a TQ riki tic, that metal could have easily zipped up into his jugular.
by the time you get the plus’d up rhino liner and a spall blocker you could have just bought a poly ceramic blend plate, if you are concerned about multi-multi-multi hits, buy a few sets. LAPG 230 bucks you will have a set.
if you have steel you have extra targets now.
As fraudulent as your test using a level III (not III+) plate without a paxcon coating? And shooting it with some mythical xm155 ammo? I assume you meant xm193 as the xm855 is 62 grain.
I suspect that you have not tested plates with build-up coats at all. And, yes, I’m well aware that NIJ does not provide a rating of level III+, however level III is specifically NOT designed to deal with the velocity of xm193 or m855, only 7.62 FMJ 147gr (M80). The colloquially known level III+ has been accepted by a significant number of reputable armor manufacturers as being a reliable (and eminently testable) indicator of stopping ability.
If I were to test something and make definitive statements regarding the outcome of that test, I would be certain to factually test the actual product I am saying with absolute certainty is inferior.
Level III deals with penetration, not spalling.
Nice try.
Like your steel? Wear your steel. Let me shoot at you.
hahah nice,
anyone that’s had time downrange can tell the lasting effect fragmentation has had grenades,to ricochets whatever it’s not pretty, hot metal bits in soft flesh don’t mix.
also steel targets are made from the same shit and you have a minimal safe distance to shoot at even using frangible ammo!
troops aren’t getting issued Steel Plates from CIF on base.
the price parity is so close level 3 and 4 plates are cheaper than the steel! no excuses!
dont buy steel unless you are making a killdozer hahahaa
You’re only making your bullshit company look worse.
Stick to making targets, instead of making people them.
What’s this mythical bullshit coating you’re speaking of? This steel was your anti-spall best stuff. Please, I’m all ears.
You’re on deck, hoss.
Thomas you suck, the only thing you could criticize were those gangly ass fingers in the photos; but some how you fucked that up.
Rhino lining is for my Truck Bed.
If you got money for a third or fourth M4, you got money for ceramic plates. Seriously.
i dont give. shit about ammo grains i shoot whatever is around which is the most realistic test ever. and steel spalls i will keep my jugular and femoral arteries intact thank you
Hmm… So I wonder how many layers of Gorrilla tape will stop the spalling.
Holy shit, so many company reps here I could form my own company
by the time you do coatings, and wrap in spall blocker pouches and welding blankets and resin you coulda just bought poly/ceramic blends for a few hundred a set and call it a day
steel plates bad for knees too,in heat they get hot, in cold they get cold so you are wearing a freezing hunk of metal. even if the weight was exactly the same metal “feels” denser and heavier. its not a good look, ask any medic about shrapnel. you are wearing a shrapnel generating plate when you can easily buy the alternative.
It’s a shame people have been hoodwinked by this junk. And unfortunately there is a quirk with people that once they’ve been hoodwinked, they will spend a great deal of effort defending their (wrong) decision instead of owning the mistake and moving on.
Better to wear no armor and avoid the weight than to strap steel plates on.
Just like the vast majority of demtards and most publicans as well :-)
In my sole opinion, yes times 100
Shrapnel always leaves nasty wounds. Don’t fall to the marketing. Look at who is pushing steel plates on the internet. III+ is a marketing ploy and not worth the money. Buy ceramic plates and leave it alone.
The only AR500 I own is targets…
Ceramic Hescos, Shot Stop or maybe this option…..
https://youtu.be/ICSzJnRAC5Y
Are you aware that Jack Lawson lists ar500 armor as ‘the boys to go to’ for body armor on his civil defense manual website?
https://civildefensemanual.com/civil-defense-manual-list-of-website-links/
I bought some of this steel armor with the base coat and buildup coat of anti spall thinking it would mitigate spall because I trusted his recommendation. Now you’re telling me it’s trash. Have you tested the stuff with the buildup coating for anti-spall performance? Nobody likes hearing they wasted their money. Facts are facts though whether one likes them or not. I’m just trying to gather all the details before making my decision.
The stuff I tested has the coating. Check the photos. Apparently he’s wrong. You claim to be a 68w, so you should damn well know better.
And he didn’t come to me for that suggestion, had he, it would have been corrected. He went to Matt Bracken.
I wrote the commo chapter. I can comment on that.
Great article. The Law of Conservation of Energy- If anyone wants to research the subject. At 1000 yards a 7.62×51 will spall on a steel target and kill a bird perched on that target-that is a fact.
Ceramic plates fragment, absorbing the energy of the bullet, once struck your plate is now compromised, but you sustain LESS injury. Steel plates or very hard surfaces DO NOT absorb energy they transfer the energy perpendicular/ or deflected from their surface=SPALL or fragmentation.
The coatings on AR500 plates are similar to spray in polymer bed-liner- I know what sprayed polymers are-I owned a rig to spray in bed liner, the composition is not substantial enough to absorb that kind of energy- I don’t care if it is 1” thick- the characteristics once cured do not fit the intended result. I do own AR500 plates, they are now targets. You can’t buy time, and life is priceless, you do you.
I forgot to add, the warranty on steel plates are as good as the 20 year or lifetime roofing shingles- I guarantee either you are dead or they are out of business before you can file a claim and get paid. Zero cool guy bonefide’s on this end, but BS, sales tactics, and gimmicks are free to the guy making $ that’s a fact. Better get training g while you can.
I am not an operator. Never was never will be. My old ass is low speed hi drag. I am a machinist and steel belongs in a vehicle not on your body. I have plates. I have given plates to family. They are all ceramic. LAPG or better. The cost difference is not enough to warrant not using ceramic. The weight difference is deal breaker as well. I just bought some Mil-Surp plates for my great grand kids so they can have some in vehicle ballistic protection. Hopefully they will never need it. Oh and they were ceramic as well.
Here’s a video reinforcing the spalling issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd7LeSaldIE
It seems pretty clear from what I’ve seen: a near-edge hit with a rifle cartridge (even with the build up coating) will result in fragmentation/spalling. It might capture fragmentation on a limited number center hits, but that simply isn’t good enough because you don’t get to choose where on the plate you’re going to get shot if you have to use these for real.
I find it annoying too when these youtubers look at the coating separating from the plate and saying it was a minor thing. No Mr. Youtuber, it’s a life threatening big deal.