Who wears a vest (body armour)?

[Andy Taylor]

I was just wondering who here wears armour and why.

[ddog]

I was just wondering who here wears armour and why.

Great question. How much are kevlar vests and where's the best value at? I bet they are high, just because your life may depend on them. Old Sarge may have them at a decent price.

[Chucky]

"Yes, Not issued, but required."

You have to be kidding. These vest are a large expense. Any company that requires you to have one (Mandated) yet the cheap yahoos won't pay at least most of the cost. I would buy a pair of good Nikes and run like hell. There is more than likely a good reason that they make you wear one. I would guess that there is some law that would make them issue it under the Life Safety act. Other wise you are paying for their liability insurance in a sense. I would go so far as to suggest that it is required by the issuing policy holder for all their employees to wear one. If I am all wrong then I hope these suckers are paying you real good.

[Andy Taylor]

Great question. How much are kevlar vests and where's the best value at? I bet they are high, just because your life may depend on them. Old Sarge may have them at a decent price.

https://www.galls.com

https://www.qmuniform.com

[Charger]

I've been wearing a IIIA vest most of my security career. Never leave home without it. I've worked all sorts of details, from the mudane, to the high-stress. To me, the job isn't what dictates my wearing a vest or not. If I'm working, the vest goes on. If for no other reason, than for the sheer fact that the moment you put on that uniform and badge, you've just put a target on your body to all the would-be 'thugs' out there

I purchased mine out of my own pocket, but the company I was working for at the time had a payroll deduction program, so they bought it for me, then deducted it over a couple month span from my checks. Worked out well for me.

[ddog]

I've been wearing a IIIA vest most of my security career. Never leave home without it. I've worked all sorts of details, from the mudane, to the high-stress. To me, the job isn't what dictates my wearing a vest or not. If I'm working, the vest goes on. If for no other reason, than for the sheer fact that the moment you put on that uniform and badge, you've just put a target on your body to all the would-be 'thugs' out there

I purchased mine out of my own pocket, but the company I was working for at the time had a payroll deduction program, so they bought it for me, then deducted it over a couple month span from my checks. Worked out well for me.

That's what I was thinking before I got sprayed with AK-47 bullets from a crackhead. I really don't think they look to see if you have a weapon or not. So the difference between the Level III and II is $260 and better termperature controlled. Good deal in mid-FL.

[N. A. Corbier]

That's what I was thinking before I got sprayed with AK-47 bullets from a crackhead. I really don't think they look to see if you have a weapon or not. So the difference between the Level III and II is $260 and better termperature controlled. Good deal in mid-FL.

Edit...

Don't worry about being sprayed with the AK. You will die unless wearing heavy ceramic plate armor. The Box of Truth, an arfcom-forum member's website, shows just how frightening the 7.62x39 round is to the human body, even with IIIA body armor on.

It made an entrance hole through the armor about O big around. It went through the block of #4 Roma Clay, simulating you, with an entrance hole of o big.


Then they peeled the front layer of clay back, and found this:


^ THAT IS YOUR CHEST ^

[ddog]

What about Dragon Skin body armor? Haven't found anywhere that sells it yet though. 48 lbs would work your legs out real good during the day. When you take it off, you would float to the ceiling.

Edit...

Don't worry about being sprayed with the AK. You will die unless wearing heavy ceramic plate armor. The Box of Truth, an arfcom-forum member's website, shows just how frightening the 7.62x39 round is to the human body, even with IIIA body armor on.

It made an entrance hole through the armor about O big around. It went through the block of #4 Roma Clay, simulating you, with an entrance hole of o big.


Then they peeled the front layer of clay back, and found this:


^ THAT IS YOUR CHEST ^

[N. A. Corbier]

That's 48 pounds of external armor your employer will probably fire you for.

Honestly, no security officer in Florida should be in an area with military hardware freely operating unless they are combat trained and equipped with rifles and armor.

Considering that Florida does not authorize rifles except with explicit permission (read: TECO wants them) of the Commissioner of DOACS, that's not many companies able to provide a private army.

[Hank1]

Yes! I have body armor and wear it everyday I work. It is not very comfortable in the Florida sun and humidity. But, I can't imagine working without it.

Be safe,

Hank

[ddog]

http://www.pinnaclearmor.com/body-armor/dragon-skin.php

Pretty interesting you-tubes at bottom of web page with ak-47 and 9mm shot at close range. But you are right in its too much in extra panels hanging off shoulders, neck, atlas, groin, etc... However at top of page is a concealable level III body armor that looks like the ticket at 16.5 lbs for front and back panels only.

And there are assault gun collectors everywhere, even in FL. At 70 hrs/week, it would just be on for 42% of the time. A good lower body workout.

[N. A. Corbier]

I'm not sure if Level III will stop milsurp 7.62mm ammo in either pistol (Makarov) or rifle (AK/SAS/Whatnot) configuration. This sounds like a job for the NIJ.

[ddog]

Just talked with the Individual (vs Law vs Military) Sales expert at Pinnacle. The Dragon Skin Level III vests go for $2500 to $4300 depending on coverage options + 25% more at 2XL range (which I'm on border line). Level III is for AK-47 and M16 rifle power.

http://www.pinnaclearmor.com/body-armor/ballistic-chart.php

The Level III(A) is what the Law uses and goes for $1050 (about 1/2 the protection). He said the finer stitching was important in vest (for double the price of the Quartermaster's IIIA vest - ?). The aramid was better for contact shots since polyethelene melts, and for glancing knife blows since plastic has a coefficient (or fraction) of shear (force) compared to fiber. The polyethelene was 'theoretically' sealed better for most distance gun shots. The guy personally wore the aramid Level IIIA in CA, so it sounds like the best.

But (!) I'd really like to check out the $460 Level IIIA on Police Quartermaster site side by side with the $1060 Pinnacle (non-Dragon Skin) Level IIIA just to look at the stitching difference, since that was the main difference noted by sales man. I know its only about $50 of material in each vest retail, so don't want to pay double or $600 extra for nothing. They are the best, so they probably give the Law just enough discount to sell at their same price, and the Law probably looks at deep discounts in making decision. The guy knew what he was talking about, but he got more into flowerly descriptions when talking about stitching (or no big difference was quantitatively indicated). The Level IIIA is probably the best deal at the Quartermaster link provided early in this thread. And the Level IIIA weighs only about 4-5 lbs, so not much of a workout for the legs.

I'm not sure about the Quartermasters material, aramid or polyethelene, but ALL Quartermaster Level IIIA sizes are on backorder, so the Law seems to have made its mind up.

[Chucky]

For a while you could pick Dragon Skin up on E-Bay. Then after the controversy that reveled high level military and dignitaries wore them in Iraq they became scarce.

[HotelSecurity]

30 years in hotel security & so far have never needed it nor have I heard of any other Montreal hotel security officer ever being shot.