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Body Armor or Not?

I have a grey ghost minimalist plate carrier with good steel plates. I don't carry it anywhere but do have it in a bag with other gear if I felt I was going to travel to a bad area or into a dicey situation. Not comfortable leaving that type of gear in my jeep. Even with a hard top it's not the most secure vehicle and difficult to hide gear in besides what I already have in it. At home I can be in my armor, chest rig and have my long gun in seconds.
 
Exactly. Most of us folks that own multiple defense-oriented firearms and train in tactical shooting have LONG GUNS (rifles and shotguns) that we keep at home, or in our vehicles, but DON'T carry on our bodies and can't access instantly. We hope that we'll see trouble coming and have at least several seconds to get into the safe or hidden stash and get out the long gun.
 
Got a good deal on a Tactical Tailor Light fighter PC from a new trader on here (thanks @PolymerParabellum) fits my Large SAPI plates awesome and is much smaller and more comfortable than my eagle. Better suited for civilian work IMO. I’ll be swapping some pouches over today and getting it set up. Came with side plate holders but I canned em.
The carrier is a Large I’m 6’ 200 lbs and it’s adjusted in on almost every point, shoulders and cummerbund. So if you’re a bigger profile than myself there’s quite a bit more room for adjustment.
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Ive seen a lot of PC and kits on jet.com but not familiar with that website.

I'm looking at getting a Shellback Tactical Banshee PC. Now where do you guys get your plates from? AR500? I'm looking at these:
https://www.ar500armor.com/ar500-armor-body-armor/ar500-armor-10-x-12-asc-level-iii-body-armor.html
 
Question for the OP. Are you talking about wearing a vest as EDC or you talking about just having one in the car like you would a carbine?

Yes I agree but a end of the world or without rule of law scenario is drastically different from EDC. We might have ARs, AKs and thousands of rounds of ammo at home but how many people carry all that in their trunk? EDC is about compromise and balance. Most people carry a compact, concealable firearm with 15 rounds or less when they have far superior firepower at home. Why? Different reasons, maybe they dont feel as though they will encounter the need to have it. Most people don't live there lives preparing for every single what if. Oh I'm going around the corner to Kroger let me bring my 1911, 2 mags, and I'll load up the AR, the Mossberg and the plate carrier in the trunk, just in case. You might grab the subcompact, you might not grab anything.

I'm not saying don't ride around with a plate carrier or body armor in the trunk but I question what good is it really going to do for you. If you aren't wearing it 100% of the time theres always that chance you're going to be too far from your car for it to matter. In which case that $300-$500 would probably have been better off going to training. And if you are wearing it 100% of the time you need to be either LEO or confined to a bunker with tinfoil on your head.

How many instances have you heard of where a person would have any a chance to don body armor after a gunfight has commenced? I haven't heard of one. In fact if you have time to get armor out the trunk and put it on you likely have time to get in the car and leave.

Btw have you ever been shot wearing soft armor? Vest or not it hurts. I've never been but I've shot a vest and seen what happens beneath it.
Agreed. Even if (highly unlikely though) an enemy was wearing Body armor, youre supposed to train yourself to keep shooting until the threat is no longer a threat. Assuming you follow that logic, regardless of whether or not you hit his/her body armor, with multiple shots they will not likely be firing back while getting hit with multiple shots to the chest (with BA on).
Interesting! On level 4 armor the 7.62x39 is the only one that did not penetrate with three rounds or less in the same spot. So much for the myth of superior penetration of the AK47.

Its tricky with Body armor. Ive seen 762X39 rounds penetrate level 7 vehicles (all the way through) with around 10 shots hitting the same spot. Its a highly unlikely scenario back home, but you never know; you could be that one unlucky bastard.
Armor alters your tactics, too, right?

If you're wearing armor aren't you supposed to square off with the target so that you present the full face of the armor vs being un-armored you may take a side-ways angle when preparing to engage?
Yeah you want as much BA as possible in front of the enemy to avoid penetration through the side. Even unarmored, unless its a surprise situation, I would use whatever stance/position is most appropriate depending on the COVER I'm using.
 
This guy, some African tribal militiaman, understands the value of, and appreciates, body armor.

Too bad he can't afford any.

That Type II personal flotation device will have to make do until he wins the lottery.

P.S. He also knows what putting on your "game face" means, and since that doesn't require any $$$, he nailed that.

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