Last year, I purchased a set (front and rear) of Level IV plates from bulletproofme.com.
They fit just fine in my Interceptor, but when other plate carriers were used, the rear, which was countoured differently than the front, would not fit.
Even after I had owned them for 6 months, the company offered to swap out the rear for a front plate (for a 20% fee – very reasonable in my opinion, since they would have had to X-ray the plate before reselling it).
However, I decided to test the plate myself, and see if it really did what they claimed – stop multiple shots of .30-06 armor piercing ammunition without any supporting soft armor.
The plate did indeed stop 3 shots of .30-06 AP (163gr hardened steel penetrator projectiles courtesy of Rich_V on AR15.com), as well as many other rounds.
The plate allowed part of one .308 projectile, as well as 4 5.45x39mm projectiles, to penetrate.
However, these hits were in rather close proximity to other impacts. Because this was a ceramic plate, the initial impacts fractured the plate (it’s designed to absorb the impact this way) and the later projectiles “slipped through” the cracks.
Even after it had been shot over a dozen times, and it had literally come apart, it still stopped XM193 5.56×45 and a 12ga slug.
Overall, I’m very impressed with the performance of this plate, especially considering the cost ($270). I’d still probably wear soft armor underneath the plates, given the chance, but at least I know that the plate exceeds the manufacturer’s claims.
Great review, always good to read a review of a product that exceeds initial claims. Can I suggest a review of US Palm’s ASP-C? The videos out there show it does the job stopping projectiles, but what about the fit/finish and usability of the carrier?
What happened to the video? Thanks!
The video can be found under the “VuurwapenBlog” channel on YouTube. I’ll try to find the link.
was the plate in the test the stand alone level IV or the conjunction level IV? I’m looking at the conjunction plate to use with level IIIa soft armor and was wondering if it would hold up as well as the stand alone. Thanks!
This was the stand alone plate. I have not tested the ICW plate.
I can’t seem to find the video where is it stored.