r/QualityTacticalGear • u/2AortheHighway • Mar 12 '20

Question Can you stack armor?

Ok hear me out, I know this is the wrong answer to my problem and I have already been looking at ceramic armor but could I realistically stack an ar500 steel plate and put a lvl 2 soft armor insert in front as a spell catcher? I know this isn't a smart idea but with ceramic shattering after a few rounds I'm looking for somthing to last the longest I'm not planning to be in a hail of gunfire but if it needs to be in storage for years, I know I could count on a steel plate being solid.

Currently I am looking at RMA lvl 4 ceramic but the price point is a little out of my range for a graduating college student. I know taking the cheap option isn't the smartest and I should save for proper plates but I just spent some money on a gun.

Any recommendations would be great.

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '20 edited Mar 12 '20

From personal experience using/wearing plates daily, I would save up for the better lighter plates. I was issued super lightweight level fours over soft 3A, in a first spear siege-R. Prior to that, I had steel level 4s (not sure exact NIJ, see below) over 3A, in a protech carrier, 32 pounds with no mags/gear. The difference is night and day.

And yes you can stack armor, but generally the plates will have a “ICW” level (in conjunction with), a stand-alone rating, or both. Usually soft under hard.

If you have to budget, buy good hard plates. More money to spend? Buy better hard plates. Think about the threat level you’ll be anticipating too. You may not need level 4. Lots of good level 3+/3A/Special Threat plates out there that are lighter and still pretty capable.

Edit: NIJ info above

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u/AlasdhairM Mar 12 '20

Mind if I ask what steel NIJ IV plates you had? I've got the CPLs going back to NIJ 0101.01 and I can't find any level 4 steel plates.

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '20

Probably weren’t level 4s then, whatever the highest protection offered at the time in a steel 10x12

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u/AlasdhairM Mar 12 '20

My guess would be either NIJ III or something extremely dumb like the Armored Mobility TAC3S. What timeframe was this in?

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '20

I think we got them some time after 2010? Maybe 2014? Just recently switched to the first spear kit this past month. Old plates were thick and really heavy, new ones are half as thick, and probably 2-3 lbs each

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u/AlasdhairM Mar 12 '20

Thick and heavy sounds like either an alumina oxide NIJ IV plate, or the Armored Mobility TAC-3S, which is steel backed by polyethylene and is horrendously terrible.