Body armor buying question

HMP

HMP

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So an ad here got me wondering - I just started thinking about body armor but was surprised that someone would request ID and CCP to purchase, as well as a buyer agreement
Is that normal when buying body armor?
 
HMP said:
So an ad here got me wondering - I just started thinking about body armor but was surprised that someone would request ID and CCP to purchase, as well as a buyer agreement
Is that normal when buying body armor?
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Sounds pretty stupid to me.


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I'd want some proof I wasn't selling body armor to a felon just for my own peace of mind, which a ccp or ppp would provide.
 
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I saw it too and did some googling. Federal law prohibits felons from buying body armor. My guess is that is why he is requiring CCW. Federal law also prohibits its export out of the US which is probably why he has the End user agreement. The rest is just his wants. Armor is not serialized like a firearm.
 
Oh I didnt realize that a felon couldnt own armor.
That's too much .gov right there
 
HMP said:
Oh I didnt realize that a felon couldnt own armor.
That's too much .gov right there
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That's not entirely accurate.

Contrary to popular belief, 18 U.S.C. 931 does not have a sweeping prohibition of body armor ownership by felons, but it does say that people convicted of crimes of violence can't own body armor.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/931

A search of the NCGS at https://www.ncleg.gov/Search/GeneralStatutes shows the only reference to body armor in NCGS is an exemption for body armor manufacturers to posess otherwise illegal teflon coated bullets under NCGS 14-34.3

https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByArticle/Chapter_14/Article_8.html
 
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HMP said:
Is that normal when buying body armor?
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Normal? Absolutely not. Quite silly for a private sale IMO. There are no obligation for the seller to ensure the buyer is following the law. That’s the buyers job.

However, it is not unheard of. TYR Tactical and SKD both require LE credentials, CHP, or some sort of afadavit conforming non-felon status, along with a liability release of sorts.
 
I was put off by the paper trail, but even more so by the price he was asking.

I wore steel plates for 454 days, in the sand box. Now that I am a civilian, I own a plate carrier and plates that I bought from AR500 for ~200 bucks. The setup I bought from AR500 is nearly identical to what I wore in 2006-2007 in Iraq.

So, my question is, what makes that $2000 vest in BST worth so much more than my $200 kit?
 
One other item to note. Like with motorcycle helmets, soft panels of body armor has an expiration date.
 
Grim said:
One other item to note. Like with motorcycle helmets, soft panels of body armor has an expiration date.
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And, if it's ceramic, you have to be careful not to throw it around or submerge it in water.

My unit had steel plates, then we upgraded to ceramic because it was lighter. But, after about 6 months we found that everyone's plates started cracking and disintegrating because the guys would take off their kit and drop it on the floor.

Because of this, we all had to go back to using steel plates... Honestly though... I'd rather have a heavier plate that can take hundreds of shots before failing, rather than a lighter plate that fails after 3 shots.
 
Ceramic cant handle water? Interesting
What about sweat?
 
HMP said:
Ceramic cant handle water? Interesting
What about sweat?
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You should research it yourself, but I was in the coast guard, and we were told that they should not be submerged in salt water or chlorinated pools (after the events detailed below).

So we had steel plates and all was good. Then we got issued these new ceramic plates in ~2007. The CG was so afraid that we would fall in the water and drown with all this heavy gear on (one guy did drown during a training exercise https://www.google.com/amp/s/piloto...b950fd46-a229-547a-8286-7fe762532120.amp.html ) so they made us do quarterly swimming and gear ditching drills every three months to stay qualified to do nighttime tactical boardings. So, once every three months, we all had to get in a swimming pool, swim laps in full kit, then practice ditching the plate carrier by removing it underwater, and treading water for 30 minutes or so. We had been doing this swim for several years, with steel plates... But then we got the ceramic plates and kept doing the pool training, but within 6 months (two trips to the pool) all of the ceramic plates started peeling apart and disintegrating.

So the unit quickly recalled the ceramic plates, returned them all, and made us go back to wearing steel plates because we had to keep doing the quarterly pool recertifications.

So, ceramic plates are fine with sweat, but they should not be submerged in water. And they are brittle, so you have to be careful not to drop them. They can easily crack. If a bullet hits in the exact spot where the crack is, it can zip right through and penetrate the wearer.
 
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Steel is going to be cheaper, and more readily available. For the repeatable absorption of strikes, it is far more valuable over the weight difference.
 
@Alabamacoastie interesting info. Thanks for sharing. I was about to call BS on the gov issuing steel plates because I’ve never heard of such nor seen any surplus. But that makes sense. Also interesting to know ceramic’s limits.
 
Jerzsubbie said:
@Alabamacoastie interesting info. Thanks for sharing. I was about to call BS on the gov issuing steel plates because I’ve never heard of such nor seen any surplus. But that makes sense. Also interesting to know ceramic’s limits.
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Mine was a small unit (~85 operators) in San Diego, Pacific Tactical Law Enforcement Team (PACTACLET). We got all the fancy gear first: London Bridge, Tactical Taylor, TAG, night vision, Mk18 rifles, Eotech red dots, etc. So, it was not out of the ordinary for our Store Keeper to order things that were different from everyone else in the military (steel plates).

We walked around base in flight suits, no rank insignia, etc. Other people didn't know if we were an E3 or an O3 and we liked it that way.

We were real cowboys back then. I miss those days. But I have a few friends who are still in and they tell me that now everything has changed at that unit. Everybody is soft, no more walking around base without the proper uniform, no more training on Navy Seal facilities at Silver Strand, no more fun... I wouldn't be able to go back to it now, knowing how great it used to be from 2006 to 2010.
 
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