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**Peregrino** · 01-27-2013, 21:40

CS - The smartest COA for you is to contact your State Police. Find out what they're using. I'll bet their patrol profile is at least as bad as yours. I'll also bet they have a statewide threat analysis (probably not pistols and contact shots in the middle of south central MT) and a recommended/approved list of suitable vests. Armed with their list you can then go shopping. They may also be able to point you to a program that will provide (or assist with providing) a vest. Grants, group buys, state or LEO fraternal organization "good deals", etc. will all help your dollars stretch farther.

Lawyers and federal standards actually work in your favor to make sure that anything approved will meet minimum standards for designated threats. What's important is the NIJ rating - what is it warranted to stop? The things you will need to care about is: are the panels adequate for the expected threat, have they been properly sized to your frame, and is the carrier durable/comfortable enough. Finally - remember, everything is a compromise. Kevlar is cheapest but bulky and heavy, Dynema is expensive but lighter and more flexible for the same level of protection (might mean more back face deformation and blunt trauma if you do get shot though!), Twaron and others (e.g. the Goldflex you mentioned) falls in the middle.

If you save enough money by leveraging programs, I suggest getting a plate carrier with at least LVL III plates and hanging some magazines, an IFAK, comms, and water on it for those lonely shifts in the wide outdoors. It's relatively easy to size for wear over your concealable and quickly donned when dismounting the vehicle. NTM - dodging rifle rounds in concealable armor isn't conducive to drawing a secure retirement.

01-27-2013, 21:40	#7
Peregrino Quiet Professional Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Occupied Pineland Posts: 4,701	CS - The smartest COA for you is to contact your State Police. Find out what they're using. I'll bet their patrol profile is at least as bad as yours. I'll also bet they have a statewide threat analysis (probably not pistols and contact shots in the middle of south central MT) and a recommended/approved list of suitable vests. Armed with their list you can then go shopping. They may also be able to point you to a program that will provide (or assist with providing) a vest. Grants, group buys, state or LEO fraternal organization "good deals", etc. will all help your dollars stretch farther. Lawyers and federal standards actually work in your favor to make sure that anything approved will meet minimum standards for designated threats. What's important is the NIJ rating - what is it warranted to stop? The things you will need to care about is: are the panels adequate for the expected threat, have they been properly sized to your frame, and is the carrier durable/comfortable enough. Finally - remember, everything is a compromise. Kevlar is cheapest but bulky and heavy, Dynema is expensive but lighter and more flexible for the same level of protection (might mean more back face deformation and blunt trauma if you do get shot though!), Twaron and others (e.g. the Goldflex you mentioned) falls in the middle. If you save enough money by leveraging programs, I suggest getting a plate carrier with at least LVL III plates and hanging some magazines, an IFAK, comms, and water on it for those lonely shifts in the wide outdoors. It's relatively easy to size for wear over your concealable and quickly donned when dismounting the vehicle. NTM - dodging rifle rounds in concealable armor isn't conducive to drawing a secure retirement. __________________ A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero (42B.C)
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