A body armor can protect against cold or firearm damage, as well as from shrapnel wounds. Life often depends on this personal protective equipment. Read the review of primearmor.us to find out how to choose it correctly.
What is body armor?
Body armor is a means of individual armor protection, which protects the human body from being hit by firearms and cold weapons, fragments of mines, grenades and shells. As a result, the probability of injury and post-wound injury, which sometimes leads to serious consequences and even death, is reduced.
In accordance with the American NIJ standard, class I body armors protect against .22 and .38 special bullets. Classes II and II-A provide protection against 9 mm and .357 Magnum bullets, and these classes differ in muzzle velocity and bullet shell. III-A class resists bullets of 9 mm and .44 Magnum.
Bulletproof vests of class III detain rifle bullets of the NATO 7.62×51 mm cartridge. Finally, class IV models hold an armor-piercing bullet .30-06 Springfield.
The European CEN standard defines classes differently. Bulletproof vests of classes BR 2, BR 3, BR 4 are resistant to pistol bullets of 9 mm Parabellum, .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum.
Classes BR 1 and BR 5 protect against rifle bullets of .22 and 5.56×45 mm cartridges, respectively. Models of classes BR 6 and BR 7 give protection from a rifle bullet of 7. 62×51 mm.
Materials
Kevlar is a lightweight material, but expensive and not strong enough. It is sensitive to the effects of cold weapons and moisture. Soft concealed body armors of 1-2 protection classes are made of Kevlar, which resist pistol bullets.
Titanium and armor steel are high-strength and durable materials, but very heavy. They are used to create rigid open-wear army body armors that protect against rifle cartridges and tolerate multiple hits.
Ceramic is much lighter than a steel plate with comparable strength. However, the ceramic plate cracks when hit by a bullet and is not suitable for reuse.
UHMWPE (ultra-high-molecular-weight high-density polyethylene) is a strong and lightweight material. Such a body armor is more expensive than models made of armored steel and gives a lower protection class.
Size
The main point of how to choose body armor is that it should definitely fit you well, and you should feel comfortable in it.
If a vest is too large, it will not fit you properly and a smaller one can injure your internal organs.
Bulletproof vests only protect the chest and back. If you want to protect your shoulders, neck, sides or groin, you need extra details. Additional details are attached to the main vest and additionally protect different parts of the body.
There are additional protections for the shoulders (Shoulderguards), for the abdomen (Side protection), neck (Gorget, or Neckguard) and groin (Groinflap). Check that the add-ons fit well with the main vest.
Choose a body armor by weight, taking into account the physical condition of the owner. If the product is uncomfortable to move or run, then fatigue will occur much earlier than the stated time. This, in turn, reduces the combat capability of the soldier with all the resulting risks.
Conclusion
Before you buy body armor, you need to clearly determine what type of weapon it should protect, how often and for how long it will have to be worn, whether it should be hidden from the eyes of outsiders. After all, the category of body armor includes a variety of personal protective equipment, which differ from each other in a number of characteristics.
