02/09/2022
Steel body armor is a bad choice for when your life is on the line.
AR500 is negligent in their manufacturing, advertising, and selling of subpar armor that could very easily get people killed.
And thus, the time has come to talk about steel armor.
First, what is AR500?
AR500 itself refers to a specific steel of a given hardness, but for the purposes of this post, AR500 will refer to the brand known as AR500 Armor.
While this brand makes some soft armor and some ceramic armor, they are most well known for their budget-priced steel armor.
While what I cover in this post is looking 90% at the AR500 brand of armor, most of this post applies equally to all other steel armor, including the countless chinese knockoffs.
Now first off, I must state that I appreciate and thank AR500 as a company and I thank the owner for what he has done, in just the same way I think Palmetto State Armory. Their efforts to undermine gun control / armor bans have been wildly successful, and for that, I thank them.
PSA saw a market where AR's were expensive and tended to only be owned by serious gun owners, not by casuals and normal people. AR's were not in the hands of the common man, primarily because budget manufacturers had not cropped up to make budget-friendly AR's that the common man could afford.
PSA sought to undermine gun control and undermine efforts to ban AR's by making the AR the most popular rifle in the country.
PSA brought to market mass-produced cheap AR's that every working man could afford. And it worked insanely well.
At the peak of Obama's push to ban AR's, PSA got an AR into the hands of everybody who wanted one. And with proliferation that thorough, there is nothing gun control could do to beat that. And for that, I earnestly thank PSA. They have done more for gun rights than gun-control-donating Daniel Defense ever has. PSA has done more for gun rights than bankruptcy-declaring C**t ever has.
So what did AR500 do?
If you go back to when AR500 was founded, circa 2012, armor was hard to get as a civilian. Almost all the armor companies at the time refused to sell to civilians. They were all military and police only. Armor was hard to get, it was prohibitively expensive for the average person, and it really was a niche product.
This made armor easy to ban. It wasn't in common usage, so many people didn't care if it got banned.
The owner saw this and decided to make a change. AR500 hit the market like a hammer and pushed affordable armor onto the market, marketed explicitly towards civilians, in a way that hadn't been done before. And it worked. Armor became affordable and easily obtainable.
Prior to AR500, none of the armor companies would sell directly to consumers. AR500 changed that. If you had a credit card, you could buy armor online. And it was beautiful. AR500 directly undermined gun control successfully. AR500 got armor into the hands of everybody who wanted armor.
It it quite possible that civilian ownership of body armor remains legal today entirely because of AR500. And for that, I thank them.
All quality and safety issues aside, AR500 kept armor legal, and they opened the door for companies like Hoplite to improve on that formula even more, as Hoplite is a no-boots-licked company that provides top quality ceramic plates to civilians specifically.
With both AR's AND ceramic armor in the hands of the common man, these two factors work together to be a potent check against tyranny and government overreach. The average civilian can match the armor and armament used by local law enforcement, which is a very frightening concept for those in power.
Anyway, with that stated up front, with me first clarifying that I am not a blind AR500 hater who blindly throws shade at a pro-freedom American company, with the clarification that I actually own a set of AR500 plates, let me move on to describing the problems with AR500 steel body armor.
1) AR500 steel armor isn't actually NIJ certified. AR500's only NIJ armor is their ceramic lvl IV armor and their polyethylene pistol-rated lvl III.
NIJ certification is important. In order to get NIJ certification, a batch of units of a given armor model must be provided to the National Institute of Justice for abuse testing. This includes temperature cycling and humidity cycling (along with testing of the internal adhesives), followed by submersion testing and immediate drop testing, dropping the plate twice onto concrete from four feet. Then, and only then, after all that abuse, is the armor plate finally shot to verify its ballistic properties. The plate is shot multiple times. Yes, multiple times. And the plate must completely protect the user in order to pass. And yes, for those who are paying attention, that means that ceramic plates are indeed multi-hit capable, contrary to the fuddlore misinformation and myths that get spread by low information users and people who shill for steel armor.
Let's reiterate that: Ceramic armor absolutely is multi-hit capable.
Anyway, all the tested plates, which means a batch of 37 randomly-selected units of a given model, have to go through all the abuse testing, THEN stop multiple rounds (such as six shots of .308 147gr M80 ball going ~2800fps for a level 3 plate), AND they still can't exceed a given amount of backface deformation.
What is backface deformation?
With most plate designs, when a bullet hits a plate, that plate will have the backside of the plate, behind the impact point, bulge out. This bulge is called backface deformation. That bulge can not be any more than 44mm (~2 inches). Any more is considered injurious to a potential wearer.
And finally, in order to maintain NIJ certification, the manufacturer has to be willing to be subjected to random batch testing, to ensure that the manufacturer hasn't gotten lazy, reduced their quality, or otherwise is putting out unsafe plates that won't save the lives of wearers.
So where does this leave AR500?
Only their ceramic lvl 4 plate and their polyethylene lvl 3 plate is NIJ certified. None of their steel armor is NIJ certified.
AR500 steel armor is not NIJ certified. It is not certified because it wouldn't pass.
2) Dishonest marketing and fraudulent testing.
"Wait a minute, Sling Guy," you might say, looking at AR500's website, "AR500's website states 'independently tested and rated to NIJ 0101.06 standards' right there on the website. Doesn't that mean it's NIJ Certified?"
Nope. That means less than Olight's advertised candela values. That means less than a politician's campaign promises. Saying it is independently tested and that it passes a PORTION of NIJ's requirements doesn't mean it's actually NIJ certified. And this isn't just about some arbitrary certification, this is about the fact that while AR500 plates might stop SOME bullets, especially when shot from SBRs or pistols, they might not stop some very common rifle bullets when shot from a longer barrel length, bullets that the average consumer would reasonably expect that the plate should be able to stop. And in practical terms, that means that good people might end up with bullet holes in them because they trusted a plate that lies about its ballistic capabilities.
AR500 has a notorious problem with staging tests in a best-case scenario that will make the armor look like it will protect you.
For example, they have a video where they put a bunch of balloons around a plate and shot it with .308, with no balloons popping. Looks impressive on video, and that video is great at fooling low-information buyers. But what AR500 doesn't tell you is that that plate was a purpose-made unit an unusually thick coating of anti-spalling and that they used a .308 SBR, which was pushing an unknown .308 projectile at .300 blackout velocities. The budget steel armor you buy won't be like that.
Further, instead of their plates being firmly held in place, they are usually allowed to swing freely or move with the target, which soaks up a ton of the energy involved. This makes it easier for subpar plates to withstand bullet threats above their rating for the sake of a test, even if they wouldn't in real life.
3) Quality Control. AR500 has a long running problem with recalls, sometimes recalling tens of thousands of plates, because they won't even stop reasonable threats. AR500 just is not good at consistently making steel armor that will stop realistic rifle threats. When you buy a set of AR500 armor steel plates, you simply do not know if you can trust those plates to actually save your life.
4) Anti-spalling delamination. AR500 steel plates have a chronic problem with the anti-spalling coating separating from the plate. Once it separates, it no longer reliably catches the bullet fragments that would otherwise be going into your neck, arms, and thighs.
5) Veritable bribing of YouTubers to make videos to advertise for AR500, and those YouTubers make BANK on these videos. I can't blame Demolition Ranch Matt for making positive videos on AR500 when he gets enough money from such videos to pay for his children's future college tuition. The problem is that these tests are also misleading, in as far as using best-case scenarios such as short barrels, using lower velocity loads, or using a plate that isn't rigidly mounted.
This really isn't that much different from Raid: Shadow Legends.
6) The most common 5.56 load in the US (M193, aka 55gr 5.56 FMJ's) when fired from the most popular rifle in the US (a 16.5" AR) will pe*****te AR500 level 3 steel armor.
7) In light of the fact that common rifles with full length barrels, when loaded with common ammo, will pe*****te their plates, AR500 instead rates their plates as stopping a given load at a given velocity, in the hopes that their consumer base doesn't recognize just how low that velocity is. They go so far as saying (paraphrased) "if you want to stop M193 from a longer barrel, you should bump up to our much more expensive and heavier level 3+ plates."
And even then, their lvl 3+ plates are rated for M193 up to 3100fps, which isn't even that fast. Their lvl 3+ plates, with the extra thick anti-spalling coating, can sometimes manage to stop M193 from a 16" barrel, but even that's on the line, but certainly not from a barrel longer than that. 20" barrels will easily get 3300fps from M193.
And remember, M193 isn't some niche armor piercing load. This is the most common 5.56 load you can get in the US.
Now some people will complain that AR500 steel armor is like paper against AP .30-06, but I consider this a non-concern, given that .30-06 users are either hunters with hollow points or Garand users with milder Garand-specific FMJ's.
I think you're probably more likely to encounter a civilian who owns a .50BMG than find a civilian who loads their .30-06 with AP ammo.
8 ) Spalling kills.
Soft kevlar armor simply catches a bullet and tries to decelerate it ssafely, sometimes with some expansion or flattening.
Ceramic armor breaks up a bullet with ceramic, which breaks apart as well, and then catch and decelerate the fragments with a composite similar to kevlar.
Steel armor just provides a hard non-yielding surface that splatters bullets into fragments, which then spray everywhere, usually roughly parallel to the plane of the plate. This sends high velocity metal fragments into the user's neck, face, thighs, groin, and arms. That's a problem. That is bad for your health.
In comes AR500's anti-spalling coating to fix this. And despite having a name that makes you think it'll stop spalling, it often doesn't.
AR500's default anti-spalling coating is WAY too thin. The default anti-spalling coating might work for modest handgun threats, but it doesn't cut it for intermediate or rifle caliber threats.
For a hefty price increase and notably added weight, you can opt for AR500's "extra thick" anti-spalling coating, which still isn't as thick or as solidly adhered as it should be. But that extra thick anti-spalling coating can better protect your neck from 5.56 fragments. But even that extra thick coating has a well earned reputation for getting blown off in large chunks, which in practice means that AR500 steel armor might actually be LESS effective at withstanding multiple hits than ceramic armor is, which is the complete inverse of what the fuddlore says.
On top of that, a crucial question must be asked: If you need the extra-thick anti-spalling coating in order to actually protect you from the type or projectiles that lvl 3 and lvl 3+ are meant to stop, then why isn't the extra thick anti-spalling coating standard, included de-facto when you get that armor? Why do you have to pay extra to not have your neck ventilated?
9) Weight. You already knew this, and many users of steel armor will blindly defend this point and say that weight is a non-issue, but steel armor really is quite heavy. With lvl 3+ with extra thick anti-spalling coating, you're easily carrying 20 pounds of weight, just in armor. Lvl 4 ceramic armor is MUCH lighter, while also providing superior protection. But this next point gets ignored or forgotten about: Heavy steel plates have a reputation for putting a lot of stress on the velcro that holds the plate inside a plate carrier when the wearer starts running, jumping, jogging, or being physically active, sometimes resulting in the velcro yielding and the plate falling out of the plate carrier.
10) Cost. Steel armor is no longer that much cheaper than ceramic armor. Steel armor has gotten more expensive while ceramic has gotten WAY less expensive than it used to be. Once upon a time, AR500 armor was CHEAP (like $40 per plate) and ceramic armor was crazy expensive. That is no longer the case. A set of AR500 steel lvl 3+ base-model plates with the extra thick anti-spalling coating (which is a whopping $53 per plate) that will properly protect you are currently (as of February 6th, 2022) $163 per plate for a flat 10x12" plate. That's the cheapest you can go and still retain the extra thick coating. That's $326 for a set of two plates that are heavy and spotty on what they'll actually protect you from. That would be $390 for a set of the same thing, except multicurve instead of flat.
Compare that to top notch plates from Hoplite Armor, another pro-freedom company who provides armor to civilians.
Hoplite lvl IV ceramic plates, of the same 10x12" swimmer cut multicurve size, are currently $375 for a set of two plates. That means that for $187 per plate (which is cheaper than the curved AR500 steel armor and only marginally more expensive than the flat AR500 steel armor), you can get premium ceramic armor that is lighter, offers better protection from more threats, offers superior protection from the same threats, and that is objectively superior in every single way.
If you want to compare ceramic vs steel pricing by only looking at cheaper steel plates, that means going with thinner steel and a thinner anti-spalling coating. And that means that you are very likely no longer reliably protecting the wearer from intermediate rifle threats. And some cheaper plates might not even reliably stop the spalling from handgun rounds.
And if you want to bring up sales that AR500 has done, I will remind you that a few years ago, Hoplite was selling quality lvl 4 ceramic plates for $90 each, with the explicit intention of getting quality armor into the hands of pro-freedom civilians, even if it meant the company earned near-zero profit on those plates.
"But Sling Guy!" you cry "You said you own AR500 steel armor plates! You're a hypocrite!"
I was a young man who didn't know any better and had only just started to advance out of the valley of despair in the dunning-kruger slope. I bought AR500 lvl 3+ plates with the extra thick coating, thinking I had done well. And like most steel armor users, I told myself that steel was better and that I could never afford ceramic (typical poor college student mentality).
But I kept my mind open to facts and information, even information that conflicted with my own beliefs about steel armor. I never got so emotionally invested in the idea of steel armor that I closed my mind to learning more. When presented with reputable facts and data (it was specifically the post from Richard Guy, as shared by Ben's Tacticool Memes page), I recognized that I was wrong, my beliefs were wrong, my understanding of armor was incorrect, and that steel armor was indeed subpar armor.
Now, my AR500 lvl 3+ plates serve as a target and a backstop for dryfire practice.
Well, one of them does. The other plate is now the platform on which my mousepad rests.
In short, nobody who relies on armor for their survival professionally chooses AR500 armor.
And trust me, if AR500 steel armor was effective and a good choice at all for when your life is on the line, the penny pinchers in the US military would have pushed for a switch to steel armor a LONG time ago.
Steel armor is no longer cheap. If you can afford AR500 steel armor that won't ventilate your throat, then you can afford Hoplite ceramic armor.
And Hoplite armor is easy to get. Just go to their website. If you have a credit card, you can get Hoplite ceramic plates.
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Also, what post topics would you like to see me cover? Let me know in the comments.
