The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Body armor hard plates, do you need trauma pads?

Tucker 1371 · May 13, 2013, 10:07 PM

He's talking about using a NIJ rated soft armor in place of a trauma pad beneath hard armor plates. You or someone else would have to shoot it to see if it provides any significant increase in protection. When you're talking about improving LVL III hard plates you're talking about wanting to stop .30-06 and up, I don't think an extra layer of soft armor is gonna do that for you, therefore I see little benefit in it.

Edit- and YES, you do need something soft beneath those plates. I wouldn't dispense of them just to shave a few ounces or bucks, as I mentioned earlier if you take a 5.56/7.62x39 round to the plate is going to leave a nasty bruise even with trauma pads. Wouldn't want to know the effects without them.

May 13, 2013, 10:07 PM	#17
Tucker 1371 Senior Member Join Date: December 29, 2008 Location: East TN Posts: 2,649	He's talking about using a NIJ rated soft armor in place of a trauma pad beneath hard armor plates. You or someone else would have to shoot it to see if it provides any significant increase in protection. When you're talking about improving LVL III hard plates you're talking about wanting to stop .30-06 and up, I don't think an extra layer of soft armor is gonna do that for you, therefore I see little benefit in it. Edit- and YES, you do need something soft beneath those plates. I wouldn't dispense of them just to shave a few ounces or bucks, as I mentioned earlier if you take a 5.56/7.62x39 round to the plate is going to leave a nasty bruise even with trauma pads. Wouldn't want to know the effects without them.