We just finished testing a new offering we will be releasing within the next couple of months. We will be offering some of the most affordable, yet effective armor plates on the market. At around 4.7 lbs, our Special Threat plates offer effective protection against the most common rifle threats like 5.56 NATO including M855. Our plates are made with Alumina ceramics with a Polyethylene backing and offered in single and multi-curve options.
The Testing Process
When we started this business, we were set on selling reliable products that work at an affordable price. We don't want to sell folks ineffective plates so we took it upon ourselves to test our products as close to the NIJ standards as we possibly could and we achieved that goal. We did not conduct the temperature and submersion testing.
We used ballistic clay as a witness material to measure the back face signature (BFS), the NIJ standard being under 44mm. We used a chronograph to record our velocities, both before shooting the plates and during. Unfortunately, we only had 16" 5.56 rifles available to us, so our velocities are lower than ideal. Most 5.56 rifles on the market are 16", so it’s a good representation of what you can expect from the most common rifle threats.
During testing, we fired two shots of M193, two M855, and two 7.62x39 SP (351/92 headstamp) and it stopped every one with a maximum back face signature of 29mm. After all that, we wanted to see how it handled 308. All we had with us was 175gr FMJ but we thought we'd try it. I suspected it would stop the 308 but I assumed the BFS would be well over the 44mm standard set by the NIJ. To our surprise, it completely stopped the round and the BFS measured in just under 50mm. Not far off from the NIJ standard. I still wouldn't want to get hit by it!
A Summary of the Test and Results
We fired two rounds of each cartridge at the plate from just over 20 feet after verifying zero and velocity with a 5-shot group.
The Rifles
AR-15 5.56 NATO 16” 1-7 twist
SKS 7.62x39 20”
AR-10 308 Win 20”
| 10x12 Special Threat Plate Test | |||
| 2/6/2021 | Clay Temp - ~100 | Ambient Temp - ~40 F | |
| Test Rifle - 16" 5.56 NATO with 1/7 twist | SKS | ||
| Baseline Velocities | M193 | M855 | 7.62x39 SP |
| 1 | 3022 | 2944 | 2403 |
| 2 | 3032 | 2903 | 2364 |
| 3 | 3016 | 2914 | 2376 |
| 4 | 3032 | 2929 | 2322 |
| 5 | 3027 | 2929 | 2334 |
| Plate Shots | |||
| 1 | 3023 | 2915 | 2427 |
| 2 | Error | 2897 | 2386 |
| AVG Velocity | 3025 | 2919 | 2373 |
| BFS Shot 1 | 29mm | 28mm | 25mm |
| BFS Shot 2 | 19.5mm | 22.5mm | 22mm |
| AVG Overall BFS | 24.3mm | ||
| 175gr FMJ 308 | |||
| 1 | 2559 | ||
| BFS Shot 1 | <50mm | ||
Notes - BFS stands for Back face signature, the impression left in the clay from bullet impact. 44mm is the NIJ maximum.