Stand Alone Body Armor Plates

With body armor, there's always a trade-off between mobility, comfort and protection.

Some operators prefer using plates only without soft body armor:

First, from someone who claims to be a combat veteran.

Originally Posted by SW-Shooter:
Does anyone actually use these without the ballistic armor? I just can't figure out why you would.

Because if you have the right plates, they do the lion's share of the work at stopping stuff, and the ballistic panels are basically just padding. Nice, but unneccessary with the right plates. I can speak only for myself and my little band of happy cutthroats, but...

Pounds may equal pain, but bulk is something I've found to fatigue me more in the long run, because padding = bulk, which means I have to force simple movements and full range of motion is a freakin' pipedream. Less bulk = more mobility, and I prefer having a chance to get the hell out of the way BEFORE letting the plate get tested by a bullet smack. Mobility hurts less, and fatigue brought on by bulk and weight further reduces what mobility the two allow. Admittedly, it's a gamble in threat areas where shrapnel is a possibility, but is that your environment?

I don't use ballistic panels. I've taken a hit in the front plate with a Dragunov round, and an AK shot later the same day, so I already know that stand-alone plates work without the padding, and mobility is roughly the same plates-only as it is with panels-only, whereas plates & panels = stupid slow. It felt like the Jolly Green Giant hit me with a ball-peen hammer (D'OH!) and the bruise was positively HDTV-color, but that's any hit you take.

I can imagine a lot of folks tossing their hands up in horror at the thought of plates with no ballistic cloth, and I understand why, but it works with stand-alone plates. Which may justify somebody's "use-in-conjunction-with" plate purchase
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Next, word of mouth from an airsoft forum that SEALs prefer to wear just plates (not even a helmet).

You know, with most SF it's really a matter of opinion. I spent some down time chatting with a force rec. guy and he did gripe about a narrow selection. I belive his exact words were: "We get like to pick out most of our loadout, but if you want to be able to f-ing converse or whatever, then be a SEAL." He also said that on the ops they ran with the SEALs, that most of them were wearing 5.11 pants,underarmor tshirt, and plate carrier bc of the heat. no soft armour vest, no helmet. LOL, I think that's what he meant by his previously mentioned statement. Anyways, just had to write. It's always cool when you meet up with a SF guy still serving. |Link|

Finally, some random guy who uses steel plates only as an option for low profile armor:

FWIW,
I use steel plates for concealment. I would rather have a heavy set-up than walk around being that guy.

Steel is not optimal by any means if you plan on getting in a gun fight, but for low-pro stuff, it's less obvious and easier on the wallet. |Link|