What do you think of dragon skin (yet another body armor thread)
 

What's the current consensus for what is the best body armor? Is it dragon skin?

I contacted them recently to check out prices and I was pretty shocked at how expensive that stuff is.

I was looking over at bulletproofme.com and they have decent prices for surplus vests and things but they seem to provide very little coverage (area wise) and don't seem too strong.

Re: What do you think of dragon skin (yet another body armor thread)
 

What are the laws on this stuff? Jensen Arms in Loveland keep this stuff in a special area for "LE Only". Same thing with other retailers. I've seen them at Sam's Club, but you had to be LE to buy them. Is this a liability issue, or a legal one?

Re: What do you think of dragon skin (yet another body armor thread)
 

Dragon Skin is the real deal.

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Re: What do you think of dragon skin (yet another body armor thread)
 

I never understood what the justification was for making some body armors illegal to regular citizens. It's just armor... I can't kill anyone with it unless I try suffocating them with it and that's not very practical...

But I don't know about the legality behind dragon skin, I thought it was legal because I thought parents were buying it for their kids going to Irak

Re: What do you think of dragon skin (yet another body armor thread)
 

Frankly, save your money. It is decent armor for a very steep price if you're even able to get ahold of any but it isn't magic. It's not particularly light for its rating and the best that can be said for it is that it adds a few more square inches of coverage to a few spots on your torso in places you are unlikely to take hits. I'm not saying it is the suck, but the hype is a serious factor. The multi-hit performance isn't even that amazing, steel owns multihit. Flexibility isn't a factor on parts of your body that can't even bend. Properly fitted armor is much more important.

I'd probably skip going the surplus route unless it was to outfit unexpected guests. If you don't want to do any custom fabrication the best cost/benefit ratio for the home defender and survivalist can be found with a concealable kevlar vest rated at LVL II to LVL IIIA with steel rifle plates, a helmet and a ballistic visor.

You can use the concealable kevlar vest whenever you feel like you need it whereas tactical armor would be a bit socially akward to say the least. The kevlar can even help save you from several types of injuries in vehicular crashes. The rifle plates and helmet w/ ballistic visor will give you a distinct edge if/when you have to hold the fort against marauders.

The helmet is a necessity for a firefight. You can hide the rest of your body behind just about any piece of cover you can find but you have to expose your head if you're going to aim your weapon at the enemy.

Re: What do you think of dragon skin (yet another body armor thread)
 

REV - thanks for that input I appreciate it.

Can you give me some specific examples of body armor you'd suggest that has a good cost/effectiveness ?

Re: What do you think of dragon skin (yet another body armor thread)
 

Not sure precisely what you're asking. Do you mean specific examples of armor that isn't overpriced? If that's the case Bullet Proof Me you're already looking at is a good place that sells good armor to ordinary law abiding citizens at fair prices. You may also want to check out,

www.interarmer.net

Kevlar vests themselves are a fairly commodity item. I wouldn't play around with exotic or proprietary ballistic materials because there's no need, kevlar does a great job and has a very long record for reliability and shelf life. If the vest is NIJ certified you can expect pretty much the same performance as another vest of the same rating.

If I were you I'd just get BPM's Pro-Max concealable kevlar vest in LVL II. It'll provide a good measure of protection against the threats you're likely to realistically encounter and not have quite as much bulk as the LVL IIIA vest. Then pick up a pair of their 10x12" LVL III stadalone steel rifle plates and the plate carrier of your choice, that'll cover anything the LVL II kevlar won't.

$390 for the LVL II kevlar vest
$330 for a LVL IIIA PASGT style kevlar helmet
$365 for their LVL IIIA ballistic face shield
$110 for 1 10x12 steel rifle plates for your chest
$200 for 2x 6x8 steel rifle side plates from Interamer

So for $1395+S&H you will have a more practical set of armor that will protect you better from realistic threats than a Dragon Skin getup costing several times as much.

If you want to get fancy you can throw in a pair of BPM's LVL IIIA upper arm protectors for $240 and even forearm protectors for $250. That'd bring your total up to $1885+S&H and you'd be armored like a tank from the waist up. Or you could go Dragon Skin and be part way towards being able to afford to protect just your torso.

A lot of people freak out about having front and back rifle plates but either completely neglect their head or forego a face shield. That doesn't make sense for a home defender. You have to worry less about somebody with a rifle sneaking up and shooting you in the back than you do about having to face an enemy coming from a known direction head on and as noted earlier you can't return fire without exposing your head which is needless to say a pretty freak'n vital organ. Get a back plate if you want one by all means but you'll get more mileage out of your cost and weight with just a front plate and two side plates. You'll likely be wearing your kevlar vest anyway and it'll catch even rifle rounds if they've been slowed down sufficiently by intermediate barriers as is likely if you're fighting badguys shooting into your house from outside.

While I included full arm protection for illustration purposes I'd honestly probably drop the upper arm protectors if I was weight and/or cost sensitive and go with just the forearm protectors because no matter what kind of fighting you get into you're forearms like your head will need to be exposed to enemy fire for you to fight effectively. Even Otzi the ice man they dug out of the Alps had defensive wounds on his forearms, it's an eternal truth. I'd lose the side plates before the forearm protectors.

For off the shelf components at a reasonable cost this setup will give you the most of what you really need for the widest range of scenarios.

Re: What do you think of dragon skin (yet another body armor thread)
 

Yes that is quite a reasonable price for such a good amount of protection.

I also noticed they sell a really soft shield- not the rigid clear plastic or the black SWAT style one. It isn't expensive but looks like provides decent protection and you can drape it over your car door or lay in on your car seat. Really useful!

Thanks again!

Re: What do you think of dragon skin (yet another body armor thread)
 

does anyone in this forum (non military and non police) wear body armor on a daily basis "just in case"?

Re: What do you think of dragon skin (yet another body armor thread)
 

let me see if i got this right....

If your going to use steel plates there's no point in going with a level IIIA vest over a level II vest?

Also are collars worth it?

Re: What do you think of dragon skin (yet another body armor thread)
 

It makes it harder for your loving government to kill you...