With an uncoated plate, the only fragmentation protection provided is by the plate carrier which is typically made of a high strength nylon fabric.
This is why it’s a bad idea to wear uncoated steel core body armor. The pieces that move beyond the plate could hit the person wearing the body armor in the neck, head, or lower body. Since the bullet doesn’t have enough velocity to penetrate the steel plate, the fragments are then dispersed in different directions along the surface of the plate at high speeds. When a bullet makes collides with AR500 or AR550 steel, it liquefies most of the bullet while some pieces (such as the core) tend to break into fragments. If you’ve spent any time shooting steel targets you’ve probably noticed the abundance of lead that that sprays different directions from the point of bullet impact. “fragmentation”, which are essentially two names for the same thing secondary injuries related to the bullet fragments that radiate away from the point of impact after making contact with an armor plate. What’s Spalling/Fragmentation?įirst let’s define “spalling” a.k.a. We see it as our job to help you buy the body armor that’s right for you, without all the hyperbole of the internet armchair warriors. Just like the argument of capacity vs stopping power in handguns, the argument of steel core vs ceramic body armor can lead to a lot of opinions with little much in the way of facts. Each type of armor material has pros & cons, none are perfect.
We stand more to gain if everyone were to buy expensive ceramic plates, but we still frequently recommend steel core plates. At Spartan Armor Systems™ we sell many types of body armor including steel core, ceramic, and UHMWPE. Quite frequently, we’ve seen forum or social media posts where there’s links conveniently leading to a manufacturer of ceramic body armor at the end of the rant. A lot of this bad info originated from the old school flak jackets used decades ago. They’ll say that you should only buy ceramic body armor, everything else is junk. This is usually based on flawed testing methods, anecdotal situations or something they heard from a friend of a friend’s cousin who served in Delta. If you’ve spent any time researching body armor, you’ve probably come across forums or videos where someone tries to scare people away from buying steel body armor. Hold on tight, we’re going to dispel some myths and shed light on flawed arguments against steel core body armor. From our friends at Spartan Armor The Debate