Category: Body Armor

Letter Re: Recommendations on Body Armor

Mr. Rawles: I’ve seen your advice on guns and commo gear, but what do you recommend for bulletproof vests? Should I have one for concealment, and a separate [heavier] one for a stand-up fight in the worst case? Or is there a compromise thickness? Also, what do the [NIJ vest rating] “Levels” stand for, exactly? Thank Ye Much, – Arnie V. JWR Replies: I forwarded your questions to Nick at BullterProofME.com, since his knowledge of body armor dwarfs my own. Here is his response: Dear Arnie: Your questions are very well put.  The most basic question of Body Armor is …


Two Letters Re: Potatoes as a Survival Garden Crop

Morning, Jim! Just a quick addition for your readers to your recent note about potatoes gaining in popularity: most of their useful nutritional value is in their skin and outermost fractions of inches. I believe this is true of most root vegetables. Peeling these vegetables just renders them as a wad of starch or carbohydrate – much less useful for your body than the good Lord intended them to be. All they really need (especially if grown in a home garden where you know what went into the soil) is a quick rinse and a light scrub. Ideally your order …


Letter Re: Retreat Livestock Guardians

Hello, This is in response to TDs’ article on Retreat Livestock Guardians. My wife and I left the computer industry about 10 years ago and established our little retreat in N.E. Texas. We have 60 acres with a stream, couple of livestock ponds, well, and a cistern. We presently have as livestock: Boer goats, horses, donkeys – (both standard and what is called Giant), pigs, ducks, and chickens. And of course several cats. Cats keep the snakes, tarantulas, rodents, and other small nuisances away from the house and barns. Why I am writing is because when we moved out here …


The “Come as You Are” Collapse–Have the Right Tools and Skills

In the Second World War, the United States had nearly two full years to ramp up military training and production before decisively confronting the Axis powers. In the late 1970s, looking at the recent experience of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the Pentagon’s strategic planners came to the realization that the next major war that the US military would wage would not be like the Second World War. There would not be the luxury of time to train and equip. They realized that we would have to fight with only what we had available on Day One. They dubbed this the …


Letter Re: Question on Body Armor “Expiration” Dates

Dear Jim: There is an “urban myth” that Body Armor “expires” after the official manufacturer warranty runs out. Actually, the standard five year warranty is simply based on the insurance companies legal need to limit their liability – not on the actual performance of armor. (I have a sneaking suspicion that manufacturers don’t complain too much about being able to sell new Body Armor every five years either!) The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has found that 10 year old used armor tests as good as new. Since we deal with a lot of Police Surplus we run tests on …


Letter Re: Question on Body Armor “Expiration” Dates

James, I hope you or some of your readers can help me. I am looking at getting a bullet proof vest. The more I learn about it everyone says that they are really only good for about five years. Then you should replace your vest with a new one. That is fine if I were a police officer and used it everyday, but I am not and would only wear it during my training drills. My questions is, is the five year limit just a way for the companies to limit there liability and get you to buy a new …


Letter Re: Getting Yourself–and Your Rifle–Fitted for Body Armor

Dear Jim: Boston T. Party backs up your opinion on the value of Body Armor – to quote: “… An order of magnitude advantage” (“Boston on Surviving Y2K and Other Lovely Disasters“). you posted a good letter from Ryan that mentioned adjusting your buttstock length to account for Body Armor, web gear, etc. The main point to test all your gear – all at the same time – is a real nugget of wisdom. It’s amazing the glitches that pop up that you can never foresee until you test. One thing to note – 2″ is probably a little too …


Letter Re: Snap Shooting Skills

Sir; The recent SurvivalBlog article on snap shooting was great. I think that there is one useful thing to mention and that is how body armor vests (particularly thicker ones with rifle plates) change the way you shoot. The first and most obvious change to the proper way to shoot both rifles and pistols is to always face the target with your body armor! This means facing your chest directly towards the enemy, it really changes the way snap shooting works. Bringing rifles on target while keeping your chest straight toward the target is something that needs to be practiced …


Letter Re: Preparedness for Less Than a Worst Case, From an Eastern Urbanite’s Perspective

Hello Jim, I am very new reader of your blog and am just now starting to go through the archives. Based on what I’ve read so far, I commend you on putting together a useful, fact-intensive blog on “survivalism” (whatever that means), that isn’t geared towards loony, off-the-reservation, tinfoil hat-type readers, who believe that 9/11 was a plot masterminded by Halliburton. That said, one problem I suspect I will have with your blog is that you consistently seem to be preparing for an extreme, and more-or-less permanent, breakdown of society—or TEOTWAWKI, if you will. In one of your blog posts, …


Six Letters Re: New-Found Respect for .223 as a Potential Man Stopper

Jim- I couldn’t help but respond to the blast of letters re: “.223 as Man Stopper”, as most of my time in the employ of our Uncle Sam was engaged in the testing and evaluation of small arms, OPFOR and NATO. (As a matter of full disclosure, I did not offer any opinions or make decisions regarding their respective performances; rather, I merely conducted the tests and recorded the results. Therefore my opinions were/are not colored by the political intrigues of small arms procurement procedures). The trap we, as survivalists/retreaters fall into when looking at our weaponry is to look …


Letter Re: Advice on Body Armor and Helmets

Dear Jim: You are spot on with your recent recommendation to think about concealable body armor first. As we say: “the best vest for you is the one you’re actually wearing when shot!” And being easy to wear and concealable makes a vest much more practical and used more often. It is analogous to self defense with pistols vs. rifles. Rifles are indeed superior protection – but pistols save more lives because they are actually carried and available most often. I must add a caution to your advice about relying on two Level II vests to perhaps stop a rifle …


Letter Re: Advice on Body Armor and Helmets

Mr. Editor: I have been working on preparedness for my family for five years now, but I realized that there is one area where I’m lacking: body armor. What sort of vest do you recommend, both for concealment-type and for the “worst case” sort of situations? What [protection] “level” vest rating should I get? For home defense in an out-and-out TEOTWAWKI, should I also buy a kevlar helmet? Are used vests worth buying? Which dealers are trustworthy? I live in a suburb of Atlanta [Georgia, USA], but my work frequently takes me downtown to places like Peachtree Plaza. (Downtown Atlanta …


Letter Re: Positive Feedback on BulletProofME.com

Hey Guys, I was the first to order an Interceptor [body Armor (IBA)] vest from BulletProofME.com and I am very pleased. I disassembled the vest to check the inserts, and there was a momentary panic because they were made by Second Chance in 2005. I sent the serial number and lot number in to Second Chance, and they told me the vest had no Zylon. With that knowledge, that vest turned into a heck of a deal. Thanks, – Jeff


Letter Re: Real Life Gunfight Experiences

Hi Jim I found the article about real gunfights, earlier this week, very interesting. I happened to run across this video of a real gun fight between quite a few law enforcement officers s and one guy with a battle rifle. I am no gun expert, but it sure taught me a few things: 1) Never take a handgun to a rifle fight 2) Take cover. These guys just walked out the door and got shot. 3) Riding on the hood of a car is not a good tactic. All the best, – Kurt


Letter Re: Dragonskin Body Armor Versus IBA

Dear Jim, Dragonskin Armor, from all non-PR reports, isn’t nearly as good as its designers would like us to believe. (Also see: this article, as well as this one.) Dragonskin is claimed to meet Level IV standards, but has only been certified by the NIJ to Level III. And that’s only one model of several–others are not certified at all. They are being sued by the USAF over this fraudulent claim. After several delays refusing to provide test samples to the Army, the Army purchased some and sent them to an independent lab. [The manufacturer] Pinnacle claims these tests were …