Bulletproof Backpack

[SPDguns]

I would research the effective (rather short) life span of soft body armor and make an informed decision before relying on it to protect loved ones. Level IIIa armor is not that expensive to purchase new.

Vests typically "Expire"* in 5 years (* now you get to buy a new on from us). Unless they repeatedly get wet, repeatedly get folded, repeatedly get misused, there is nothing wrong with them. We have shot into 20 year old "expired" vests and they still stop bullets at the same level they are rated for. I wouldn't hesitate to wear a 20 year old vest versus....... nothing.

 

[beastep]

All in the way its treated. No different than the safety harnesses in race cars.

 

[shawmcbigdis]

I too have had this discussion with my wife. But we had it back when our kids were just entering school 6 years ago. At the time there was no real options, outside of getting old vests and putting them in the backpacks. I decided to come up with an answer on my own. So after a lot of work and working with the retired owners of a ballistic armor company, I started a small business that makes and sells ballistic panels for backpacks.

A little background on body armor since some people have been asking, and there hasn't' been a clear answer. There are several levels of ballistic armor, from Level I, up to level IV. Level I through II pretty much don't exist anymore, all that really matters are IIIA, III, and IV;

IIIA - this is what "bullet-proof" vests are, it will stop most all handguns. The current standard is tested against .357 Sig and .44 Mag (as people have stated earlier)

III - this is basic rifle armor, you would think IIIA would be stronger than III, but of course it isn't. Level III is rated up to 7.62x51, or 308. It is usually steel or ceramic, although you can also get some laminated UHMWPE (I'll get into what tat is in a bit) level III plates that are a lot lighter, but still just as bulky at over 1 inch thick.

IV - this is the big stuff, it is rated to stop an armor piercing 30-06 round. Almost all of this is ceramic, and almost all of it is whats called "single shot", so it will stop 1 round of armor piercing 30-06 then you need to find cover or pray. Now that said it will stop handguns and 5.56 and even 7.62 all day long for the most part. But it is heavy.

Now, remember when I started all this it was 6+ years ago. At that time there had been basically zero incidents of rifles in mass shootings, everything was handguns. So I wanted to stop handguns. There are 2 important things in soft ballistic armor; what rounds will it stop, and how much backspace deformation will those rounds create. In other words, how much it is allowed to press into your body before it completely stops the round. Soft armor is allowed to have up to roughly 1.7 inches of backspace deformation. Most have lower than that, but are usually well over an inch. This is why people get broken ribs and serious bruising when shot wearing a vest. A heck of a lot better than a hole in your chest, but still painful.

However, I was looking to protect young kids. 1 and a half inches of backspace deformation on a 5 to 8 year old can cause more than enough blunt force trauma to still be fatal. So we decided there had to be something better than Kevlar. What we came up with is what we call a semi-rigid panel. It is made of UHMWPE (Ultra High Molecular Weight PolyEthylen), basically a plastic version of Kevlar that is laid out in layers of single threads in one direction against the next layer of single threads 90 degrees to the other layer, instead of being woven.

Long story short we came up with a panel that only weighs a few ounces, is about a quarter inch thick, is IIIA rated and will stop all IIIA rated rounds at under 1 inch of backspace deformation (well 44 Mag has some test rounds just over 1 inch, but high velocty 9mmm maxed out at .25 inch)

Its a great little piece of armor, and does what it was designed to do extremely well. If you are interested you can check them out at;

www.atozarmory.com

But honestly, and I say this as a parent and as the owner of a business that sells these panels; they aren't actually effective against the most likely threat in an active shooter type situation. When we started these, they were. Handguns were far and away the most prominent weapon in all public mass shooting events. But now they aren't. These panels will do absolutely nothing against a rifle round. That said, they are still in my kids backpacks, and my EDC bag, and the bags we use for carry-ons when we fly. They are a form of protection against a certain threat (actually 2 threats, as they are also very effective against stabbing).

There are also logistical reasons why it isn't very effective for some kids. For instance at my children's school they keep their bags on hooks in the hallway outside the classrooms, and in the event of an active shooter their policy is to go on lock-down (like all schools) so my kids wouldn't even have the backpacks on them, or the ability to get to them.

I think there are very good reasons to purchase something like this, but honestly I'm not so sure school shootings is that reason. I think it is a better option for adults in their every day bag. That is what the bulk of our sales are for now.

And frankly, I want to make sure it doesn't sound like I am trying to profit off a tragedy. For what the average school shooting has turned into, these aren't the right answer, and I don't think there is a "body armor" answer to the problem as it exists today.

 

[beastep]

Thanks for the information.

 

[shawmcbigdis]

Also, for people looking to get old police issue vest, or any kind of used body armor. Kevlar's weakness is moisture. So if the vest carrier (the outer shell) looks like it has a lot of sweat or water stains I would steer clear. In theory the Kevlar is in a watertight seal inside, but you never know.

You can get soft UHMWPE vests, their weakness is heat. That is a lot more difficult to tell if it has been over heated or not, because there will be no outward sign. Usually the max is stated to be around 120-150F. So a vest sitting in the trunk of a car on a hot summer day can get over that limit. To be safe I would just avoid used PE vests. SpectraShield is a popular brand name for UHMWPE, so be careful when looking at used armor.

But like has been mentioned here earlier, if the piece is taken care of it will easily last decades.

 

[Snake]

Also I have heard that ceramic vests need to be checked(x-rayed) from time to time to check for cracks. Any cracks and it needs to be replaced.

 

[KOPBET]

I see where a lot of schools are banning backpacks outright.

 

[Lakenut]

I saw the news9 story yesterday about the backpack armor. Better than nothing and at least its being proactive. As a teacher it got me thinking....what would be wrong with me buying a vest and keeping it in my classroom out of sight out of mind. If the shtf i would have quick access and again would be better than nothing and a small step of being safer.
Thoughts?