Body armor

[Horace Patootie, SASS #35798]

I have a friend who buys storage units that are abandoned or unpaid for.  He gives me all of the gun related stuff. Previously MG belts, ammo, blanks, blank firing adapters

etc.  Today it was a bunch of insignia, ribbons, Yugoslavia medallions etc.  AND an unused, still in package Point Blank body armor vest with plates.  Plates are about 1/2"

thick. Can anyone tell me about this. It shows a manufacture date of 2009.

Horace

[Pat Riot, SASS #13748]

I can’t tell you anything about body armor except, believe it or not, it has a date on it because it has an expiration date. 
https://bulletproofzone.com/blogs/bullet-proof-blog/does-body-armor-have-an-expiration-date

You may want to contact Point blank and see if this armor has a useful shelf life. Since it was made 13 years ago it may not work as well as it did after manufacture. 

[Horace Patootie, SASS #35798]

I have no use for it myself, unless my wife gets REALLY mad at me.  Apparently, the person who owned this stuff was Army and/or National Guard.

He said there must have been dozens of sets of uniform or issued clothing.

Horace

[Cypress Sun]

 

I've heard/read that the problem with soft body armor (no plates) is that the effectiveness degrades after lengthy exposure to heat, humidity and sweat.

As suggested, call the manufacture.

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

40 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

 effectiveness degrades after lengthy exposure to heat, humidity and sweat.

 

 

▲ and that = Texas

[PowerRiverCowboy]

Well If they are hard Plates like it sounds , Yes they have a shelf life and are  dated . The  other issue on them You dont know if or how much the have been dropped at might be cracked .  This is why it is suggested that Kits be Hung up and not laid flat . I replace my ESAPI  Plates every 5 years , without seeing them they might not even be that high rated (most are level 3 )
 Early made ones had some recalls , I actually did a 15 month deployment only to get back and have Them go oohh here they are these were recalled a year ago . 

[Horace Patootie, SASS #35798]

Thanks for the information !

Horace

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

17 hours ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

I've heard/read that the problem with soft body armor (no plates) is that the effectiveness degrades after lengthy exposure to heat, humidity and sweat.

As suggested, call the manufacture.

 

This is a manufacturer's suggestion.  To test their claim, my old department took out a bunch of body armor that was over 25 years old and well used.  We shot each of them dozens of times and didn't start to get any penetration until we had hit the same spot multiple times.

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

Having been out of LE for nearly six years, my memory of specifics if fading.  Google the brand and read up on them, but I'm fairly certain that's the brand that was known to fail quite regularly.  That may be how it ended up unused in a storage facility -- police departments junked them as quickly as budgets allowed and replaced them with different brands.