Hey, everybody. Clint here with Classic Firearms out here today at Take Aim Training and Range, and we're here today to discuss body armor, all right? So, I've got some Guard Dog Body Armor here today. You guys might know the brand already when we torture tested their Level IV ceramic plate, and we did two shots of 5.56, two shots of 7.62 NATO and 39, 9 mil, 45, and then ending it with .300 Win Mag. It never penetrated, so I'm pretty impressed by this body armor. Go check out that video if you're looking for that torture test, but today's video isn't so much a torture test. It's really to show the difference and compare steel body armor... This is the Level III+ plate from Guard Dog, and this is a spall liner here for them. To compare steel versus ceramic or soft body armor, and what might be better. So, let's go ahead and actually just jump right into that.
 

Price Point

Typically, we can talk about price. Price point, steel is going to be a little bit more affordable than your ceramic plates, all right? But on top of that, there's pros and cons to everything. What you need to think about, too, are multi-hit levels. So, first off, the Level IV ceramic plate from Guard Dog is multi-hit rated. In other words, it's not just a one-and-done, like one shot and then this thing's out of the fight because after shooting it about eight, nine times with different calibers, and then again, ending it with 300 Win Mag at point blank range, this thing is definitely multi-hit rated. Now, when it comes to steel, steel naturally will hold up over a longer period of time. However, what you really have to worry about when it comes to a steel plate is fragmentation and spall. What that is is whenever that hard metal a, I don't know, projectile like lead... Which, granted, yes, it's a soft metal. But I'm just saying, whenever something is making contact with the hard metal that this guy is, you're going to have to worry about fragmentation and all that spall going somewhere, and if you ask me, when I have this guy on my body and it gets hit, there's a pretty much... Well, it's going to go everywhere. That's going to go under your chin, into your groin, off to the sides, maybe even to your arms. It's a really bad day for you and probably people around you if you were to get hit wearing metal body armor without a spall liner. Spall liners are made to catch all of that fragmentation. Now, what's cool about the Guard Dog spall liner here is the fact that it has a built-in trauma pad back here, so it absorbs some of that hit also. It's not just you taking the brunt of the force. Pretty nice, right? What's cool about ceramic is the fact that it's pretty much all of this built in. Now, granted, that's going to leave a little bit more expensive, but it's also called a standalone unit. You don't need a spall line or anything like that. It catches the fragmentation and everything. So pretty nice. Another thing you have to think about is weight. These guys are coming in both complete sets here, about six and a half, seven pounds, somewhere thereabouts. Weight pretty much right on par. Typically, you'll see steel to be a little bit heavier, however, especially depending on what it might be coated in.

Guard Dog Body Armor Level III+ AR500 Steel Plates

Testing

With all that being said, what do you say we just hop right into it and shoot it some? We're going to make it pretty easy. We're going to take one shot of 9 mil, check it, and right now in the Multicam vest that we have down there, that's our M.A.C. vest, also by Guard Dog. We've got that guy there with a steel plate and liner in it. Let's take one shot of 9 mil, one shot of 5.56, .223 because we'll talk about velocity and what all that means here in just a moment, and some 7.62. Actually, that's .308 Winchester. .308 Winchester, 147 grain moving at just under 2,800 feet per second. Let's go ahead. Let's come around to the other side of the bench here. Let's just take one shot of 9 mil. Yeah, I want to get up close and personal, and let's just see how the spall liner works and also the armor itself. All right. Now, one thing you'll notice is I didn't hear the metal. I didn't hear typically what steel sounds like when getting hit. Granted, it might still be the gunshot going off and my hearing protection, but I didn't hear a ringer or anything. I'm not seeing any spall or anything like that. 115 grain 9 mil, not too worried about it to be completely honest. As far as what I'm seeing back here... Let's just go ahead and just lift it up and show you guys just really quickly. We're good other than some fresh paint. We're good, no penetration. Awesome. I'm just going to leave that hanging like that. All right. Let's go ahead and grab 5.56 next, and something that you guys might want to consider when it comes to .223, 5.56, 5.56, what we'll be shooting today, M855 and M193, M855 is 62 grain steel core. It's moving a little bit slower than 55 grain. It's a heavier bullet, the M855 is. So, because it's moving a little bit slower, we don't really have to worry about... I'm just going to show you really quick. We don't really have to worry about the velocity defeating that armor. Now, what I am curious to see is how it does against the 55 grain. That 3,000 feet per second velocity is pretty much the threshold of most body armor out there and when it might start being defeated. 55 grain is moving just about there, so we're going to take a look. First shot's going to be with the 62 grain green tip, and then the second shot with the 55. All right. Let's go ahead. Let's take a look and let's see how this does. Again, up close and personal, getting that maximum velocity right out the muzzle. Let's see if Mr. Hand Select Two will survive here. All right. There we go. Easy enough. One, two. Still no penetration in the back. Very good. Now, something else I'm really liking so far is, guys, if you have seen some of our previous body armor videos where we're shooting steel plates without the spall liner, the plate carrier itself gets completely shredded. What I'm happy to see right now is the fact that I'm not seeing any damage to the plate carrier whatsoever, other than the holes in the plate carrier from it being shot at. Very happy to see that so far, but we've also got a FAL by D.S. Arms or an SA58, technically. Let's take one round of .308 Winchester. I think it's moving at about 2,780, 2,780 feet per second. Yes, we're clear for all you internet RSOs out there. So, let's see how this guy holds up against it. Now, I'm curious to see how the spall liner does with some .308 behind it. All right. Let's take a look. By the way, D.S. Arms and the SA58? Sweet.

Guard Dog Body Armor Shepard Plate Carrier

Results

Okay. So, here we go. We've got one, two, three, four shots on now. Nothing in the back, looking good, and again, it looks like the spall liner has held up. Since we're done shooting it, let's go ahead and take a look. Here you go. You can see the bullets make an entry here. Let's go ahead and take a look at what we've got. If you guys didn't see our video introducing the M.A.C. plate carrier, go check that one out, too, after you're done viewing this, of course, I'll show you how to install the plates and all that fun stuff. A lot of Velcro. Want to make sure that plate's staying in there and not going anywhere, so it makes sense. All right. It's warm. A lot of energy transfer. Okay. So, this might actually be cool. Let's go take a look at this. You can see all the different hits on the spall liner. Very nice. Backside? Clean. That is what I like to see. Now, what I think is going to be pretty cool here... And like I said, to the touch, this is actually warm. All of that energy being transferred into the body armor? Yeah, that is pretty cool. Let's open this up, and what's neat is the steel plate actually fits right into these spall liners. That is very cool. Let's go ahead and take a look at the plate itself, if I can get it out of here without struggling too much. Look at that. Cool. So, you can see all the different hits. I'm going to assume that's probably our .308 with the biggest splash. There we go. Very cool. Now, what we should have next is a whole lot of jacket and everything else starting to fall out of here. Yeah. So, you can see all the different lead and everything else falling. How neat is that? So this spall liner is definitely holding up, and you can see the Kevlar weave and everything else that they've got in here. How neat is that? That is pretty cool, right? So, very neat. Glad that it held up to multiple hits too. That is awesome. So, now what we're going to do, we're going to go ahead and load these all back up, and now we're going to go ahead and shoot the ceramic plate. We've got one in here in the FDE M.A.C. vest, and let's see how the ceramic plate holds up. You'll see why these are multi-hit and... Well, let's just take a look. Let's do it. All right. So, first off, I want to remind you guys, if you're liking what you're seeing so far, make sure you're, well, liking the video, commenting down below, letting us know what you want to see next in upcoming videos. Also, too, we're offering all these products you see here at classicfirearms.com. So, make sure you're headed to our website to check it out, and if you see something you like that it's not in stock at the moment, make sure you're signing up for our product ads to be notified for when it does come back in stock. All right?

Classic Firearms Lightweight Modular Armor Carrier (M.A.C)

Plate Levels

Now, you've heard me talk about different levels of plate, and what you just saw right here is the Level III+ steel plate from Guard Dog take multiple hits. So, what does Level III+ stand for? What does that mean? What that means is that it's rated to take multiple hits, at least six hits, of 7.62x51 spaced out. Now, it being a steel plate, steel is going to be a little bit more resilient and last longer to multiple hits then ceramic will. You'll see on the Level IV here in just a moment. We do have the Level IV plate right now in the plate carrier on Mr. Hand Select Two. If you're wanting to know why we call him Mr. Hand Select Two, you might want to go watch are a flame thrower videos. Anyway, so what does Level Four mean? Level Four means that it is designed to actually stop 30.06 armor piercing rounds. Okay? Now granted, that's pretty awesome for this guy, pretty awesome that it would stop in an armor piercing round, seeing how it is body armor. But, also too, you got to think there's actually ceramic tile in here, and it will disintegrate over time. But I feel pretty comfortable that if by the time you get to the point where the ceramic is degrading, I think you're actually going to have a hard time breathing from just all the trauma that your organs are taking. Okay? Anyway, so let's go ahead. Let's take a couple of shots here with the 9 mil, the 5.56, 7.62 onto the plate down there. And like I said, this is a standalone unit. You don't need a spall liner for a ceramic or standalone unit because you don't have to worry about the spall as much. Like I said, it's catching all of that as it is. Think about it. When I dumped all the stuff out that was in here, and I keep pulling out copper jacket and like that, if you don't have that liner, it's going to be going into your body and places you don't want it to go. It's going to be ripping up your vest. Let's say you might have more mags there or something like that, and if the bullet missed the mag, now you got to worry about the spall coming and destroying whatever extra ammo you have. So, yeah. Make sure you're warning a spall liner if you do choose to go with a steel plate. So, now without further ado, let's load up the 9 mil. Let's go take a shot on the Level IV plate, the ceramic plate, standalone plate, whatever you want to call it, and let's see how it holds up. All right. Cool. One shot. Also, too, looking at this right here, this is not the proper placement for a plate carrier. Make sure you got this thing up and protecting your vitals as it's supposed to do. All right? Okay, cool. So, that was one shot there. We're clear on here, now. Very cool. Let's see where we're at. Nothing on the backside. Perfect. All right. One shot of 9 mill down. This isn't our first time shooting the Level IV ceramic plate. Like I said, we did a complete torture test with that guy, and I'm very confident in it stopping everything we're throwing at it today. But it's the disintegration of that ceramic tile that I think you guys are going to be pretty interested in seeing. Okay. So let's put the Beretta back down in all that leftover spall there, and let's go 5.56 next. Now, this one might be a little interesting because that heavier grain bullet, the 62 grain, this is where it might start to shine a little bit. The 55 grain getting its maximum velocity out of a 20 inch barrel? That's going to be coming out to vibe check some steel plates. That's whenever I really start to question things, but this close with the 62 grain, let's see what it does to that Level IV. All right. Then let's go one more shot with the 5.5. Let's see what happened here. Okay. So, as you can see, the plate's starting to take a little bit of damage here, but we're good on the back plate carrier, I mean. So far, so good. Nice. I'm not seeing anything escaping from down her, so not bad so far. Cool. Let's step it up to 7.62x51. I keep saying that. This is .308 Winchester that we're shooting. The difference between 7.62x51 and .308 is the fact that .308 actually has a little bit higher pressure, so it's a little bit more of a oomph behind it than 7.62x51, which is the exact opposite of what you would be thinking when it comes to 5.56x versus .223.

Guard Dog Armor Level IV Ballistic Plate

Damage

But, anyway, let's take one shot here, see what happens. Oh, yeah. God, that thing feels good to shoot. Okay. And yes, as I expected, we're good. Now, here comes the fun part. Let's go ahead and remove the plate from the plate carrier, and let's show you guys what happens to that ceramic as it starts to take a beating. As you'll notice, I'm already starting to see the disintegration. Oh, yeah. Move that guy down. Yep. There we go. So, I hit the flap here. Not bad. And you can see there's all that ceramic falling out. As long as the plate carrier is holding it together, you'll be all right. So, let's keep moving around here. Again, these M.A.C carriers have all these different straps to make sure that plate carrier is staying snug and in place. Okay. Here comes the fun part. Boom. Ah, man, puppy dog's all messed up. Anyway. There it is. So, you can see, again, all that ceramic tile that's in there pouring out, now. There we go, and you can see just a little deformation and the back. But, again, nothing happening here. I do believe the shooter would still be safe or at least aware of the body armor, and you're still going to feel it. You're still going to have some... You're going to be in a little bit of pain. So, internal damage? That might happen, but I think this is catching a lot of that energy that might be transferring down range and into the body if you were to take a hit. So, I think ultimately you'd be okay, had the breath knocked out of you, probably have some bruising, things like that. But multiple hits over a period of time? It's not going to be a good day for you. All right? But, anyway, just stay out of those situations, you'll be fine. But in case you can't, I feel like you'd be able to trust your life to Guard Dog Body Armor and their Level IV ceramic plates. If you want to save some money, you can go for the steel plates, but do not forget the spall liner and these trauma pads that are integrated on the backside of it. It's nice and cushiony back here, again, to try to help absorb any of that impact. And what's great is, like I said, we're offering our protection package, two steel plates, to spall liners coming in at an excellent price. You see a lot of plates that actually don't come in a bundle. You have to buy them one each. Well, we're offering them as a complete package for, again, an excellent price. Check it out at classicfirearms.com. That's where you can get all of your Second Amendment wants and goodies and joys and everything you could ever ask for including free guns. I don't know if you guys knew this or not, but we give away a lot of guns. Let's just move down here and show off a couple of those, one of those being a legendary .357 Magnum Colt Python. I am a huge fan of this revolver, and if you missed our video announcing this as our giveaway, you might want to go check that out. All right? It should be popping up at the end of this video somewhere, but that's not all. Oh, wait! There's more.

Guard Dog Body Armor Level III Ultralight Ceramic Plate

Roundoff

We're also giving away this guy right here. This is the SIG MPX Copperhead pistol with the Vortex. I know, massive holographic sight on top. This is the Vortex Razor UH-1, and though it is about as big as the pistol, the sight picture on it looks really good, and I enjoy shooting it as it is, but it's also one winner. One winner for both of these guns, new-school cool, old-school cool. That's going to be some pretty sweet stuff. So, like I said, check out the video announcing this as our giveaway. Get your entries in at classicfirearms.com. It doesn't require you to have the most entries out of everybody else to win. All it takes is one, but the more entries, the better your chances, and it's no purchase necessary whatsoever. All we do is ask you to visit the website, sign up using your email, of course, that way we can notify you the winner, and disclaimer, we will not notify any of you via direct message coming from a private profile on Facebook. There's a lot of scams out there happening, so please make sure you're reporting those profiles because, well, they suck. Let's just leave it at that. All right? Anyway, guys, check out Guard Dog Body Armor. Again, classicfirearms.com is where you can check out all of these products you see here today, of course, all the rifles, all the guns, and all the fun stuff that I think everybody should own. Right? All right, we'll leave it off there. I want to hear from you guys down in the comment section. Again, what do you want to see us shoot body armor with next? I don't know. 45-70, see how a ceramic plate handles that. Maybe we want to do some... I got tracers, but I don't know if they'll allow me to do that out here. I don't know. I think I got like some armor-piercing .50 cal. That'll probably defeat everything. Still be fun, though. Let me know down in the comments, guys. God bless y'all, and we'll see you next time at classicfirearms.com. Shop All Tactical Gear
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