Reviews & Ratings for Spartan Armor Systems AR550 Steel Core Body Armor, 10x12, Set Of Two — 5 reviews — Page 1

FYI, per the Spartan Armor website, the AR550 single curve with full coating in shooters cut IS NIJ Certified. Be careful, many armor dealers will say 'meets NIJ specs' but this means they were tested by a non-NIJ-accredited lab and do not have the backing of the NIJ as a certified plate. These Level 3 plates ARE NIJ certified and bear the stamp on the reverse of the plate as I had hoped. The anti-spall is supposed to be the "build up" full coat but still looks kind of thin, however it is CERTAINLY something you want as opposed to the base coat (which is only there to mitigate rust, not spalling - ONLY a build-up coat is meant to mitigate spalling). Please note, the website WILL say these are 3+ and most AR550 armor is advertised as 3+ but these plates only say "LEVEL III" on the reverse and Spartan's own website says they are only certified to LEVEL III. (Mainly because the last NIJ certification did not recognize level 3+). I have no idea if these will stop 5.56 steel core penetrators (855 rounds) but there are ample videos on Youtube where these plates do defeat .308, 5.56 penetrator, and 30.06 ball (but NOT 30.06 AP, you need Level IV for 30.06 AP)... All in all I am satisfied. They fit well in my 5.11 TacTec carrier and do not jostle around, the cuts are not quite sufficient to shoulder my weapon as usual, but with minor adjustments I am able to move pretty well and have compensated, the are significantly thinner than ceramics and allow more movement with your arms...
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I bought a set of the swimmers cut plates with the single curve few months back due the high demand. I just received then a little bit ago. But over all these plates are nice and really get you to your maximum effort.

Item was backordered, which I didn't realize until later, and took several months to arrive. However it's good quality and exactly as desribed. Very little anti-spall coating, but good curvature. It's a good price for what you get. I'd reccomend adding some additional rubberized coating as a DIY project.

I got the "Spartan Armor Systems AR550 Steel Core Body Armor Shooters Cut Set Of Two, Single Curve, Full Coat, Black, 10x12, SAS-AR5501012-FC" and put them in a 5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier. They fit great and hold securely. I put a few taco mag carriers on the front of the plate carrier and they actually are easier to use with the steel plates inside because the steel holds everything rigidly in place.

I have no idea how the carriers would perform if shot, but they do everything else I would expect from a sheet of steel.