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THE BASICS OF CHOOSING THE RIGHT BODY ARMOUR
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As one of western Canada’s largest body armour providers, we regularly get questions surrounding the topic of protection levels. Here is a basic course on how armour levels work.To get more news about bullet proof zone, you can visit bulletproofboxs.com official website.
First, it’s important to know how armour is certified. The US National Institute of Justice (NIJ) publishes standards that armour manufacturers are expected to follow.
While not law, these standards are definitely important as they provide minimum standards for armour performance. Armour manufacturers then design and manufacture their armour to meet or exceed these standards, and then send their armour to a third-party, independent laboratory (a lab that is certified by NIJ) to perform the testing.
We would suggest that, if looking for armour, don’t even consider an armour system that isn’t NIJ certified. NIJ can also revoke the certification for a company or a piece of armour should it fail any tests, and this is not an uncommon occurrence.The NIJ revises its standards every few years. The current standard (in 2016) for soft armour is NIJ 0101.06. Rifle plates have a different standard. If you want to download the entire NIJ standard document, it’s available on the web; just search for NIJ 0101.06 standard.
Note that there are some companies in Canada that sell armour that is NOT NIJ certified. They use phrases like “NIJ qualified” or “designed to surpass NIJ standards”. If the armour could pass NIJ tests, the manufacturer would test it with NIJ and have it certified.
You should only be buying NIJ certified armour. If in doubt, ask the manufacturer for the NIJ certification documents. These are not proprietary documents so the vendor should be able to provide them to you.
Don’t accept statements like “We are working on NIJ certification” because one Canadian vendor has been saying that for 5 years. Most reputable armour vendors will not release their armour for sale until the NIJ Certification letter arrives. Note that each model of armour from the manufacturer will have its own certification sheet. Note that soft armour is available in Level II and Level IIIA. Many people mistakenly think that soft armour is Level II and Level III but this is not accurate. Agreed, it’s not a great naming system but we didn’t make it up. Blame the US Government.
Also note that there is no soft armour that will stop rifle rounds. To stop rifle rounds, you need some kind of hard armour, whether it’s a trauma plate or a full Level III or IV plate.