Gunfighter

Behr · Joined: 16 Jun 2008 Posts: 26 Location: Htown

I won an UnderCoverCcomfort 3XHVneck tee w/front trauma plate pouch off ebay a few weeks ago and have been carrying concealed with it off and on since. It works very well for me with as an undershirt with a button up collared shirt.

http://www.undercovercomfort.com/Holsters.html

there are basically 3 ways I normally carry depending on what I am wearing. Hoffner’s inside the pants holster (by far I draw the fastest from this one!), my maxpedition jumbo carry bag, and now this UCC tee-shirt.

My question is this- should I buy a 5x8 soft trauma insert for the pocket in the front of the UCC shirt? I wear the shirt often, might as well use it to its fullest potential, right?

Those of you with experience out there--Will it protect me in any way from a bullet?? I understand the ratings for vest, but will a soft trauma plate alone in the pocket of this shirt do anything?

I bought a rigid composite armor plate off ebay and shot it with a 44mag. it worked great, but there is no way it would be comfortable and concealable.

ive seen titanium "scale" plates like the following:

"Exo-Skin Gen 1+" now using Titanium 64 trauma/stab plates now address Level 3 spike and stab threats. These are flexible Titanium plates that will stop spike and stab attacks from thrusted edged weapons. They also cut trauma by over 60% as compared to a soft textile (Kevlar 129/Spectra) trauma plate, and they are lighter than steel, and thinner than polycarbonate and foam.

are these thin enough and flexible enough to be comfortable and concealable in my new under cover comfort shirt? How much will they actually protect me?

I am thinking the only practical thing will be a Kevlar soft plate that is thin enough to be concealable and flexible enough to be practical.

besides ebay, where do you recommend I buy from? Is there somewhere is Houston that will sell armor to general public or conceal carry?

Any input from those of you with experience with armor will be appreciated.

Behr · Joined: 16 Jun 2008 Posts: 26 Location: Htown

Well, going on the theory that if im already willing to wear a compression shirt with two built in holsters, carry a 45 and two extra mags concealed every day.....

might as well buy a IIa rated 5x8 soft trauma insert and stick it in the chest pocket as well. I wore it today outside in the heat and barely noticed it.

It says it is rated for 9mm and smaller up to 1090fps. I guess that IIa rating is better than nothing.

Im surprised to find out lots of my conceal carry buddies never even considered armor. Ive been looking at a few winter jackets that are IIIa rated and look like a regular jacket in online photos.

If anyone has experience with these covert jackets please let me know if they are comfortable and practical. When you take them off are they strange looking inside to the casual observer?

Hoff · Joined: 28 Jun 2007 Posts: 506 Location: Warrior Nirvana

The soft trauma plate (pad) really does not add much bulk it's just more layers of body armor where you need it most. Humans naturally point to center and if your facing the threat they are naturally pointing at the center of your body armor. Because humans point to center and action beats reaction body armor is a darn good idea. We don't wear body armor to survive, we wear body armor to fight...it's alot easier to win the fight with blunt trauma then it is suckiung chest wound!
Hoff