gyrfalcon wrote:I would buy a used plate just to upset you, or because it was cheap. I've bought plenty of used things including firearms, cars, tools and clothing. An armored plate isn't a toothbrush. What I need it for or want to do with it is my own business.
You better go tell all the people who buy US Property at auction this. They need someone like you who's in the know to assist them so they don't go "down a path that is not a good one to follow".
Used Boron Carbide plates are not a bargain at any price, their effectiveness can be severely compromised by being dropped. they are not strong in all directions, and short of Xraying them, there's often no way to tell if they've been damaged. With a used plate, you don't know it's history, and that's not a smart idea.
Now, some of the other types of plate, like the steel alloy ones aren't so easily damaged, and are perhaps more trustworthy second hand, but they aren't "SAPI or ESAPI".
And there's a difference between an Ebay sale of unknown providence and a Government Surplus auction. The DOD doesn't surplus their Boron Carbide plates, because of the liability risk due to handling damage etc.
Pinnacle wrote:Dude, you just don't get it. Commercial plates are not military standard they are not the same.
Not quite true, Protective Products Inc, among other contract sources for ESAPI plates are selling REAL plates, with the same part numbers as the ones that are sold to the DOD, through several retailers, online and otherwise. You CAN buy real ESAPI plates. This isn't 2007, where the whole production is being bought by the DOD.