Dude, thank you so much for this video. Just what I was looking for. There’s another vid of a guy on youtube testing the spall bag with a metal plate that already had it’s coating off, and he started with pistols and increased in caliber, problem is that he just weakened the spall bag up even more by doing this, so when he brought out the rifles it didn’t provide an accurate reference of the integrity of either material because it was already weakened, especially because of the absence of coating. And it doesn’t make sense why he did the test that way, because chances are if you are wearing this level of armor you are worried about RIFLE rounds, not just pistol rounds, so that should be the priority in testing, as you made it. Also, chances are if you are going to drop ANY money on some metal armor, you are going to pay the extra $20 to have the spall coating applied. I don’t know why anyone would continue to use a uncoated metal plate, but I guess at least in that vid he cleared up that the spall bag isn’t a cure-all solution, as in you can’t go with an uncoated plate and expect resilient results. I 100% agree with what you are saying about the reddit and forum circlejerks. Not everyone can spend thousands of dollars to protect each and every family member with the highest grade materials, when let’s face it- a situation in which the vast majority of people HAVE to use something like this to save their life (at least in the US) is probably never going to happen. Most people can’t drop $1000+ per person on “what ifs.” About $300 or so on a “what if” is still a good chunk of change but MUCH more reasonable. You are exactly right that they blow this situation totally out of proportion, like if their son/daughter didn’t have a vest, and all there was available is a metal plate vest with one of these bags, that they would rather them go unprotected. Like what???? They need to get real, stop being so ridiculous… what a bunch of elitist debutantes. Or perhaps the real issue is that they are just scared, and don’t want their family to get hurt, and for good reason - but rather then consider the alternatives they just reject any challenges that are represented to their logic (and probably bc they are butthurt about the thousands of $ invested in their setups.) The most important part of this video is it cleared up this misconception, that at least with a COATED plate + spall bag, the truth is that in this specific case, SOMETHING is better than NOTHING. People don’t have to be scared. I am absolutely blown away by the performance of the plate with this bag. As a result of this test, I know that I can spend like $200 on a 4 pc ar500 iii+ vest, and another $100 for the spall bags front and back) and tbh, have at a bare minimum EQUAL TO protection as the ceramic (except for .30-06 AP rounds.) Any comparable ceramic is easily 2-3x this cost. Sure it’s heavy, sure it can spall, but with the bag it won’t for at least the number of rifle rounds shown in the video, therefore there is no need to waste extra financial resources for no reason. Either way, you take that many shots on ceramic or metal, you are going to have broken ribs etc. If you take that many direct impact shots to the vest to the point that it breaks the spall bag, you’ll have much larger issues than spalling to worry about, lol.
Thank you for this. The whole spalling on steel plates thing is bordering on fudd lore at this point. Almost everyone knows not to just throw a raw steel plate in a carrier. This is perfectly acceptable protection versus ceramic. I'd still go ceramic due to weight, but I just don't like misinformation by bandwagon haters who do no research at all.
The first fair and reasonable test on this I've found. When I bought mine I called Spartan and their rep said use Gorilla glue per the glue company directions to secure the bag on the steel. I used a second plate and extra weight as a clamp while it set. Never tested but the glue is tight and I believe can act as a thin, hard coating on the steel. Thanks for the video.
@@Michiganredd I put VERY thin coat of gorila glue on steel face plate per instrctn on bottle. Slipped all the way down into bag then put matching steel backplate on top as a pressure plate and clamped together tightly as glue needs 24 hrs of pressure to secure bond. The water you add to glue makes it swell so don't think "more is better". Works fine. You'll need high heat to ever get it off. If no matching plate you might have to improvise with clamped on half inch plywood sized to match. Good luck.
@@Michiganredd Almost forgot. Be very sure everything is exactly as you want it as glue is very permanent. Also the water goes on the surface first as stated in instructions (not mixed together as I mis-stated). If improvising clamp do dry run to test the security of your clamps.
How thick is the spall bag? Debating between this one and the tactical scorpion gear one that has integrated trauma pad. Tactical scorpion one says about an inch thick
I just watched your 6 year old video about eotech movement. Has eotech resolved this issue or is it part of the sights DNA. My first thought was a shim.
I have spartan ar550 with no spal coating. Was thinking about pixking up some spalling bags. I dont plan on getting shot 30 times, so that being said do you think 5 rounds with spal bags and a good carrier would stop frag?
wrap it with a few layers of duct tape as long as it doesnt get too thick for the spall bag. now if youre curious about redneck body armor engineering, you could tape on a home depot porcelain tile to help even more with decreasing spall and take a couple more shots. nice little SHTF tip
Yeah, I bought a combo on Spartan Armor plates + plate carrier. I thought there will be a spalling coat, there wasn't. It was my mistake, I didn't read the description as I should, so I won't blame it on the shop. Still, I ended up with an AR500 steel plate without any coating. It's not gonna be my first choice if I need a body armor, since I have a full coated plate as well, but I was wondering is there a way to make this bare plate usable in a SHTF scenario or if I wanted to give it to someone else to wear. I was thinking of those spall bags/spall sleeves, or even just buying some kevlar and sewing it myself. Good to see the spall bags working.
@@konradterlikowski8788 i mean it’s probably not optimal but you might be able to spray it with truckbed liner or the like and get atleast a little more protection from spalling
Just finding this a year later but couple things. First, that plate can take some ABUSE lol. Only 1-2 pass throughs with all those rounds with almost no backface deformation is pretty impressive. Obviously, I can’t award too many points there though because if a person takes 15-20+ rounds to the chest, the only thing guaranteed is that they’re in the afterlife, pass through or not lol. Two, what I’d be VERY curious to see is this test done with a plate that doesn’t have an anti-spall coating on it. Reason being is I’m wondering if the coating was actually what was stopping all the spall initially, and then as soon as it separated from the plate, the spall immediately started ripping through the bag (essentially meaning the bag didn’t actually do anything, and is snake oil). It’s possible a good anti spall coating is the real hero here but we won’t know unless you do a part 2 vid with a bare plate in the same bag 😅😅
lots of metal shards in your juggular vein lol, but in all seriousness just look at all the videos of people testing steel plates on ballistic gel dummies, the lots of shrapnel enters up to 3 inches which is definetly enough to pierce arteries and may even enter into the bodies of those around you if they are close enough
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Dude, thank you so much for this video. Just what I was looking for.
There’s another vid of a guy on youtube testing the spall bag with a metal plate that already had it’s coating off, and he started with pistols and increased in caliber, problem is that he just weakened the spall bag up even more by doing this, so when he brought out the rifles it didn’t provide an accurate reference of the integrity of either material because it was already weakened, especially because of the absence of coating. And it doesn’t make sense why he did the test that way, because chances are if you are wearing this level of armor you are worried about RIFLE rounds, not just pistol rounds, so that should be the priority in testing, as you made it. Also, chances are if you are going to drop ANY money on some metal armor, you are going to pay the extra $20 to have the spall coating applied. I don’t know why anyone would continue to use a uncoated metal plate, but I guess at least in that vid he cleared up that the spall bag isn’t a cure-all solution, as in you can’t go with an uncoated plate and expect resilient results.
I 100% agree with what you are saying about the reddit and forum circlejerks. Not everyone can spend thousands of dollars to protect each and every family member with the highest grade materials, when let’s face it- a situation in which the vast majority of people HAVE to use something like this to save their life (at least in the US) is probably never going to happen. Most people can’t drop $1000+ per person on “what ifs.” About $300 or so on a “what if” is still a good chunk of change but MUCH more reasonable. You are exactly right that they blow this situation totally out of proportion, like if their son/daughter didn’t have a vest, and all there was available is a metal plate vest with one of these bags, that they would rather them go unprotected. Like what???? They need to get real, stop being so ridiculous… what a bunch of elitist debutantes. Or perhaps the real issue is that they are just scared, and don’t want their family to get hurt, and for good reason - but rather then consider the alternatives they just reject any challenges that are represented to their logic (and probably bc they are butthurt about the thousands of $ invested in their setups.)
The most important part of this video is it cleared up this misconception, that at least with a COATED plate + spall bag, the truth is that in this specific case, SOMETHING is better than NOTHING. People don’t have to be scared.
I am absolutely blown away by the performance of the plate with this bag.
As a result of this test, I know that I can spend like $200 on a 4 pc ar500 iii+ vest, and another $100 for the spall bags front and back) and tbh, have at a bare minimum EQUAL TO protection as the ceramic (except for .30-06 AP rounds.) Any comparable ceramic is easily 2-3x this cost. Sure it’s heavy, sure it can spall, but with the bag it won’t for at least the number of rifle rounds shown in the video, therefore there is no need to waste extra financial resources for no reason.
Either way, you take that many shots on ceramic or metal, you are going to have broken ribs etc. If you take that many direct impact shots to the vest to the point that it breaks the spall bag, you’ll have much larger issues than spalling to worry about, lol.
Thank you for this. The whole spalling on steel plates thing is bordering on fudd lore at this point. Almost everyone knows not to just throw a raw steel plate in a carrier. This is perfectly acceptable protection versus ceramic.
I'd still go ceramic due to weight, but I just don't like misinformation by bandwagon haters who do no research at all.
The first fair and reasonable test on this I've found. When I bought mine I called Spartan and their rep said use Gorilla glue per the glue company directions to secure the bag on the steel. I used a second plate and extra weight as a clamp while it set. Never tested but the glue is tight and I believe can act as a thin, hard coating on the steel. Thanks for the video.
Glue the bag shut or glue the bag to the plate face?
@@Michiganredd I put VERY thin coat of gorila glue on steel face plate per instrctn on bottle. Slipped all the way down into bag then put matching steel backplate on top as a pressure plate and clamped together tightly as glue needs 24 hrs of pressure to secure bond. The water you add to glue makes it swell so don't think "more is better". Works fine. You'll need high heat to ever get it off. If no matching plate you might have to improvise with clamped on half inch plywood sized to match. Good luck.
@@Michiganredd Almost forgot. Be very sure everything is exactly as you want it as glue is very permanent. Also the water goes on the surface first as stated in instructions (not mixed together as I mis-stated). If improvising clamp do dry run to test the security of your clamps.
Arguably, this is better than ceramic. A ceramic plate could fail on the second shot it it’s close enough to the first shot
Great video, interesting content.
How many rounds did it take before it started showing spall outside the bag?
Close to 30
How thick is the spall bag? Debating between this one and the tactical scorpion gear one that has integrated trauma pad. Tactical scorpion one says about an inch thick
This one is only a few layers of Kevlar, so it’s decently thin.
I have the Spartan spall bag… it’s a few layers of kevlar fabric..
I just watched your 6 year old video about eotech movement. Has eotech resolved this issue or is it part of the sights DNA. My first thought was a shim.
I saw it before I saw this comment. I responded on that video. Let me know if I mis-read your question.
@@TheReaganColefrag lock coating, or spall sleeve, or both? Im wondering if both is overkill/not worth the $$
This had both.
A decent coating, and the bags. It wasn’t the Ar500 brand plates tho.
I have spartan ar550 with no spal coating. Was thinking about pixking up some spalling bags. I dont plan on getting shot 30 times, so that being said do you think 5 rounds with spal bags and a good carrier would stop frag?
i wouldn’t risk it personally
wrap it with a few layers of duct tape as long as it doesnt get too thick for the spall bag. now if youre curious about redneck body armor engineering, you could tape on a home depot porcelain tile to help even more with decreasing spall and take a couple more shots. nice little SHTF tip
Yeah, I bought a combo on Spartan Armor plates + plate carrier. I thought there will be a spalling coat, there wasn't. It was my mistake, I didn't read the description as I should, so I won't blame it on the shop. Still, I ended up with an AR500 steel plate without any coating. It's not gonna be my first choice if I need a body armor, since I have a full coated plate as well, but I was wondering is there a way to make this bare plate usable in a SHTF scenario or if I wanted to give it to someone else to wear. I was thinking of those spall bags/spall sleeves, or even just buying some kevlar and sewing it myself. Good to see the spall bags working.
@@konradterlikowski8788 i mean it’s probably not optimal but you might be able to spray it with truckbed liner or the like and get atleast a little more protection from spalling
Just finding this a year later but couple things. First, that plate can take some ABUSE lol. Only 1-2 pass throughs with all those rounds with almost no backface deformation is pretty impressive. Obviously, I can’t award too many points there though because if a person takes 15-20+ rounds to the chest, the only thing guaranteed is that they’re in the afterlife, pass through or not lol.
Two, what I’d be VERY curious to see is this test done with a plate that doesn’t have an anti-spall coating on it. Reason being is I’m wondering if the coating was actually what was stopping all the spall initially, and then as soon as it separated from the plate, the spall immediately started ripping through the bag (essentially meaning the bag didn’t actually do anything, and is snake oil). It’s possible a good anti spall coating is the real hero here but we won’t know unless you do a part 2 vid with a bare plate in the same bag 😅😅
lots of metal shards in your juggular vein lol, but in all seriousness just look at all the videos of people testing steel plates on ballistic gel dummies, the lots of shrapnel enters up to 3 inches which is definetly enough to pierce arteries and may even enter into the bodies of those around you if they are close enough