Choosing to wear body armor is often a very personal choice, but one that needs to be made with the utmost regard for legitimacy. 

Integrity, honesty, and legitimacy are founding principles of ShotStop® and we have 2 unique plates to prove it!

We encourage soldiers, civilians, and first responders to give our Duritium® armor a chance. 

As often as I speak about our most popular plates, like the Duritium® Level III+PA plate, there are 2 Duritium® plates that deserve more attention. 

The Duritium® Level IV+HS is the strongest plate with the highest level of protection of any plate on the planet. 

Our engineers craft the Duritium® GT2 plate specifically for LEOs, including the F.B.I. and other government organizations. 

Our Duritium® GT2 plate is the best special threat plate with a weight of only 3.8 lbs (per plate), and a thickness of only 0.6”. 

I like to call our Duritium® GT2 and Duritium® Level IV+HS plates the unsung heroes of body armor. As profound a statement as it is, the Duritium® Level IV+HS offers the highest level of protection of any Level IV plate on the planet!

The GT2 Special Threat (AP) protection is the lightest, thinnest, and most comfortable special threat plate made to date. 

As confident as I may sound with the above statements, I hope you’ll give me a chance to prove my boisterous claims of superiority. 

Why Do Most Cops Prefer Level 3A Body Armor?

Over 40% of all police nationwide wear Level 3A body armor. Hard plate armor like Level 3 and Level 4 make up less than 20% of all armor sales. The reasons we get from most police officers are because of the weight, comfort, practicality. 

As a former police officer in Oklahoma and Texas, I can relate to the need to be as light as possible. Sometimes the job requires an officer to sit in a car for 12-14 hours during patrol. 

Comfort is something that police officers just don’t have normally, even with soft armor inserts. Coming home after a 14-16 hour day with soft armor inserts caused most of us to learn new ways of taking our shirts off after work.

Soft armor doesn’t breathe well at all, so after a long day wearing soft armor inserts, the plate carrier and undershirt stick to your body like you dove into a pool of Gorilla Glue. Every LEO reading this knows exactly what I’m talking about.

Hard plate also can dig into the hips and thighs of an officer too, if the plate is too big and bulky, like a full-ceramic plate. 

Perhaps the biggest reason LEOs wear soft armor is that Level 3A soft armor inserts will stop the caliber they’re carrying on duty. 

What if I could tell you with confidence that we have body armor that will limit a lot of that sweat after your shift?

We understand the decades-long perception of hard plate inserts, but the Duritium GT2 plate has a multi-curve design, so it doesn’t sit flat on your body. Soft armor inserts are easily pliable, so they have to lie flat to be optimized.

Our multi-curve plates breathe better than any soft armor insert you’ve ever worn.

What is the Most Protective Body Armor Classification?

There have been a lot of misconceptions about which armor offers the most protection. To make it clear, according to the NIJ 0101.06 Standards, the highest armor protection is NIJ-Listed Level IV. 

The newest NIJ standards are coming forth, but until they do, Level 4 body armor is the highest threat protection classification. 

Once the new NIJ Standard-0101.07 is set in stone, the highest threat level protection will be called Rifle 3 (RF3). 

Are you interested in learning more about the new NIJ standards? NIJ Standard-0101.06 Versus NIJ Standard-0101.07 | What’s the Difference?

Best Protective Body Armor

I’ve been a little guilty of neglecting our Duritium® Level IV+HS body armor in favor of the lightest Level IV plate ever made (Duritium® Level IV+HA). 

Duritium® Level IV+HS body armor offers the highest level of protection of any plate we have in our arsenal. 

In fact, there is no other Level 4 plate that has been proven to stop up to 2 dozen 30-06 AP bullets! 

The Duritium® Level IV+HA plate often overshadows the Duritium® Level IV+HS ballistic plate because of the weight difference (4.5 lbs HA Plate). 

As a combat veteran, I can empathize with the added weight, but I’d never complain about wearing a 5.3 lbs Level plate that is made for war. 

I can feel the difference between the 4.5 lbs (HA Plate) to the 5.3 lbs of the Duritium® Level IV+HS plate. 

I’ve been on record for many blogs when I say the most complete body armor plate ever made is the Duritium® Level IV+HA plate. 

The reason the Duritium® Level IV+HS plate is so special is its Terminator level of durability against rifle-caliber bullets. 

To put things in perspective, The NIJ specifies that in order to be NIJ-Listed at Level IV, you must be able to stop 1 fair hit from a 30-06 165 Grain APM2. 

Although our Duritium® Level IV+ plates aren’t currently NIJ-Listed, they’re independently tested with the same NIJ-Listed Laboratories. 

It’s an incredibly time-consuming and expensive process, but we’re working on getting the final paperwork for the certification.

Our Duritium® Level IV+HS plate tests to the NIJ standards but also tests to the STANAG NATO Standard AEP 2920. 

Transparency is always at the forefront of our promotion of each product and even though they don’t have the NIJ stamp, both of our Level IV+ plates exceed the minimum standard of the NIJ. 

Specs

Why is the Duritium® Level IV+HS better Than Steel AR500 Armor?

We understand that many AR500 and AR550 steel armor plates can stop many 30-06 APM2 bullets. However, Steel armor is horrible at absorbing and redirecting the force of bullets. 

Taking a shot to the chest in steel armor will undoubtedly knock you off your feet and probably crack a rib (at least). 

The risk of a ricochet hitting your femoral (inner thigh) or brachial (inner arm) arteries is significantly higher with steel armor versus our polyethylene proprietary compound known as Duritium®. 

We have no interest in piling on steel body armor, but if you’d like to learn why you should never wear steel or full ceramic body armor, read Why You Shouldn’t Wear Steel and Full-Ceramic Body Armor.

Which Bullet Calibers Will the Duritium® Level IV+HS Stop?

• 9mm
• .38 Special
• .22 LR
• .40 S&W
• .45 ACP
• .44 Magnum
• .357 Magnum
• 10mm
• 5.56x45mm 55 grain ball
• 7.62x39mm PS ball (MSC)
• 7.62x51mm 149 grain M80 FMJ
• 5.56x45mm 62 grain steel core
• NATO M855 (SS109) 
• 7.62x63mm M2AP

Green Tip Ammo vs Body Armor

A Special Threat plate is any plate that stops specific bullets that are outside protecting the 5 NIJ standards (pg.4 NIJ 0101.06 Standard).

A NIJ-Listed Level III plate can stop up to 6 shots from a 5.56mm x 45mm (M193) NATO bullet. However, a NIJ-Listed Level III plate will stop a 5.56 x 45-mm, 62-grain M855/SS109 ball or M855A1 bullet. 

In fact, you can count on a M855A1 cutting through normal Level 3 armor like a knife through a perfectly smoked brisket. 

Best Special Threat Plate

Our Duritium® GT2 plate tests to a Special Threat Standard of defeating Armor-Piercing (AP) bullets fired from an AR platform. It will defeat up to 3 fair hits in succession of both the M855 and M855A1 bullets. 

The F.B.I. contacted ShotStop® to create an armor plate that could protect against M855 (Green-Tip) and M855A1 bullets.

They wanted armor that was durable enough to take multiple hits from an AP 5.56mm bullet, but also stay as light as our Level III plates.

It took a lot of teamwork and ingenuity, but the result of the F.B.I. request is for our Duritium® GT2 plate. We couldn’t be more proud to back up our company motto of “We Protect the Protectors”.

Specs

The Duritium® GT2 plate will not only stop armor-piercing 5.56mm bullets, but it’s also only 0.6” thick and weighs less than 4 lbs (per plate). 

The combination of low-profile, lightweight, and special threat protection makes this the perfect plate for Federal LEOs, such as D.E.A. A.T.F., and the F.B.I.. 

The GT2 complies with NIJ Level 3 standards,which means it will stop handgun- caliber bullets and a 7.62mm x 51mm (M80) bullet. 

The GT2 plate may not be as versatile as our Level 3 + body armor plates, but its specialization gives agents a chance to get AP protection without having to make the jump to Level 4 armor.