Who is NIJ?

NIJ stands for National Institute of Justice. From the NIJ website: "NIJ is the research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. We are dedicated to improving knowledge and understanding of crime and justice issues through science. We provide objective and independent knowledge and tools to inform the decision-making of the criminal and juvenile justice communities to reduce crime and advance justice, particularly at the state and local levels. We accomplish our mission through the 'Listen, Learn, Inform' model — we 'listen' to the needs of the field; 'learn' ways to meet those needs by funding research, development, and evaluation projects; and then 'inform' the field of what we learned."

What is back face deformation?

The term used to describe the effect of a non-penetrating projectile on the rear face of a strike plate (body armor). The extent of allowable deformation is set by the National Institute of Justice in its Standards at 44mm.

Do trauma pads provide any additional ballistic protection?

No. Trauma Pads are designed to reduce blunt force trauma if your armor takes a round. Trauma Pads are intended to be worn behind ballistic body armor panels, providing an extra layer of comfort and adding to the effectiveness of the hard armor plate.

Are all of your products compliant to NIJ standards?

All of our body armor plates have been tested to meet or exceed NIJ requirements for their respective levels. All but one of our products – the Duritium III+GT “special threat” plate – are NIJ compliant. The reason for this one product not being on the NIJ’s Compliant Product List (CPL) is that the NIJ does not currently have a formal level between Level III and Level IV; this plate is tested to defeat the SS109 (Green Tip) round, which did not exist when the NIJ established its current standards (NIJ 0106.01); that will be changing late 2019 when the NIJ implements is new standard (NIJ 0107.01).

Can I test shoot my product?

All of our products have been tested – both by NIJ accredited ballistics laboratories and other third-parties; you can watch videos of many of those tests on our website at www.ShotStop.com/resources/.

How do I know if my body armor fits correctly?

Check out this article from PoliceOne.com for some great tips on making sure your body armor fits correctly.

What type of body armor will I need in the event of a rifle threat?

Check out this article called “Does Your Body Armor Have Enough Stopping Power?”

How do I clean my body armor panels?

Your body armor plates should be washed with a damp towel and then set out to dry before placing back into a carrier or vest.

I’m on a budget, what’s the least expensive, good protection?

At ShotStop®, our most affordable plate for the weight and protection is our Duritium III+PS, which starts under $300; with a 15-year warranty, the per year value of this plate is unmatched in the industry.

What are your plates made of?

All of our plates are made of Duritium®, a portfolio of patented, patents pending and proprietary technologies that enables ShotStop® advanced armor solutions to defeat ballistic, blast, spike and edge threats far more efficiently and effectively than all other comparative technologies and systems. Our Duritium® technology enables high-powered rifle protection that is up to 45 percent thinner and up to 200 percent lighter than other body armor plates at same protection level on the global market today.

Are ShotStop’s Duritium® rifle plates just ceramic and poly — similar all the other newer plates?

From an extremely high viewpoint, this question is legit. Indeed our rifle plates are ‘just poly and ceramic.’ That’s the 100,000 foot view.

But, when you zoom in to any degree at all, you’ll quickly start to notice many differences between ballistic solutions. When people in the industry say ‘ceramic’, that is just a broad brush stroke that can included (literally) millions of combinations, densities and formulas which may or may not include silicon carbide, alumina oxide, tungsten carbide (and many many other options) which are vulcanized (through processes usually highly protected via intellectual property or trade secret) into the strike face that many then just throw into the ‘ceramic’ bucket.

Regarding the Duritium® poly, exactly the same explanation. Yep – it’s just plastic (broad stroke comment). But when we get into the long strands molecular chains and how it differs from other UHMWPE available on the market, the differences are not small. In addition to that, the vulcanization of the poly sheets is a very complex process – including our patented computer navigated layering of the poly sheets before vulcanization which enables ShotStop’s plates to have that unusual multi-hit integrity. We are fortunate to have a development team in this space since 1984 and being located in the greater Akron, Ohio area lends itself to a large and relevant brain-trust being the global polymers capitol for more than 100 years.

Duritium® is a portfolio or molecularly complex formulas and methods of vulcanization that gives us unique and protected advantages when all prime variables (weight, thickness, price, warranty) are considered. Navigating the math of dispersing the kinetic energy of a bullet is extremely challenging and deeply science based. High level statements like ‘just another ceramic and poly plate’ is true at a very high level, but certainly not the full truth/story.

Those other armor companies mentioned are respectable armor makers. From a molecular management standpoint, we (ShotStop / Duritium® are on a different path from them.

How do I know which plate I need?

Check out this article called “Does Your Body Armor Have Enough Stopping Power?”

Are any of your plates stab proof?

Yes. All of our hard body armor panels are stab and spike proof.

What is the difference between hard and soft body armor?

Hard (or rigid) body armor plates are composed of steel, ceramic, composite or polyethylene materials and are meant to stop rifle rounds and armor piercing ammunition, depending on the type of plate. Soft body armor refers to a more flexible and moveable armor that is meant to defeat hand guns and shot gun fire.

Can I order customized plates?

Custom orders are available upon request and will be quoted at the time of the request and may require minimum order quantities.

How long do my plates last?

Depending on the type of body armor you purchase, your warranty will vary. ShotStop® body armor plates are unique in the market in that we offer a 15-year standard warranty on all our 100% polyethylene plates (Duritium III+PA, Duritium III+PS) and our Green Tip (Duritium III+GT) and a 10-year standard warranty on the Duritium IV+HS.

What is the difference between single and multi-curve?

Check out this video that shows the difference between single and multi-curve. Click here to watch video.

Why do the PA plates state III+ on the website, but not on the label on the back of the plate?

The website has the ‘+’ indication showing that our PA plate successfully defeats all NIJ level III required rounds + other/additional rounds such as the 5.56 round (which is not a designated requirement for NIJ III cert in the 0101.06 standard). This ‘+’ on the website is a non-regulated/non official marking.

This brings us to why we can’t have it our actual label for that same product. The rifle plate label is a heavily regulated variable for ballistic plates that are listed on the NIJ CPL list. Since NIJ does not recognize the ‘+’ symbol formally, they do not allow us to put that on our label even though the PA plate does stop more than (hence the ‘+’ symbol) the NIJ requirement.

Do your plates float?

Yes, some of our plates do float. Our plates that are made of 100% our Duritium® polyethylene (Duritium III+PS and Duritium III+PA) are either buoyancy neutral or buoyancy positive, as opposed to buoyancy negative, which means the plates are heavier than water and will sink when placed in water. Watch this video to see a float test between our Duritium III+PA plate and a competitor's plate.

What temperatures will polyurea withstand?

VersaFlex polyureas begin to develop their physical properties within minutes of application. Among several very desirable properties are their quick gel time and their glass transition temperatures that average -40 degrees F and +480 degrees F. Heat of deflection under no load is +250 degrees F. Safe upper limit of working temperature is +350 degrees F, under no load. Polyurea will exhibit thermal shock debonding when subject to repeated periodic blasts of live steam. While polyurea has high glass transition and heat of deflection temperatures, it will burn when exposed to direct flame. It will self extinguish when flame is removed.

Temperature operating conditions for our Duritium® finished composite products:

• Minimum operating temperature for short periods = -472 [-280]

• Minimum operating temperature continuous = -436 [-260]

• Maximum operating temperature for short periods =+230 [+110]

• Maximum operating temperature continuous = +194 [+90]

What is the V50 Report?

The V50 report you are referencing is designed to see what the absolute upper limit of a plate is. In other words at what absolute top projectile speed of a given ‘bullet’ (in this case 7.62/M80) will the plate still stop the bullet and at what speed does that plate let that specific bullet pass through.

With this in mind, and to answer your ‘P’ or ‘C’ indication question, the report shows a ‘P’ to indicate passed/successful (as in the plate stopped the bullet and all fragment at that speed). and then ‘C’ complete penetration (as in the plate let the bullet and or fragment through at that speed).

They average up all of those shots (one shot per new plate) and from that they can tell at what speed that bullet (M80) passes through the plate 50% of the time. Some people/agencies/departments like to look at V50 reports just to know what the upper limit of a plate is (how much more than the standard M80 firing can a plate take in case it’s packed extra hot).

V50 is a good indicator of general durability of a plate too. You see some of our plates have very unusual V50 ratings. ShotStop’s HS level IV plate actually was a ‘stopped V50’ test. There was no average given because at even top speeds that NTS was capable of with that cannon machine (gun) – the plate still stopped too many and so no average was given. In other words an agency looking to buy body armor would say “hey, this plate will stop literally anything that is fired from any gun that could be held by a human… plus a couple thousand feet per second. So, we don’t even currently have data on the upper limit of the HS IV plate… we just know it is many time more than the NIJ requirement… and more importantly we know that the operator wearing it is going to be VERY well protected.

Do you sell plates at wholesale?

For more information on becoming a dealer, click here.

I see your plates’ warranties are not the standard 5 years. How do you warranty for up to 15 years with confidence?

In the armor industry, the manufacturer of the armor sets any warranty over that minimum requirements. At ShotStop we have established our warranty to be up to 15 years from accelerated lab testing and we are continually testing our plates to exceed the 5 year standard requirements. Below are the ASTM test details:

Our ballistics solutions have passed chemical resistance testing for ASTM D543 standard which include acceptable resistance to the following exposures:

How warm and how cold can it be before ShotStop’s Duritium® plates start to loose ballistics protection integrity?

ShotStop has completed internal and unofficial tests where we have repeatedly over several days conducted cycle tests by heating our plates to ~250F and then immediately expose to 0.0F. we have observed that our polyurea cover develops bubbles which is only cosmetic in nature but the ballistics protection performance is not impacted.

Who wears your plates?

Police officers, security professionals, SWAT Team members, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, SEAL Teams.

How much weight will the insert add to my backpack?

Our BallisticBoard backpack inserts range in weight from 1.1 lbs. to 5.75 lbs. Our bulletproof inserts that offer protection from hand guns, shot guns, and some rifles weigh between 1.1 and 1.7 lbs., while our ballistic inserts that protect against high-powered rifles and ammunition (like the AR-15 and AK-47) weigh between 3.75 and 5.75 lbs.

How do you use the backpack insert?

BallisticBoard inserts can be used in just about any backpack, purse, computer bag, or luggage. Simply slip the insert into the bag/purse/luggage and, in the case of an emergency, crouch down to as small as possible and hold the item up to cover your head and chest.

What threat level do BallisticBoards protect against?

Our backpack inserts are tested to stop a variety of threats; we have several backpack inserts that protect against hand guns, shot guns, and some rifles, and a few that protect against threats from high-powered rifles and ammunition (like the AR-15 and AK-47).

Is the BallisticBoard light enough for my young children to carry?

Yes. Our BallisticBoard backpack inserts range in weight from 1.1 lbs. to 5.75 lbs. Our bulletproof inserts that offer protection from hand guns, shot guns, and some rifles weigh between 1.1 and 1.7 lbs., while our ballistic inserts that protect against high-powered rifles and ammunition (like the AR-15 and AK-47) weigh between 3.75 and 5.75 lbs.

How long does the BallisticBoard last?

All our BallisticBoard backpack insert products come with a standard 5-year warranty.

What if my child isn’t allowed to carry their backpack around school? Can they still use the backpack insert?

Yes. The BallisticBoard insert can be carried along with your child's other things, just like a regular book.

Can I order customized BallisticBoard?

Custom orders are available upon request and will be quoted at the time of the request and may require minimum order quantities.

What is the difference between hard and soft body armor?

Hard (or rigid) body armor plates are composed of steel, ceramic, composite or polyethylene materials and are meant to stop rifle rounds and armor piercing ammunition, depending on the type of plate. Soft body armor refers to a more flexible and moveable armor that is meant to defeat hand guns and shot gun fire.

Are any of the BallisticBoards stab proof?

Our soft insert is not officially stab or spike proof, according to the NIJ standards, but all our rigid inserts do protect against stab and spike threats.

What is BallisticBoard made of?

All of our plates are made of Duritium®, a portfolio of patented, patents pending and proprietary technologies that enables ShotStop® advanced armor solutions to defeat ballistic, blast, spike and edge threats far more efficiently and effectively than all other comparative technologies and systems. Our Duritium® technology enables high-powered rifle protection that is up to 45 percent thinner and up to 200 percent lighter than other body armor plates at same protection level on the global market today.

How do I clean my BallisticBoard?

BallisticBoard backpack inserts should be washed with a damp towel and then set out to dry before placing back into a backpack, purse or other bag.

What is the difference between Level IIIA and Level III?

Generally, Level IIIA stops hand gun and shot gun fire; Level III stops a variety of rifle rounds. Here’s a great article about the different levels of body armor.