Armor FAQ

Follow the link below for comprehensive sizing guide directly from Hesco’s home website. A link to the Armor Size Guide PDF can be found towards the bottom of this page: 

https://www.hesco.com/armor 

Your plate carrier’s primary purpose is to house your plates, which you have already selected and sized based on your bodily dimensions. The plate bags themselves are not sized to your body like a garment, and instead correspond directly to the plate size that you have chosen. For example: If you have decided based on the sizing guide that you will be purchasing medium plates, then you should be wearing them inside of medium plate bags. Using an oversized plate bag will result in the armor shifting inside the plate bag, and ride height issues. Using an undersized plate bag will likely prevent the insertion of the plate entirely. 

Selecting the threat protection level of your plates is a choice that you as an individual will have to make the final call on. We recommend working backwards, building yourself a set of requirements. Consider the cartridges and any specific projectiles that you are most concerned with defeating. Once you have an idea of what you’re looking to protect yourself from, you can compare that list of wants to the threat matrix and rating of each plate model. 

Simple: Weight and protection. It is best to think of buying armor as a triangle, with each of the three legs representing a different quality. One represents price point, another represents weight, and the final leg represents threat protection. At the end of the day, you will only be able to pick two of those legs. A lightweight plate that has a high threat protection level will likely demand a little more coin. A lightweight plate that is extremely affordable likely has a lower threat protection rating. A plate that has a high threat protection level, yet is still very affordable, is likely going to be on the heavier side. 

Single-curve plates have a single line of contour that runs along the horizontal axis of the plate, to conform to your body’s natural curvature, across its horizontal axis. These plates are less comfortable than their multi-curve counterparts but are less expensive to manufacture. 

Multi-curve plates add additional lines of contour, most notably running along the vertical axis of the plate. These plates are generally more expensive to produce than their single curvecounterparts butare significantly better at conforming to the human torso. 

The NIJ rating system has very specific standards, to include the cartridges that are used in testing. Presently, there are still some very relevant cartridges/projectiles that are not accounted for in the rating system provided by the NIJ. The most prominent example of this would be M855, or “Green Tip”. Defeating M855 is not a part of the NIJ’s testing process for any rating, so testing must be conducted by independent ballistic test facilities in accordance with guidance from the NIJ. Special Threat armor is designed and tested to defeat these cartridges not part of the NIJ’s rating system. 

If your plates are listed as “Standalone,” then they do not require the use of supplemental armor to achieve their advertised rating. If your plates are listed as “ICW” or “In-Conjunction-With”, then there is a specific combination of soft and hard armor that allows that system to achieve its advertised rating.  

Armor doesn’t necessarily have a true “expiration” date like perishable food items, but a warranty period is put in place by the manufacturer. The length of this warranty period is listed on the armor’s label and is generally five (5) years from the date of manufacture. That date of manufacture is also listed on the armor’s label, making it easy to check if your armor is still under warranty.