It seems to me that it would be benefitial to protect your legs during a combat situation, especially the thigh area. Do they make bullet proof pants or strap on armor for legs? I haven't really heard anything about this.
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weaponeer
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Posted: January 02 2010 at 6:00pm | IP Logged
mikey_mick wrote:
It seems to me that it would be benefitial to protect your legs during a combat situation, especially the thigh area. Do they make bullet proof pants or strap on armor for legs? I haven't really heard anything about this.
www.511tactical.com used to make pants that had a kevlar patch sewn right on the upper legs for added protection. I don't know if they still make them or not.
A few days ago I found http://www.tacarm.com/ and they make a lot of products for added protection from IDE's
One of the products are ballistic inserts for the elbow pad and knee pad areas on ACU's. they also make inserts for the cargo pockets (coats and trousers).
They also make ballistic pads for the knee and elbow pads, as well as making level II Ballistic Elbow Guards.
They will also modify BDU's for Ballistic Kidney and Hip Guards (and more).
NOTE: level II is the same level as the Helmet.
What I really like about this company is they will ship to troops, or anyone else.. unlike a lot of companies who will only ship to troops and police. There is noting illegal about owning or buying and I will not purchase or endorse any company they will not sell to the public.
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Inabadhood
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Posted: January 04 2010 at 3:21pm | IP Logged
I heard of a custom tactical gear / modification tailor that has been known to occasionally make customized armor panels & cuts, but the work is EXTREMELY expensive!
Basically the tailor measures out the body of the wearer in detail, creates templates, orders Kevlar Sheeting, and then cuts & stitches totally custom multi-layer kevlar panels, and then houses the arranged custom Kevlar in a Nylon outer shell, waterproofed, and has custom sewn attachment methods (Usually Velcro, Nylon Webbing, & Fastex buckles).
I don't know the guy personally, but he's been pretty swamped with doing customized armor panel work for Executive/Important Personnel, LE, & Mil armoring. I heard all his work is done on old-school late 1800's heavy duty industrial sewing machine converted from belt-drive to electric!
Being a 2-person operation, they're pretty swamped right now given the political climate, and creating custom armor for overseas delegates & embassy people. One measures the people, the two collaborate on the custom designed panel layouts, and then the other one sews it all together. I heard their work with body armor is about on par with the custom stuff from Eagle & MilspecMonkey & Maxpedition, but strictly body armor. I'm not even sure if I can find a number for them, but I'll look around online.
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Lasergunner
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Posted: June 30 2010 at 10:42am | IP Logged
It makes sense to augment body armor to include some leg coverage. A bullet wound to the knee or along the Femeral Artery is just as life threatening and incapacitating as a gutshot.
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009.5
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Joined: July 15 2010 Posts: 14
Posted: March 18 2011 at 11:59pm | IP Logged
Drop me a line if you need custom leg armor, or any custom armor at all. Femoral protection is quite important.
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weaponeer
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Posted: March 19 2011 at 12:19am | IP Logged
009.5 wrote:
Drop me a line if you need custom leg armor, or any custom armor at all. Femoral protection is quite important.
It's good to see companies working on better armor. One of these days I'll add side armor to my plate carrier, and maybe neck and shoulder armor for wear testing. The one thing I hate about my rifle plates is the weight... I have even considered removing the Rifle Plates, and just adding the Level III steel backing plates, more or less to help the carrier hold it's shape.
These days the only time I'm shooting at the carrier is via video (typically high speed video) which looks far more impressive in full tactical gear, when showcasing weapons, accessories, and gear.
Much like this video starting at 4:55 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ylea-7lnq8&hd=1
This summer I may be reviewing some armor from Israel, but it's about as close as I'll get to custom armor, as custom armor is far outside my budget...
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Master of the Bats
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Joined: March 04 2010 Location: United States Posts: 150
Posted: March 19 2011 at 11:16am | IP Logged
Having "been" shot in the left leg 5 years ago by way of a hole in a pocket resulting in a dropped S&W model1917 in .45Colt accadentialy discharging...
I can personaly tell ya
#1. it hurt for many months/years (sometimes still) afterwards,
#2. it took "all" the fight outta me, (I couldn't stand back up at all)
#3 blew 2.5" of my lower femer compeletly away & shattered my knee ( I now have a dead guy's knee & a titataiuam plated femer bone with 6 pins in it)
so Gentalmen I "can" tell U frist hand...if your in a situation were U "Need" Body Armor..please, please cover your legs... to this day I still walk with a limp & can no longer run at all ( i use to run like the wind) Thigh armor "is" Essential......
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009.5
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Posted: March 19 2011 at 11:41am | IP Logged
MotB, *VERY* sorry to hear that.
In a threat situation, hits to the lower body can result in mobility kills, where the inability to move can make you more vulnerable. The femoral arteries are major blood transit points along your inner thighs, and even slight damage can result in bleeding out.
The nice thing about lower body armor is, you can *generally* get away with fewer layers. Reason being, blunt force trauma is not such a concern as it is in the torso. Don't get me wrong, it still sucks to get hit with the equivalent of a baseball bat in the legs, its just that that won't stop your heart or rupture your spleen/collapse a lung. In the torso, BFT CAN do those things, so generally armor needs to be thicker to absorb the shock. Most handgun bullets (with a few exceptions) are -stopped- in the first 2-9 layers of material. The remaining layers are just there as shock absorbtion and insurance. Of course, we are talking handgun bullets here. Rifle rounds require hard or semi hard plates to stop, no exceptions (unless you don't mind wearing 80+ layers of kevlar, and even then not having a guaranteed stop).
009.5
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soakandquench
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Joined: November 07 2010 Posts: 125
Posted: March 19 2011 at 7:14pm | IP Logged
Master of the Bats wrote:
#1. it hurt for many months/years (sometimes still) afterwards,
never been shot in the leg, but i got stabbed with a blade the equivalent of the M9 bayonet and it hurt for several years afterward, i was lucky it missed the femoral artery and dirt and other foreign material was coming out of the scar several years after it healed up most of the way. also when i got stabbed my adrenaline was way up so i didnt notice it til much later, if it had been a critical hit to the artery i would have bled out before i knew it. thigh armor is very important. i wish it was more emphasized.
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009.5
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Posted: March 25 2011 at 7:50pm | IP Logged
Ouch! Jeez guys, sounds like you are having TOO much fun. Kevlar is decent against cuts, but not so much against stabs. You need either specialized tight weave kevlar, or vectran. Or maille...!
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soakandquench
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Posted: March 25 2011 at 8:37pm | IP Logged
i dont know about fun LOL, but scars do attract the ladies, especially when they want to make them all better.
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Rodriguez
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Joined: December 12 2011 Location: United States Posts: 3
Posted: December 12 2011 at 4:44am | IP Logged
cutting the tops of thighs is common if your thigh armor is too long for your body. Please refer to the links in armor tips and tricks regarding AM armor resizing. These are links from FISD( first imperial stormtrooper detachment ). You can cut down the tops of your thighs and heat bend the abs to achieve the original shape. whitearmor.net is your best resource for TK info and assistance.
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Desert Doc
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Posted: December 26 2012 at 11:19pm | IP Logged
I realize that my input is a bit late to this discussion, however it would seem logical to build protection for legs around the same lines as (US) Football thigh pads were designed. It would be easy to standardise the sizes of the plates that would protect a major portion of each Femur and still allow plenty of free range of movement. Not perfect but much better than nothing.
The biggest problem for grunts is the amount of weight they are constantly expected to carry. Really it's getting ridiculous! We need to find ways to make gear and field equipment as absolutely as light as possible.
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