I recently purchased a pair of SRT Lightweight Level IIIA+ plates from RMA Defense, here’s what I found. We have not been contacted by RMA Defense in relation to reviewing their products. Nor were any items mentioned in this blog provided to us by anyone. This was a purchase for personal use.
In early July, conditions came together that allowed me to make a purchase of some new body armor. I am a fervent advocate of civilians having access to, and owning, quality body armor. As for your average citizen, a concealable carrier and level III soft armor would most likely be adequate for anything you may encounter. Excluding slashing and stabbing attacks of course(though there are some soft armors designed for that).
Let’s face it, violent crime is on the rise. We believe that every sane, sober, upstanding citizen should consider some kind of body armor as part of their preparedness equipment at some point.
For folks living in a relatively safe urban situation, I usually recommend this order of operations:
- Attain a quality handgun with at least 2-4 spare magazines
- A comfortable, well made holster and
- Quality training for that handgun. A tool does you no good if you don’t know how to use it safely and effectively.
- Next I recommend purchasing a long gun, outfitting it for your needs and getting training with it as well.
- At this point I recommend either some level of night vision and low-light/no-light training
-OR- - purchasing a quality body armor system.
This is just a general guideline that I advise. These considerations may be completely different based upon your environment. Armor may be a higher priority for you if you are in an area with a higher violent crime rate. At the same time, someone living on a large piece of remote-rural land may not even consider armor at all.
What made me choose these particular plates?
I’ve been running what they now call the AR500 Heritage Plates since some time around 2012. I have absolutely abused the Hell out of those things and worn them for 100s of miles. But they are heavy and have only the base layer coating and offer ZERO spall protection.
Before I made my purchase, I looked into several well known brands (AR500, Spartan Armor, RTS, Velocity Systems, and Mira Tactical) looking for something light and rifle rated. I finally settled on the RMA Defense SRT Lightweight Level IIIA+ plates.
Here’s what RMA Defense has to say about these plates.
RMA advertises the SRT Lightweight level IIIA+ plates as weighing 2.53 lbs each for the medium (9.5”x12.5”) SAPI multi-curve plates and come in at a thickness 0.8″. Their site states that it can stop multiple hits from a 7.62×39, M193 or even 7.62×51. There is a torture test on Youtube where it stopped several rounds of 6.5 Creedmoor.
RMA has given them a designated of level IIIA+. These plates will defeat your handgun rounds, which is what a level IIIA is rated to do. However, they don’t quite meet level III ratings that would stop 6 7.62×51 Steel-jacketed M80 Nato rounds. So they fall between those two ratings.
Add to the above specs that these are stand-alone plates. Simply put, you don’t have to use them in conjunction with soft armor or padding behind them. You only need a compatible plate carrier with them. They are also edge-to-edge plates. That means that the last .25” to .5” around the perimeter of the strike surface are also ballistically protective. This is unlike many other plates where that space is merely coating, and will not stop or deflect a round. They also come with a 5 year manufacturer’s warranty and what they call a “Free Incident Replacement”. These fine folks stand by their product to the point that if it saves your life, and is therefore not usable any longer, they’ll replace it.. for free. I was not able to find specifics on their “Free Incident Replacement” at the time of this writing.
After all of this information, I decided that I wanted, no…. needed these plates. Decisions were made that cost me a few nights on the couch, but I stand by my decision. The plates shipped the next business day and arrived a couple of days later.
Unboxing my Lightweight Body Armor-
The RMA Defense SRT Lightweight Level IIIA+ plates arrived in one box with a Crye Precision JPC 2.0 and a Mule Carry Bag by 0331 Tactical that I purchased with them. The plates were individually wrapped with enough bubble wrap that I have no doubt they would have survived a fall from the stratosphere…. Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration. But looking at the wrapping materials and the quality of the box, you know that there is great pride taken in their products and your items are adequately protected from anything your courier may subject it to.
When everything was unwrapped and laid out, I started inspecting my items. Folks, let me tell you, you cannot appreciate how light these plates are until you have them in your hands. Even then, they truly shine the second you put them in your plate carrier and don it. I will honestly say that you can barely even feel the carrier on you. I bought these plates, carrier and bag to be a slick rig that will live in my vehicle, and possibly be part of Tactical Medical operations at some point in the future. So there are no magazine pouches or hydration carriers mounted to it. With the plates and carrier adding up to right around 7.3 lbs and no added weight, the weight is negligible.
I’ll do a review on the JPC 2.0 later, but I ended up getting an Agilite K-Zero plate carrier. This brought my final weight to an absolutely mind blowing 6.8 lbs. Ladies and gentlemen, distributing that weight around your torso with the K-Zero’s support system is truly a thing of beauty. It’s relatively concealable under an over shirt to boot!
Closing thoughts.
In closing, I trust these plates with mine and my family’s lives. I believe without a doubt that these plates will stand up and perform as advertised should the need arise. I would gladly and faithfully recommend one of these plates in your child’s backpack if you’re looking for a backpack plate. This is due to its light weight, low profile and rating.
Please know that I am not saying that RMA Defense is the best in the industry. Nor am I suggesting that any other manufacturers are putting out lesser quality products. I am only reviewing product that I have purchased and have trained with. We can’t afford to buy these items for destructive testing, so current videos on Youtube will have to do. I also wish to reiterate that no items mentioned in this review were sent to us or sponsored. Nor am I being compensated for any reviews of any products. Even if I was, I would review them objectively and honestly.
That’s just the way we work here at Guardians’ Arms and we would never recommend an item that we do not sincerely believe will perform as advertised/intended. We believe in honesty and want you to get what is right for you the first time. After all, this is life saving equipment and you may only get one chance.
From us here at Guardians’ Arms, God Bless you all, God Texas and God Bless America.