I've only ever used the more traditional SAPI cut plates however, I was considering upgrading to a swimmer cut for the increase in maneuverability and the lighter weight. I was wondering if anyone here has experience with swimmer cut plates and their advantages/disadvantages and if the decrease in coverage area is worth the slight increase in maneuverability and reduced weight.
Swimmer vs. SAPI
- Thread starter Cam_Wa
- Start date
The US army has thought it was a good enough idea to make Swimmer ESAPIs for front plate usage. Havent seen the paper that juatified it though, so cant speak to the science.
shoobe01
Established
Agree it is hard to scientifically justify without very large studies on exact hit locations and lethality of the more-peripheral-but-still-torso hits, but for me personally it helped me wear the armor more because it is more comfortable (esp as I have a long term shoulder injury) and the extra maneuverability means I can do all tasks with armor on, never need to strip it off. Wearing armor more is always good; zero chance of ballistic protection when it's laying against a tree over there.
I tend to say it also lets me shoot better. Not necessarily because the butt is more on me than plate, but because I can get in positions more naturally, e.g shoot from prone pretty much properly whereas more full coverage plates (esp ICW!) can get you feeling pretty Michelin Man.
I tend to say it also lets me shoot better. Not necessarily because the butt is more on me than plate, but because I can get in positions more naturally, e.g shoot from prone pretty much properly whereas more full coverage plates (esp ICW!) can get you feeling pretty Michelin Man.
My theory on the new VTP plates is "that while there is less coverage, how does it play into shooting ergonomics?" Is the response to the question... the question. Im not sure, but the end state is improved ergonomics, il keep digging for the genesis on it.