Occasionally we offer EnGarde® products to third parties for independent testing. In a recent test the crew at Buffman took two of our Level IV hard armor plates and subjected them to brutal punishment that went far beyond their rated capacity.

Most Level IV hard armor plates shatter after receiving a single hit, but our EnGarde® Level IV hard armor plate (3.2 kg) kept on going, taking round after round.

Plate number 1
According to the NIJ Level IV specification, a hard armor plate is required to stop only a single .30 Caliber M2 AP hit. Our plate stopped four of these powerful rounds. Unfortunately the fifth round found a path through when it struck the plate too close to the impact zone of the second shot.

Shot number six and seven, both 5.56mm rounds, were stopped. Check out the video here:

Plate number 2
For the second plate test different types of special threat ammunition were used, including M2AP, M80A1, and 150gr FMJ and Lehigh Defense 79gr CQB. Our plate stopped all seven rounds successfully. Check out the video here: