hi, i went to the colchester military festival earlier, and was looking around numerous surplus stalls when i came upon this woodland DPM plate carrier. Its brand new no wear or tear on it, all straps are new, no colour fade, buckles are new, mesh is new, zips are new. The shape of the pouches for the inserts instantly suggest osprey, both front and rear, i was told by one bloke its being trialed and tested by the army at the moment and they are hard to come by, and another told me it was an AFV crewmans vest, but nothing matches up. The information that is stitched to the inside read as follows -

CARRIAGE, BALLISTIC, PROTECTION, 12.7mm
DPM, IRR,
P2339 (PM2)
D/DCTA S&T Div.
YEAR 1995 (101)
NATO Stock No. ............... (it doesnt have one stamped)
Name. ................. (none written)
No. ................. (none written)
SPEEDPRIOR DB 40mm

This armour has been dated 1995, i would like to know what it is, because it is obviously not osprey if it is that year? I would be very greatful if someone could shine some light on this matter. pictures are as follows -


[url] i593.photobucket.com/a...000724.jpg

this is the front of the carrier.

[url] i593.photobucket.com/a...000725.jpg

this is the rear of the carrier.

regards,

tom.

Could be airsoft sh1t made by some company like viper or a like factory in HK.

There is a lot of it about with really dodgy labels made up to look GI, Pusser, and any other stores you can think of.

Looks like a Research and Developement sample - maybe sent as part of a tender?

Looks like the plate carriers issued in South Armagh to static troops at the time of the .50 cal threat. I can't remember ever actually seeing anyone wear it but I can remember seeing it lying around XMG.

nah its defo not airsoft sh*t mate, the surplus stall had no airsoft clothing or equipment on it, all of it was genuine issue stuff. I can tell its issue stuff, just by looking at it, airsoft cheap stuff has a tendancy to fall to peices or have ver poor quality manufacturing standards. airsoft is normally bought in bulk and sold on, this was the only one they had on display, no price tag and wasnt listed down on their notes as anything, nabbed it for £29.

DCTA was Director of Clothing and Textiles (Army). Bomb Int may be right. At the time I was at PEE Shoeburyness and tested Body Armour for the West Yorkshire Plod - we had about 20 sets of different stuff sent to us by various Manufacturers.

FFS don't even think about wearing body armour like this operationally - no history=no safety. And if it was atest batch then just because someone says it is 12.mm proof doesn't make it so.

nah dont worry, im a civvie, i wont be going on ops and wearing it, i was in the army last year, left 4 weeks before passing my CIC, tried rejoining but am now restricted because my bowels and intestines are screwed and have been in and out of hospital. Its just the cover for it no plates or kevalr filler, just looks to me like it would fit osprey plates.

So why did you buy it?

The 12.7mm plate was developed for use in NI, when PIRA were getting cute with their 0.50" Barrett.

It needed to be worn over the existing vest, and even then, the residual shock to you chest would have been like one of ScaleyAlbereto's fat burds dropping in from ceiling height! Not that I'd know about that sort of thing, of course!

I bought it because id never seen anything like it before, ive seen body armour, and carriers before, but never anything like that which is british issue, probs cause i was only a wee baby when that was issued anyways :D.

that answered ur previous question of why did i buy it mate. because i have never seen anything like it before, and as for me saying i was only a wee baby, if it was issued in the time of the 50.cal threat being 1990 to 1997, i only have been about 6 years old.

Just a question, fellas, but are there actually plates that'll defeat .50 cal? Surely the unholy wallop would cave your chest in anyway, unless you'd wrapped a couple of duvets around your body under the armour.

I'm asking because I genuinely don't know, so please try to resist the usual "fückin t'ickie Oirishman" comments.

MsG

Likely diagnosis : DPM obsessive compulsive disorder.

'It's DPM, therefore I must have it.'

I am a non-chronic sufferer, ie; I won't buy it if I can't use it, but I've bought some truly pointless items on a few rare occasions. My condition now includes desires for foreign kit, like US woodland, Flecktarn, Dancam, Auscam etc;

lol. The only kit i have is, a daysack, which i had while at catterick, for packing clothes in while going home at weekends, and a set of PLCE webbing, so therefore i dont have such a thing as 'DPM obsessive compulsive disorder' lol . and no i dont have any foreign kit.

Spot on, I remember wearing these on the PVCPs around New Town Hamilton during the rebuild in 94. And as stated it was worn over the standard body armour and was designed to protect against the .50. As I remember it it was heavier than osprey but it was a long time ago.

Dave

thanks mate, much appretiated.

I suppose you could use it to carry your laptop and ipod under your coat when traveling in london ,to avoid muggings !

So you're not serving, you are not likely to go on ops (with a .50 cal threat or not) so what use is body armour of any pattern/make/construction? Are you a miltaria collector?

I have seen loads of stuff during my years that I never saw/knew of while serving, but I certainly don't rush out and spend money on it. Even if it had a civvie use, there is civvie kit that does the job.

Maybe he just thought it was interesting and decide to spend his money on it as a curiosity? What's teh problem with that?

I have no real use for the 18pdr artillery shell case that I bought last month but I just thought it was interesting. Am I a militaria collector? Not really, I've just got odd bits of stuff that caught my eye.