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] http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/t...8/IM000724.jpg

this is the front of the carrier.

[url] http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/t...8/IM000725.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.

Originally Posted by tommylads1831

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.