How Tight Should A Plate Carrier Be? Step By Step Guide

How Tight Should A Plate Carrier Be? Plate carrier should be your priority when dealing with life-threatening situations or a military man. The most important thing to keep in mind while buying a plate carrier vest is fitness, whether it fits you or not. If you have a plate carrier, it’s necessary to know how tight should the plate carrier be to be safe from shrapnels and bullets. 

A plate carrier should fit your body properly and comfortably, and the panels don’t move, as a loose or too tight plate carrier might cause difficulty in your movement. It’s essential to keep it fit for professionals in warzones so they can move around freely.

If you are unaware of these plate carriers and don’t know how to put them on, then read this article till the end to ensure you are wearing the armor properly so you can perform well. 

How To Wear A Plate Carrier Properly? Step By Step Guide

If you don’t know how to wear a plate carrier properly, you are certainly risking your life. These armors are usually to protect you; having a tightened or loosened armor on you might compromise the protection level. It’s important to align plates and strap them firmly in the carrier. Numerous plate carriers are easy to wear, but a few armors might need someone’s assistance. So follow the following steps to wear a plate carrier properly.

Step 1:

First, put on the empty carrier that doesn’t have plates and close the shoulder straps properly. Ensure these straps are aligned and evenly maintained from the front and back.

Step 2:

Now place plates in the carrier in both front and back but before this, remove the carrier and then place these plates. You might need someone’s help if you don’t have a mirror. Now ear the plate carrier and ask your fellow to align these plates from the front and back by adjusting the shoulder strap. Ensure that the level of straps is aligned perfectly as they might cause difficulty in movement. These plates must cover the whole area below the collarbone.

Step 3:

Now close the side straps, check their comfort, and tug the plates to test their security. 

Step 4:

Now move around to check the comfortability; you can adjust the straps if it is hard to breathe or you feel too tight. Lift your arms, bend down, and move back and forth to check its comfortability. Make sure not to make it too loose, as it will be hard to run around, and a loosened carrier might not cover your upper body.

Step 5:

Now attach the other accessories with your vest and check whether it moves down from either side. Make sure that you have distributed the weight properly on the vest and if it shifts down from one side, check the shoulder straps again.

Related Post: Best Plate Carrier for Small Guys

Breathing difficulty usually occurs in different situations, like wearing a sports bra or a tight tank top, but body armor is something else. A tight armor can also make it harder to move around, so try to lose it immediately to perform excellently in combat.

Please read our reviews on the Best Plates for Plate Carrier

Buy A Gender-Specific Armor

Body structure for men and women is completely different, so it is necessary to buy gender-specific armors. These armors are designed according to your body shape and provide comfort in every condition.

Get Armor According To Your Weight

Some people are overweight while some are skinny, so get a plate carrier vest that suits your body. Some people’s weight changes constantly depending on their diet and routine, so they need to buy armor with different strap settings to change it according to their weight.

Some officers need to change their weight depending on their duty, so they must get armor according to their needs because too tight armor might not fit them in case of an increase in their weight.

Wear It Daily

If you are new to wearing body armor, wear it properly so you’ll get used to it. It’s not necessary to wear the body armor on duty; you can wear it off duty, too, so you won’t feel any problem in the case of an emergency because sometimes you might need to wear it for a long time.

Please read our reviews on the Best Tactical Vest

Armor Maintenance

One of the main factors that affect your armor comfortability and protection level is how it is maintained. If you clean your armor improperly or wash it with bleach or any other detergent with a stronger chemical composition that is not friendly to your armor might weaken the fabric and soften the plates.

Washing your vest in the washing machine or hanging improperly after cleaning might misshapen the carrier as well as plates. So read the full instruction about cleaning your bulletproof vest first and doing anything else.

But the Level IV plate carriers are harder as they have steel plates that are hard and heavy. While buying such plates, ensure that they fit you properly and comfortably. Because a loose or tight Level IV plate cause lots of problems like making it hard to breathe, move, rubs with harms harder, causing rashes, and compromises your protection. 

FAQs:

Conclusion 

Now you might know how important it is to wear a fit plate carrier. Ensure that these plates cover 80 percent of your torso, covering your internal organs. You can ask someone to strap on the armor so that the plates will be aligned evenly distributed on the front and back. No size fits you perfectly; all it depends on the strap so learn to strap on perfectly.