Technology & Testing

Our chief product developer has a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and over 20 years of industry experience.  We thoroughly understand the science behind the materials we use and the ballistic threats our products face.  Many of our competitors have to rely on their vendors’ sales engineers to inform them of their material capabilities.

We use only premium steels from specialist vendors in our products.  This is not AR500, AR600, or some other off-shelf-commercial grade also used in bulldozer blades and the like.  The steels we use are designed to meet particular real-world threats, which may or may not align with the standard NIJ threat levels.  We offer standard and custom products in the following threat levels:

All of our shields are tested by an independent test lab to the specified threats per NIJ Standard 0108.1.  We further test each shield as follows:

• N=29 hits or more from each threat projectile against the shield panel, in order to establish a minimum 95% confidence and 90% reliability for the threat. These additional hits may be against a single test unit or spread across multiple units.
• N=3 hits or more within 1” of the edge of the shield
• N=3 hits or more within 1” of a previous hit
• N=1 hit or more directly on or immediately adjacent to the bolt head, to verify the handle or other attachments do not break when hit.

Shields rated “Special Type” were tested using the Level III test protocol for rifle rounds except with the threat projectiles specified above.

Test reports available upon request.