Judging interest in AR500 cut for Body-Armor / Targets

**Atonob** · October 26th, 2012, 04:47 PM

Looking into setting-up production of 1/2" AR500 plates which may be used for armor / targets.

The first run will be 10"x12" (1/2" thick) slant-cut rectangles. These will be water-jet cut. (Pending cost)
If the water-jet turns out to be out of budget, they will be plasma cut.

For those that don't know about AR500, it is Arasive Rresistant steel with an Brinell-rating of close to 500. Essentially it is a very hard steel that is comparable to a LEVEL III rating that can withstand multiple hits and has minimal maintenance compared with ceramic plates.

I am in Western, PA. And I prefer to keep the first-run relatively local. Following the success/failure of the first-run, I may ship. I travel between Pittsburgh/Butler/Franklin a lot so FTF deals can be arranged.

The exact price isn't determined yet. But by buying the AR500 in sheets (with enough interest) this will put the plates at a very competitive price point. (at least somewhat cheaper than similar plates available online)
So who all would be interested? (Post in this thread) Questions / Suggestions?

**DSMDealer** · January 3rd, 2013, 05:03 PM

Originally Posted by Atonob

Looking into setting-up production of 1/2" AR500 plates which may be used for armor / targets.

The first run will be 10"x12" (1/2" thick) slant-cut rectangles. These will be water-jet cut. (Pending cost)
If the water-jet turns out to be out of budget, they will be plasma cut.

I would stick to water-jet cutting them. Plasma cutting will cause embrittlement of the the edges near the cuts.

**gun fan** · January 4th, 2013, 11:03 AM

So any more info on this ??

**AJ C-burg** · January 6th, 2013, 11:38 AM

Have you determined a price range? Would they be straight steel or coated/wrapped?

**Chainsaw** · January 6th, 2013, 11:51 AM

You can save $$$ by going with 3/8. That will take a lot of abuse by most calibers.

.

**Atonob** · January 7th, 2013, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by AJ C-burg

Have you determined a price range? Would they be straight steel or coated/wrapped?

They were going to be straight steel, as I figured most people could add a spall protection themselves.

But unfortunately at the time that I was ready to produce them, I didn't have enough interest. (Only a few showed serious interest.) Now that I have started up on an unrelated project it seems that everyone is coming out of the woodwork wanting to get plates.

Because of this, unfortunately this project is going to be on the back-burner for quite a while. I'll update if anything changes, but it won't be in the near future.