The tactical industry isn’t getting any smaller. Every day, my Facebook newsfeed seems all the more inundated with companies selling you the “operator” fantasy, keen to convince you that you need the same kit Seal Team 6 used on the Bin Laden raid to clear your kitchen when you hear a bump in the night. The truth is, you do need good gear when your life depends on it, but I’m way past aspiring to be an operator. I already served my time in the Marine Corps and I’ve got lots of special operations veterans in my rolodex — and we’ve all got one thing in common. None of us are bullet proof. Not like Batman is.
While some guys may wish they could be more like the Navy SEALs they see on TV, I’d much prefer rocking the kit Batman wears into a fight. While there were times that I felt like I could barely breath in full battle-rattle, Batman’s mobility is never compromised in favor of ballistic protection. In fact, the only time a cinematic Batman has ever asked for a suit upgrade in a movie, it wasn’t armor piercing rounds he was worried about… it was dog bites. Granted, Batman is a fictional character that isn’t burdened by the realities of physics… but I still think there’s something to aspiring for more than just rocking the same JPC we saw Garand Thumb wearing. We should be looking for as much mobility as we can find in today’s market, and in order to do that, we’ve got to dive into what’s riding along inside the plate carriers we wear and talk about the plates themselves.
And if you want to get as close to Batman-level mobility, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better ballistic plate option than the Diritium series of plates from ShotStop.
Of course, the folks at ShotStop didn’t set out to make body armor for aspiring Bat-men like me — their customer base is more law enforcement and military professionals and less salty-old-vet turned journalist — but through their efforts to produce the lightest, thinnest, and most reliable armor on the market, they found their way into where a Navy SEAL’s Venn diagram overlaps with that of everyone’s favorite caped crusader. Their plates are among the lightest you’ll find and come in a variety of cuts and sizes for shooters of all sorts, because Batman may not carry a gun, but I sure as hell do.
All that weight savings doesn’t come at the cost of ballistic protection, however — and here’s the proof. In this video, ShotStop’s Duritium III+PS plate holds up to a full magazine of .223:
These plates are light, hold up to tons of punishment, and most importantly, will save your life. If you ask me, that’s about as Batman as you can get out here in the real world. You can get your own ShotStop ballistic plates by following this link to find your nearest dealer, or just go to ShotStop.com and check out their gear for yourself.
In the mean time, you can also check out our previous review on ShotStop’s ballistic inserts and some of their other great piece of gear that are worthy of their own Bat-monikers.
