As far as protection goes, they aren’t much better than just wearing a regular vest or shirt. They are typically lightweight, but typically don’t have any areas to insert hard or soft plates. Multi-functional vests are tactical and are great for attaching accessories like magazine pouches and other gear. While they can effectively stop smaller rounds like 9mm or shotgun pellets, they’re ineffective against higher caliber firearms. That said, soft vests do have some major downsides. Soft bulletproof vests are nice because they are concealable and much lighter than plate carriers. They typically have MOLLE attachments and pockets to carry other military-style gear. Some vests allow you to insert side and back plates, which might be a little overkill for civilian use, but hey if you don’t mind carrying a little extra weight go for it. The plates inside the vest cover and protect the vital organs of the upper body. Plate carriers are designed to carry inserts made to stop real ballistic rounds. Before we cover that, here are the types of vests out there to choose from. Different vests and plates have different rating levels that let you know what type of rounds they can effectively stop (more on this below). Level of protection is an important consideration.
