Level III Body Armor according to Test Caliber

Selecting the appropriate level of protection of the body armor is the first step to consider before deciding to buy body armor. Whether you are going for level I or level III body armor, it is best that you should know the level of protection you will be needing based on the realistic weapon threat you face.

The National Institute of Justice (or NIJ), an arm of the Department of Defense (DoD) established six formal classification types of body armor, as well as a seventh type of armor. for now, we will discuss the level III body armor which is the first in line of the hard body armor in the classification chart of the NIJ.

Level III body armor (Rifles). This body armor protects the wearer against 7.62 mm full metal jacketed (FMJ) bullets (US military designation M80), with nominal masses of 9.6 g (148 grams), impacting at a minimum velocity of 838 m/s (or 2750 ft/s) or less. It also provides protection against level I through level III-A threats.

Level III body armor is clearly intended only for tactical situations when the threat warrants such protection, such as barricade confrontations involving sporting rifles. This is the level of body armor which is of a hard body armor type.

NIJ standards are used for law enforcement armors. The performance requirements of NIJ Standard–0101.04, which were developed with the active participation of body armor manufacturers, ensure that each armor level will provide a well defined minimum level of ballistic protection. 

Level III body armor requirements are identical to those above, except that only one type of ammunition is specified, and all six test rounds are fired perpendicular to the surface of the armor. A total of 12 shots are completed (6 shots per sample). 

This is one of the classifications of the National Institute of Justice – the level III body armor.