British Osprey Mk4 Body Armor Review

[gadget99]

Hi All,

Just a quick review.

I picked up a full un-issued set of this without the soft or hard armor for about £89 off ebay.

At the moment they are all over the place on ebay here. So if you like what you see in the attached instruction set on it. Then I can recommend picking up a set. Just make sure you purchase a full set that includes everything that is detailed in the PDF attachment other than the armor.

Many of the sellers on there either already offer international shipping or would be willing to work something out for such.

Now to the cool part. The way it is built, it will take standard sized soft armor inserts (I transplanted the soft armor from on of my L3 police vests) and it handles standard sized hard plates. I am running two shooters cut plates in mine.

Take a look and tell me what you think.

Cheers

[gadget99]

Oops... forgot to mention.

No there is no quick release system on this carrier.

Just have to peel or cut it off someone if you have to.

Yet the coverage is pretty good. I am not using either of the collars or the shoulder and brassard's. Didnt feel like cutting up another vest to armor them.

I am however using the cumberbund with soft armor inserted from another spare vest I cut and encapsuled some armor from. I may pickup some of the hard plates the fit there if I can find a real cheap deal on.

OK... done now

[JohnyMac]

So you can not buy with armor?

[gadget99]

Hi Jm.

Yes you can buy with Armor.

I just found that it was economical for me to buy the rig and Armor separately.

[CJS06]

Gadget

Looks Interesting. Pricing is like that of the lower quality "airsoft" or knock off kit that you get over here. Looks like a fairly substantial piece of kit.  I cant imagine loading it down with the neck and shoulder parts. It does appear to be a bit bulky but it is hard to tell without seeing how it wears. I have been using a Shellback carrier for a while but was just able to acquire a Crye JPC super cheap. I have my plates set up fairly slick with only 3 rifle mags, 1 pistol mag, radio, and light. I can add different patrol rigs, packs , etc over if I need to.  How bulky is your set, would this be possible or would the carrier be the base for everything that you may want to do?

 Chris

[gadget99]

Gadget

Looks Interesting. Pricing is like that of the lower quality "airsoft" or knock off kit that you get over here. Looks like a fairly substantial piece of kit.  I cant imagine loading it down with the neck and shoulder parts. It does appear to be a bit bulky but it is hard to tell without seeing how it wears. I have been using a Shellback carrier for a while but was just able to acquire a Crye JPC super cheap. I have my plates set up fairly slick with only 3 rifle mags, 1 pistol mag, radio, and light. I can add different patrol rigs, packs , etc over if I need to.  How bulky is your set, would this be possible or would the carrier be the base for everything that you may want to do?

 Chris

From the outset I was worried about the bulk. That is why I waited to post the review.

It is no more bulky than a set of PASGT that I wore in the difficult times in Panama.

That being said it is more bulky then some of the more streamlined plate carriers out there.

I went for it due to being able to aquire it and mod it to my means at a budget level I could afford.

Something I would like to point out though.

When you get to the point where you have to wear it day in and day out. Give it a week and you will not even notice it. To be honest you will only notice it when you for the very few times you take the armor off.

The point is that this set is designed for you to wear it over the long term.

Cheers

[JohnyMac]

Gadget brings up a good point. If you have gear wear it!

In order to wear off a bit of my winter fat I have been wearing my kit when Dorothy and I go for a long walk. Each day gets better as I done my kit and do the 2 mile or so hike patrolling our AO.

Now if I could stay on the road I would be doing a lot better