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Appalachian Training Steel Armor Trade-In Program
Appalachian Training is waging a campaign against substandard steel armor plates, many of which simply do not perform to the standard the standard that they say they do. Mike, the owner at Appalachian Training, had this to say about target grade steel armor plates:
Steel is applicable in very limited situations where a low vis specific rifle protection requirement is present. And that requires specific steel such as Velocity low vis or AMIs steel packages. Again, steel is for VERY specific PSD / agency requirements. The target type cheap steel armor has NO place in a modern plate carrier for professionals or citizens. It is a non-solution to a real problem set (much like a serpa holster).
You can now trade your steel plates into Appalachian Training for a significant discount on a proper set of plates. If you send your steel plates, you will receive a discount code to purchase a set of Velocity Systems Level IV Stand Alone Armor Plates for just $499.99 plus shipping (normal price is $659.90 plus shipping).
Get in touch with Appalachian Training to get your trade-in started.
Mayflower R&C APC Improvement
The Mayflower R&C APC is an already great plate carrier (see the JTT review) that just got a little better. At least some of the latest APCs to leave Mayflower R&C now feature loop material on the lower two rows of PALS webbing on the front flap. This loop material is used to help secure chest rigs and assault panels like those from Mayflower R&C, Haley Strategic Partners, Extreme Gear, and Beez Combat Systems.
Visit Mayflower R&C and see the new version of the APC at Appalachian Training.
Velocity Systems
If you follow JTT, you know that I regularly highlight patches from around the industry as part of our Patch Collecting feature. This one is going to be a little bit different because I am going to highlight both a patch and a tremendous customer service experience that I had. I’ll start with the customer service experience.
I recently purchased a Velocity System Light Weight Plate Carrier (LWPC) from Appalachian Training. One of the key features of the LWPC for me is the ability to keep it completely slick but still tuck away a few AR-15 magazines in the elastic magazine pouches that are sewn into the interior face of the cummerbund. However, when I received the PC I noticed the two elastic mag pouches were sewn unevenly so that the two slots closest to the center line of the wearer (the two most useful pouches) were undersized and could not fit magazines easily.
The Velocity Systems LWPC’s cummerbund features integral magazine pouches. This is a stock picture from Appalachian Training – not a picture of the cummerbund mentioned above.
I contacted Appalachian Training and Mike, the owner, immediately returned my emails as usual. He didn’t have a replacement on hand but he confirmed that his personal cummerbund was sewn the same way. So I contacted Velocity Systems using the email address that I found on their Facebook page. That email was responded to in less than 5 minutes and the experience only became more impressive from there.
I was corresponding with Pat Quinn, a VP at Velocity Systems. This is when something that I have never seen happened. Pat acknowledged that it sounds like there might be a production issue with that size cummerbund. Not only that, be he tasked someone with looking into the issue and taking care of me. At that point, I was handed off to Russell, a sales coordinator, who quickly and professionally took care of me by dropping a new cummerbund in the mail which I had in hand in about 3 days.
It was very refreshing to see a company 1) actually acknowledge that there may be an issue and 2) delegate the task of addressing at both the production level and with the individual customer. The whole process was personal and seamless.
Now, onto the patches…
Velocity Systems tucked in a couple of their patches with the replacement cummerbund. These patches feature Velocity System’s stylized “V” logo. One is subdued and the other is rendered in full color. I like the full color one because the color scheme reminds me of something you might see on one of those awesome ’70s custom vans.
Check out Velocity Systems at VelSyst.com. Stay tuned for a full review of the LWPC after I put some more time on it.
Mayflower R&C Cummerbund Sizing Graphic from Appalachian Training
I might be a bit dense but when I wanted to purchase my Mayflower R&C APC (full review), I needed some hand holding when it come to picking out the right size. Thankfully Mike at Appalachian Training is a pretty patient guy and he walked me through it. I am thrilled with my APC and apparently Mike gets the questions often enough that he created this handy graphic to help people decide which size they need.
More info from Appalachian Training:
Wanted to pass on a little more detailed sizing info for our Mayflower Research & Consulting LLC Assault Plate Carrier cummerbunds. When sizing your APC remember that the cummerbund runs “outside” the plate pockets on the carrier. This means the shooter has to account for the added girth of the plates when choosing a cummerbund for the carrier. You can also pick up about 2.75 inches of circumference by moving the front Velcro attachments outboard a bit. So for example the max one can get out of a Medium is 40.75″ (38 plus the 2.75). Stay safe – M2
Check out Appalachian Training for the best service in the armor biz.