Hello everybody,

sorry for this post, but I often see spear/balcs body armor on sale on ebay (and other sale website) that are a mixture of two different body armor ;

The Spear/BALCS, as used by Special Forces guys ;





And the Ranger Body Armor ;





As you can see, there's some difference ;


(just hope I did no fault with legends of picture...if you see something to modify, please tell me and I'll change the image integrating correction of faults ! thanks in advance !)

thanks for showing the difference.. any chance you have one of the RBA's for sale or know where you can get one cheap?

leadfoot375 wrote:thanks for showing the difference.. any chance you have one of the RBA's for sale or know where you can get one cheap?

They pop up on ebay from time to time, but I cant say if they will be particularly cheap.

"They pop up on ebay from time to time, but I cant say if they will be particularly cheap."
theres one on ebay now but its only the front panel and no soft armor or plates. theres got to be some airsoft kid out there that has one in woodland size large that they figured out its too heavy for games and its sitting in their closet.

leadfoot375 wrote:"They pop up on ebay from time to time, but I cant say if they will be particularly cheap."
theres one on ebay now but its only the front panel and no soft armor or plates. theres got to be some airsoft kid out there that has one in woodland size large that they figured out its too heavy for games and its sitting in their closet.

Yeah, but the problem is that most of the time they will try and get top dollar for it if they do try and sell it. My best advice is just to keep your eyes peeled and swoop in on a good deal as soon as you see it. Also, dont count on getting plates with it.

There is another version of the SF type variant, that has a mesh inside and thinner shoulder pads.

JKin wrote:There is another version of the SF type variant, that has a mesh inside and thinner shoulder pads.

where can i find the one with the mesh inside?

leadfoot375 wrote:"They pop up on ebay from time to time, but I cant say if they will be particularly cheap."
theres one on ebay now but its only the front panel and no soft armor or plates. theres got to be some airsoft kid out there that has one in woodland size large that they figured out its too heavy for games and its sitting in their closet.

i still have the plates i took out of my RBA when i left 3/75 and i have the soft armor too... im more or less just interested in the carrier and the groin protector size large in woodland. also what is "top dollar" for an RBA?

Fantastic post.

Thank you for putting it together.

If you come across on in XL, I would be interested.

Hi PE nice topic very interesting, I didn't know exactly the difference between 'em

leadfoot, there was a SPEAR on ebay and it went for $300 WITHOUT soft inserts. Ranger version is more rarer so it probably would go for more.

Hello, sorry for my late response, we have a theater exhibition today evening and so not some time...And it's the same range of price for both type. But take care, because some seller on ebay have the front of one of them, and rear of the other and try to sell them as legit. Yes, we can put them together, but they are not the same models ! That's why I did this topic, to differenciate both models.

And for RBA, yes, there's differents models. I do a topic with the old models of RBA, with a cut plate on the frond. See : http://oefoif.forumotion.net/t464-ranger-body-armor-rba

And there's also variants of Ceradyne Balcs/Spear/RBA with a net inside and not a full cloth material.

Hope this helps,

P-E

There's an auction for one RBA plate on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/LEVEL-3-BODY-ARMOR-RIFLE-TRAUMA-INSERT-SHOOTER-PLATE-/310303333115?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item483f851afb
Though he's probably one of the most ironic sellers I've ever come across; he's very strict on absolutely not selling anything overseas (not even just the OTV carriers without Kevlar!), but he's got no problems selling IOTV's since pretty much the day they were first issued. The fact that there's still no legit surplus IOTV's doesn't seem to bother him the least. Don't know if I should laugh or cry...

I've got a question concerning the RBA vest. I'm sure you've all seen the pics of relatively many RBA vests being worn by soldiers from the 173:rd in Iraq. Why? I thought the SAPI plates in the OTV were more capable of stopping bullets than the older heavier plates in the RBA, which also is much heavier.

-snip- re-read question, disregard

For my opinion, they are not better, there's just a big difference in weights...

I asked me the same question some years ago, when I did researches about RBA, because the old style RBA is havier and bigger than the OTV, so it's not good for parachutists...But well, what I think is that OTV were relatively new at this period and not all soldiers received one in early OIF. So, I think "old soldiers" keep their old vests the time necessary to replace them by OTV. It's just an hypothesis... But well, in early OIF, there's some soldiers who still have the old RBA, but also PASGT flak jacket ! So for me it's a question of quantity available for troops.

P-E wrote:For my opinion, they are not better, there's just a big difference in weights...

I asked me the same question some years ago, when I did researches about RBA, because the old style RBA is havier and bigger than the OTV, so it's not good for parachutists...But well, what I think is that OTV were relatively new at this period and not all soldiers received one in early OIF. So, I think "old soldiers" keep their old vests the time necessary to replace them by OTV. It's just an hypothesis... But well, in early OIF, there's some soldiers who still have the old RBA, but also PASGT flak jacket ! So for me it's a question of quantity available for troops.

That and there was a shortage of IBA/OTV body armor for everyone so few lucky ones got old RBA body armors instead of PASGT vests. (The old RBA is no longer issued to Rangers so they ended up in regular army's supply.) I would rather old RBA with heavier plates instead of PASGT which is lacked of plates.

Pierre made an excellent thread about RBA vests. From old first pattern to later MOLLE pattern.

Yeah, but I understood it as that only a minority of the US Army hadn't received the OTV's by the invasion. And since it was issued to units and not individual soldiers (right?), how come some 173:rd guys have the OTV and some the RBA, especially since the RBA had more low-tech plates that wouldn't stop as much?

I recently sold two SPEARS models in BLACK. I sold one in perfect condition for $50 and one with a small tear in the front for $25. That's what you do when you don't know what you have. The buyer sold the torn one for over $100 on Ebay.


O'well..
Rob