When you are trying to pick the right shield for an assignment, you must recognize the kind of threat that you would be exposed to. Ballistic shields offer varying level of ballistic protection. This is why you must not be in the dark when it comes to the kind of threat that your shield can handle and the bullets that it can repel.
To understand ballistic shield damage resilience, you must be familiar with the NIJ ballistic shield ratings. The NIJ, fully known as the National Institute of Justice, is the department that is charged with the responsibility of testing and rating ballistic resistant gears according to the level of their capabilities. The NIJ breaks down ballistic shield capabilities by levels of ballistic protection.
Here are some of the key levels of ballistic shield protection:
- Level II
A ballistic shield with a Level II rating will only be able to stop most common handgun rounds including 45 ACP, 9mm, .40 s&w, .357 etc. They can be made of soft armor.
- Level IIIA
A level IIIA ballistic shield can protect you against nearly all handgun rounds up to .44 magnum, 9mm submachine gun rounds, and even 12-gauge shotgun slugs. They can either be made of soft armor or hard armor material.
- Level III
These are hard armor materials, and they are often used to repel rifle threats. A level III ballistic shield can also withstand 7.62 mm FMJ (US military M80) rounds with a mass of 147 grains and a velocity of 2780 ft/s.
- Level IV
Ballistic shields with Level IV are designed to stop everything all other levels of ballistic rating can stop. Also, they are also designed to stop armor-piercing rifle threats. This makes it the highest rating for any ballistic shield currently.
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