There seems to be a definite lack of information available on what is going on with Shotstop, especially on their plates. Hoping someone has some more information.

What I know so far is mostly secondhand, rumor is the feds are investigating them for importing Chinese plates and remarking them along with some failures in testing like rifle plates letting through 9mm. Not a lot of info found aside from social media, below for example, and now the company is dissolving itself. This seems.. subpar at best, and I've seen more than a few posts here about owning their gear.

[instagram]https://www.instagram.com/hrttacticalgear/p/CyoIYxprM8-/?img_index=1[/instagram]

I looked the other day and couldn't even find their website anymore.

I have side plates from the mand now I'm thinking replacing them with something else.

You should. They've had a long history of lying and fraud.

The Chinese plates fiasco would not surprise me in the slightest. They claim their "Duritium" is some proprietary material that's patented. Do a search of the USPTO and you'll find precisely zero results for it. And zero patents filed by either Shotstop or their founder relating to armor materials. It's just UHMWPE, and the fact that they're willing to lie about that tells me a lot.

Their first gen plates were also Tencate 6450s IIRC. Tencate is a fine brand, but Shotstop claimed to manufacture them despite evidence to the contrary. I've also heard rumors that Shotstop modified the plates for sale and really pissed Tencate off. The G2s also have an excessive foam ring around them.

It almost feels like another AR500 Armor, except they double-dipped doing imports and trying to pursue certifications and contracts rather than make their own shit and simply coast on by with aggressive social media.

ShotStop was raided by the FBI on the 18th of Oct 2023.  There's been no declaration by Law Enforcement as to what the reason for the raid. ShotStop posts a statement a few days later that they are "cooperating" with LE and that 3 of their models have NIJ CPL's. Nov 24, 2023, they filed to dissolve as a company.  A few of these retailers seemed surprised/bamboozled by Shotshop.

Their original GT plate is Tencate plate. One of their previous CPL listings is a Tencate part # appended SSB. The NIJ has no duty to comment on FIT testing of CPL plates, but they did say it's about every 11 months, and failure to complete FIT will result in removal from the CPL.

They've long been pimping their GT2, HA, and HS "ultra light" plates. The randomly would say the GT2 is III+ but it's only a 5.56 SRT plate. I've had LE message me that SStop came out and held demos showing their GT2 were stopping M2AP :| All of those plates have foam rings of 1/2" OR MORE on the edge. They were tile array plates, and construction was low to middle grade at the best. Poor adhesion, and the UHMWPE backers delaminated easily. They sent an online retailer a cease and desist when they used footage of mine to show the large foam rings.

I tested their HA plate 3 times and every time they had poor performance. The first time it happened, I sent them back and they chalked it up to accidentally sending me a prototype plate. After the second time, they claimed the error was on my end, and that they could not replicate the perforations, but were unwilling to have an NIJ lab perform the same hit placement as mine falling under the statement that Level IV plates only have to stop 1 COM M2AP shot. They offered to come out and bring their own ammo to retest, but I declined.

If I had to guess, they imported complete Chinese plates, and sold them as made in the US, all while upselling performance capabilities of many of the models to LE. One agency had placed a large order for one of their models and was sent a pallet of the wrong plate ..

TL:DR If you have one of their ceramic plates be very suspect as to it's build quality.

Grrrrrreat, just great.   Well, I suspected I was taking a bit of risk when I bought my GT2 side plates, but figured for side plates it was worth the risk.  

Buffman, is there anyone else making side plateas as thin at the GT2's were that are Green Tip rated?   Last time I did any research on it every side plate I could find including from my favorite manufacturer, Hesco, were insanely thick.

Thanks!

They're shit bags. They'd send cease and desists to people who were trying to expose them of their shady business practices. Bloggers, armor experts, and even dealers such as Saber Solutions who had firsthand knowledge from Tencate about how they were modifying plates.

Paid the right people to push their products and duped people in the industry who don't know much about armor to carry their products. They were great marketers

Tencate CR-2000SA or CR-6450SA side plates (adds M855A1 and API-BZ multi-hit capabilities)

Very nice, are they made from U.S. materials?

I see they're "Made in the USA," but I've seen companies use that and then their stuff is made up of a lot of foreign components.  

Yup, Tencate USA / Integris USA uses all American materials.

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/critical-protective-gear-worn-by-the-akron-police-swat-team-was-found-to-be-counterfeit

Yikes.