LBX Tactical Modular Plate Carrier LBX-300

I am by no means some “operator”, nor would I ever even try to portray myself as such. If you happen to run across someone boasting about such a title I would be highly dubious of their qualifications. I am however thankful in my life to currently know and have known some of them.

I am at best an irregular fighter. If I am being honest with myself, a rookie one at that. Despite this bit of self-deprecation I still like to keep some quality equipment around for a multitude of reasons–training, use at the range, that certain cool factor, or to suddenly fight off the commies.

For the gear nuts

During my time in the state guard and the security business I went through a ton of different gear, from reputable to less than reputable manufacturers.  During that time several quality companies started standing out more: Eagle Industries, Blackhawk (not their shit Serpa “put a hole in your leg” holsters), Safariland, and my new personal favorite London Bridge Trading. Sadly that quality often comes with a price point that made your mom’s wallet hurt. Wanting something for airsoft, even second hand on eBay, requires you to take a loan out on your liver.

Thankfully several years ago LBT opened up a subsidiary company called LBX, London Bridge X Tactical, for sales and manufacturing outside of the US. Their products under the LBX line are geared more towards civilian law enforcement and sports shooters. One of their products is the LBX Tactical Modular Plate Carrier model number LBX-300, which caught my eye while it was on sale.

Devil in the Details

Again full disclaimer, I was not given this gear, I purchased it with my own funds after handling one in a third party retailer. I did purchase it directly from LBX’s website, for $145 USD with free shipping.

LBX Tactical Modular Plate Carrier LBX-300, should look familiar to most of us into the tacticool gear scene. It’s a copy of the LBT-6094A. It comes in a variety of colors, and readers of this blog should not be surprised to see mine in woodland camouflage. It is made from US produced 500D cordura. The carrier is assembled in Peru by Binter Defense, with London Bridge Trading doing the quality control before sending out for sale.

It features standard MOLLE webbing on front, back and on the cummerbund. The front features four rows of hook and loop MOLLE webbing for attaching, ID panels or lewd anime patches. Adjustable shoulder straps,that have very thick padding on the inside that helps with weight distribution. There is also a heavy duty drag handle, along with hook and loop guides for running communications or hydration tubes.

The cummerbund is adjustable in the back between 32” and 46” inches, they even include a spare nylon cummerbund cord with your purchase. I did have to contact LBX customer service, as there were no instructions included with the vest on how to adjust it properly. I will give the vest a minor ding here for not including some version of side pocket plate protectors; even Condor gives you this option at seventy dollars.

The vest fits your standard 10×12 inch armored plates in front and back, the pair I have are the Level IV RMA armor that fit inside quite nicely. One of the interesting details on the carrier I need to point out, is on the inside there is a small separating layer of fabric. What this allows you to do is put a trauma backer or level 3A soft armor backer that is separate from your hard armor.

Set up

I wanted to give you a short set up of how I run my plate carrier, I mainly call this my general defense set up. As I have mentioned above, I have a pair of RMA Armor Level IV Monolithic Ceramic & Polyethylene plates, specifically model number 1155. Along the front of the vest I have three Tactical Tailor Woodland double magazine pouches, with four magazines in the left pair. A KFMJ UW series Glock 19 holster in the one on the right or that can be transitioned to my belt.  On the left hand side I have a Tactical Tailor IFAK kit, with the normal assortment of necessary first aid equipment. On the right hand side is a Voodoo Tactical Universal Pouch that has various utility items, which I have always found useful in the field.Sadly the pouches I have here pictured are no longer in production and were purchased second hand off of eBay.

Conclusion

Despite the lack of side armor pockets I like the carrier for the price point, quality, along with overall use I am going to get out of it.You get a well-made plate carrier that’s not going to be too hard on the budget, and thankfully not made China. My opinion is that if you are a serious shooter and don’t own a set of armor just yet, hold off on that next gun buy and invest in some protective equipment. Definitely keep the LBX 300 modular plate carrier in consideration.

Also big shout out to Courtney Hechinger sales coordinator for LBT for answering several of my questions about the details of the LBX-300. Along with Albert of Fantman’s fishing for being my cameraman for the exterior shots.

Links

LBX Modular Plate Carrier LBX-300

RMA Armament Level IV Armor

Tactical Tailor

KMFJ Holsters

Voodoo Tactical Universal Pouch

Fatmans fishing youtube