Rick Baker (of bakerballistics.com) has improved his Batshield. Am I wrong for wanting one?

Robert – the head goes through the loop created by the QuikDon (on the shield’s interior photo after the jump). As you can surmise, the full loop is lifted when worn around the back of the neck, rather than clipping the two individual straps (to the female faster fasteners normally clipped to the two nylon straps that lead to the Quick Release/Spreader assembly (to which the two bungees are snapped into the quick release). Once standing, the shield hangs very high protecting the front torso. In the combat ready frontal photo, very little muscle is needed to hold the shield and fully loaded weapon as pictured.

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17 COMMENTS

  1. “Am I wrong for wanting one?”
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    Oh noes! Robert is gonna go all tacticool mall-ninjer on us! 😉

    • The fascist Italians tried something exactly like this in WW2. I don’t have very high hopes for this device….

  2. What is the point of this? It is only level 3a. Why not just wear a vest? You could actually maneuver in doors with a vest, it provides coverage to the rear, weighs half as much, and can generally accept rifle plates. If youre really worried about additional coverage, plenty of companies make shoulder/biceps/forearm protection that can be added on.

    • The theory might be that, after punching through a IIIa shield, your plate-carrier might be enough to stop lower-powered rifle rounds. I’m not the responsible engineer; just thinking out loud.

    • Oops that was for the batshield, not the mraps. The mraps’s weight seems on par with rifle plates. It still seems silly and difficult to maneuver in. It makes no mention of multi-hit capability like most rifle plates can do, and since it is level 3, anyone with a AR and some green tip SS109 ammo can still defeat it. I am really scared that you have to contact them for pricing, this thing has to be over the top expensive.

    • Zombies thats the point. They can’t bite through 3a and the living dead aren’t corodinated enough to use firearms (unless you’ve seen Romero’s Land of the Dead). These are obviously the pre-slime green marketing photos.

  3. What about lefties? Is it reversible?

    As for the design merits, I believe its greatest characteristic is that it covers everything except for a tiny portion of your face and the top of your head — and a ballistic helmet covers that. A ballistic vest plus add-on pieces would still result in exposed areas such as your neck, lower face, upper legs, and possibly groin area depending on the specific vest. And because the shield is out in front, it would tend to move backward to absorb some of the impact … versus a ballistic vest that is resting against your skin with no room to travel and decelerate a bullet.

    For head-on engagements, they seem like they would be pretty darned effective. As for cost I don’t see why they should cost more than a couple hundred dollars.

    • $200?!? A level 2/3a vest costs far more than that, since you have to contact them for pricing, and that this is level 3, i wouldnt be surprised if this was over $5,000.

  4. Intimidation. Seeing a shield like that would make somone not want to bother shooting. It would also instill a different feeling in the wearer than body armor would. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

      • the only question is, in a shtf/home invasion/zombie attack/whatever the hell else could happen, who the hell would have something like that? Police snipers gone AWOL or something?

        • “the only question is, in a shtf/home invasion/zombie attack/whatever the hell else could happen, who the hell would come at you with a fvcking shield?”
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          Fixed. Many folks I know keep a bolt-action in .338 Lapua available. Tragically, all of mine were lost in a freak boating accident about 100 miles off the Kalifornia coast.

  5. What about setting up the shield portion on a stand to make a home “battle station”? Roll out of bed, get behind cover, and prop the gun over the top.

  6. If the Germans called their thingyabobber the “Gladius”, this shield should be renamed the “Scutum.”

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