My brother gave me one of his concealable III-A Safariland Second Chance soft armor carriers dated 2012 that has never been used or worn. What is the realistic expiration date that it would no longer be trusted. Thanks for the info

Ive seen several vests that were worn for 5 years minimum daily in AZ heat get shot and still work.  One was 25 years old, still no penetration with .40 cal.  

Standard expiration is approximately 5 years.
But I believe that includes normal wear & tear regarding taking the vest on & off, etc.
I have a llla vest I purchased 3 years ago, but have hardly worn it. I think it'll be as effective as it was the day I purchased it if I wear it 10 years from now, if I wear it at the same rate.
In NYC I wore it whenever I went out at night to the store, because in NYC, that is all the protection you can muster, considering only the shithole criminals are allowed to carry weapons, as per the shithole politicians.

If Kevlar isn't exposed to UV rays I'd trust it a lot longer than 5 years.

Bulletproof me has done tests with old surplus vests. A retired detective gave me his and it's over 10 years old, maybe 15 now but I'd wear it no problem.

Offering only an opinion...

Those dates are like the 'best by' dates on food. Properly stored and cared for armor will last a long, long time.

Only thing

Check and make sure those panels don't have zylon in them. Look at the data sticker, there should be a name you can google for more.

If it's zylon, shoot it or pitch it, but don't rely on it.

realistically, you've got decades of use left on it as long as it doesn't have any permanent creases or the pads have had long term, direct (outside of the carrier and wrapper) UV exposure

I started a thread like this a year ago. Got lots of conflicting responses from experts. About the only conclusion I could come to was "no one has any idea".

There's been a handful of tests done, but those were all done on 20+ year old designs and aren't particularly relevant to newer stuff.

of course it's relevant.  the materials used in soft armor haven't really changed in the last 15 years.  Aramids (Kevlar, Twaron) are still the main material used though there might be changes in the weaves used.  PE sheets (SpectraShield, etc) are still basically the same too.  All that really changes are small differences in the layers of materials used

Ive shot a level 3 plate from Serbia Made in the mid 90s and stopped a dozen 5.56 rounds and also one 7.62.
Only one 5.56 passed but the hit was on the edge

For what it's worth...

I've shot several IIIA vests (and lower rated) that expired in the mid 1990's.  All vests were previously very very well used and stopped everything they were rated for.  I suspect 2 main things to do with expiration dates is 1) Lawyers 2) repeat sales

Send it to me for disposal.

But in all honesty the whole expiration date deal is centered around an insurance umbrella policy that covers the manufacturer for 5 years. I know this as fact.

Thanks for the replies. I was also thinking it was to cover the companies in the end.

The date is not an expiration date, it is a warranty date in most cases.  When worn weekly/daily the vests absorb a lot of sweat, moisture from rain, and over time can be damaged by heat and UV light.   But if you store the soft armor flat in a climate controlled room, it will last decades.

The five year warranty date is to give people a date to replace the armor as it is no longer warranted by the manufacturer.  For police departments and security details, that is usually when they flip their vests for new ones to keep everything within warranty and replace the older worn vests.  Similar to how they lease their vehicles and flip them every 2-5 years to keep them under warranty and up to date with reliable new vehicles.  

I would have no issue trusting my life to a ten year old top tier kevlar panel that has never been used and stored in a climate controlled room.  I have personally shot old worn panels from the early 1990s and they still stopped all the rounds they were rated for.