Plate Carriers - What are they actually for in Airsoft?

[TheFull9]

MLE was the 2nd rig I ever owned for airsoft, back around 2007.  First rig was a clone of some marine issued armour carrier (of the time) that didn't even fit me so I only wore that to my first ever game.  Granted the MLE is a knock-off of the Tac Tailor 2-piece MAV, but it's cheaper than the MAV and the quality is borderline really-fucking-close to TT; at least it was a couple of years back last time I owned anything BULLE.

Super cheap too for the quality you get, that's why I recommend it so often.  I think if anyone's looking for a smaller rig to swap to in the height of summer it's hard to beat; there's other compact rigs of course that are just as good, some might even be better in some ways but stuff like the the spiritus costs waaaaay more money; the MLE is always good.

 

[Dentonboy]

Yeah, had an MLE myself up until last year. Was superbly built. Only sold it on as the BFG CR I acquired was getting more use. 

 

[Adolf Hamster]

Last game day it was brutal heat so i just took the sig out and a pocketful of mags, no belts, no plate carriers, no "rigging" of any kind.

And of course as is the way with this game i ended up slaughtering in an outdoor game using only a pistol. Maybe everyone was sweating too much in their black pc's

 

[Druid799]

This time of yr if it actually is hot and sunny ? I go for a cotton bodied UBACS (holds some of the sweat so cools me down nicely) I’ve got a couple of different camo pattern Frog ones lovey bits of kit .

Short length Light weight plate carrier , no side plates pouches , cummerbund or anything just two straps , hydro on the back couple of mag pouches and away to go ! As to keeping your self hydrated one thing that drives me demented on hot days is all the players I see chugging down cans of monster/Red Bull/etc , those poxy things will f**k you up big time on hot days ! Recently I’ve been seeing a definite spike in admissions in work (A&E ) down to those drinks , when your hot and sweaty your pulse rate is already increasing due dehydration , what you need is plain old H2O NOT something that’s full of caffeine and is going to increase your heart rate even more , but will they be told ? Nope not a chance no matter how nicely I try to inform them of the dangers they know best !?‍

then the thing that really pisses me off is hr or two late I have marshaling staff come over and asking for help/advise because the very same players have now come back to the safezone feeling like shit and I’m loosing my game time helping the players out who got in to this state because they wouldn’t take telling ! ? 

so children if it’s hot as hell please leave the ‘energy’ drinks alone and just drink water .??

 

[Tackle]

Another thing that people don't consider is the day before the gameday, many people, me included, can be borderline dehydrated in their day to day activities, drinking but likely not enough in the summer, especially if workplaces frown upon drinks around expensive machinery/technology, so are restricted to very limited breaks.

I had it happen to me before a BFT (now known as CFT ?),day before had a crap assignment that was literally non stop, so allowed fluid levels to run low, prob lager that night in the naafi too, next days BFT was in mega hot weather, even though I was supremely fit, I keeled over like a sack of shit, dropped back to billet in a landy, staggered inside & promptly passed out on the floor next to my bed, found there hour later by my mates when they got back, literally lying in a puddle of god knows what on the barrack floor, the lads couldn't believe it was me that dropped as I was prob fittest in the squad, just shows what a difference a few pints of pwemium h2o the day before would have made.

Many years later had a bad experience with energy drinks, not a fan of them but my usual 5am commute was a struggle one particular week, so rather than doze of at the wheel I chugged a couple accompanied by gratuitous amounts of haribo, by 10am I was shaking & hyperventilating, fixed it with with a 5 mile fast walk followed by a mixed grill, I'm sure the walk fixed it but better safe than sorry ?, but I could see how someone could panic & head to a&e.

 

[TheFull9]

It's hi kwaliteh h2o you need, that's where most folks go wrong.

 

[Tackle]

It's hi kwaliteh h2o you need, that's where most folks go wrong.

View attachment 36480

 

[Rogerborg]

Water prevents dehydration?  You're all getting the jail.

Unless...

 

[Tackle]

Just came to a wonderful realisation for an alternative plate for my JPC...

Good thinking Batman ! Then I thought even better one of the flexible ones ? 

View attachment 36445

if your gonna go down that road, aside from the already mentioned risks from "freezing" some of your internal organs, once the packs have defrosted your still carrying the weight of them, for no good reason, surely better to look at fake hard plates that double as hydration bladders, chill or freeze (your choice) them the night before, ice cold water on "tap", & freeze a couple of plastic bottles of pwemium h2o for safezone top ups of the plates ?.

 

[TheFull9]

I get where you're coming from.. but once the pack warms up you just take it out.  There'll be very few airsoft scenarios where you're not physically able to drop it off somewhere.

My personal preferred method is still to just drink plenty of normal water (along with a small packet of salted crisps) and allow yourself to evaporate sweat, because historically over the past few millions of years it's got the most evidence behind it in terms of working, but I wouldn't say there are no other possible methods of cooling that can be made to work.

 

[Tackle]

Lol, we're airsofters, we're always trying to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, be too easy just to swig water when needed ?

 

[Adolf Hamster]

Lol, we're airsofters, we're always trying to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, be too easy just to swig water when needed ?

i do wonder how long before real military innovation will come from airsofters being too damn lazy to do something normally

 

[MisterG]

This time of yr if it actually is hot and sunny ? I go for a cotton bodied UBACS (holds some of the sweat so cools me down nicely) I’ve got a couple of different camo pattern Frog ones lovey bits of kit .

Short length Light weight plate carrier , no side plates pouches , cummerbund or anything just two straps , hydro on the back couple of mag pouches and away to go ! As to keeping your self hydrated one thing that drives me demented on hot days is all the players I see chugging down cans of monster/Red Bull/etc , those poxy things will f**k you up big time on hot days ! Recently I’ve been seeing a definite spike in admissions in work (A&E ) down to those drinks , when your hot and sweaty your pulse rate is already increasing due dehydration , what you need is plain old H2O NOT something that’s full of caffeine and is going to increase your heart rate even more , but will they be told ? Nope not a chance no matter how nicely I try to inform them of the dangers they know best !?‍

then the thing that really pisses me off is hr or two late I have marshaling staff come over and asking for help/advise because the very same players have now come back to the safezone feeling like shit and I’m loosing my game time helping the players out who got in to this state because they wouldn’t take telling ! ? 

so children if it’s hot as hell please leave the ‘energy’ drinks alone and just drink water .??

My wife gave me a few rehydration tablets last time I went for a Skirmish.  She uses them when running.

I was drink loads of water, had a 3L hydration bladder, and I still felt like crap when I got home and was running a temp of 37.5, I'm normally about 36.4.

This guy was looking about ready to pass out, and didn't want to drink anything, dressed in full kit with JPC helmet the works.

G

 

[Duff]

Those plates seem overkill. I very highly doubt you could freeze tour internal organs whilst skirmishing mate lmfao maybe if deployed but yeah.... anyway £45? Yeah fuck that prefer £3 freezer blocks I can replace at a supermarket. Not everything has to be bespoke....

Today I played with two picnic sized freezer blocks in my pack and filled my bladder with ice and cordial. It was good. Scratch that... it was Devine. Remained pretty cool until last few games when they'd essentially defrosted but I will be doing this again. I placed two in the back with the bladder and it also kept my lunch that was in a compartment nice and cold.

 

[djben9]

Do all these people who drink ‘energy drinks’ like monster, redbull etc also wear black / dark clothing. Married to a science teacher she told me off the other day when I was gonna wear a black ubacs for half day game!!... google it as I can’t explain it while on phone, to much to type  :lol: :lol:

 

[TheFull9]

Is the first sentence a question?  If so I'd say there's a correlation based on my own observations.  But I'm not going to attach the word I'd like to that correlation because it'll upset a few people here for sure.

The energy drink thing - I can't help but feel that if you're not drinking it regularly anyway (bad move ofc) then some folks think it's literally real life PUBG or something equally absurd.  As if you'll actually physically perform better over a period of time longer than maybe 3 minutes.

 

[Tackle]

I very highly doubt you could freeze tour internal organs whilst skirmishing mate lmfao

Lol, only you could take it literally, course your not going to freeze your insides, BUT tissue damage & possible shock is a risk, its not like your average airsofter is at his peak fitnesswise.

As has already been said, can't beat a bit of water, maybe "jujj" it up with ice cubes & some funky cold Ribena

View attachment 36507

 

[Tiercel]

Wow, so much hate for the plate carriers. Time to untwist those panties

I love my PC, because unlike fixed "assault vests" I can put whatever I want on it, and change it as needed. Fancy a chest holster that day? No problem. A few extra grenades instead? Got it. Using a gun that uses larger mags than the common M4 mags on most vests? Pouches for days fam. 

That being said I do run a MOLLE belt rig for hot summer days because otherwise I boil up and die in a PC. 

Its really obvious when youve been hit, PC or no PC, you can still feel the impact and hear the THWACK of the hit. Anyone saying they "didnt feel it" because of the carrier is a cheating prick and even if they werent wearing a plate carrier would find another excuse why they didnt feel it. "oh it hit a mag pouch with a mag in it" - "oh it hit the thick strap" - "oh a leaf landed on me and deflected it so I didnt feel it". Dont hate the PC, hate the player

 

[TheFull9]

Wow, so much hate for the plate carriers.

In the first few pages of the thread or recently?  

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

Its really obvious when youve been hit, PC or no PC, you can still feel the impact and hear the THWACK of the hit. Anyone saying they "didnt feel it" because of the carrier is a cheating prick and even if they werent wearing a plate carrier would find another excuse why they didnt feel it. "oh it hit a mag pouch with a mag in it" - "oh it hit the thick strap" - "oh a leaf landed on me and deflected it so I didnt feel it". Dont hate the PC, hate the player

Totally untrue.

In a woodland enviroment where it is easy to hear impacts then PCs and gear are not so much a huge problem. But in CQB they are an issue as the generally much higher background noise covers a lot. The whole CQB enviroment and playstyle makes it easier for players to miss a hit in the general commotion.

Every player gets the odd one they just don't know about and those that claim they always know and it doesn't happen to them are the biggest problem. Most players when called out on a hit just go sorry and take it but the living in denial crowd are the ones who always argue. I would rather deal with an actual cheat than one of those.

I have shot loads of people who were oblivious and have probably caught enough that I haven't realised to ever take the attitude of calling them cheating pricks.  Players who behave and think like that and just cheat call are the worst sorts on any field.