New rigs?

[Skara]

As per title, I'm looking for two chest rigs, this because I have just sold my TMR.

Nothing wrong with the rig, it's very good and I will always recommend it to people, it's just that I've shifted my priorities and want to explore different options.

Now, the thing is, I need two to accommodate different platforms (AK and MP5/Glock mags), to be used in conjunction with my FRV belt so I was thinking:

- For the AK rig, to buy a molle panel of some sort (probably 6x3 or 8x3) and use 3 Taco style pouches (I like Templar's Gear pouches a lot). A bit old school.

- MP5/PDW/PCC rig I was considering a placard style rig like a spiritus mk5 or a First Spear A1 ammo hub from our friend @TheFull9, with a kydex insert of some sort.

not the most economical of routes, but it'll get me three chest rigs in total, which should cover all my needs.

+ I need to buy pouches for the hsgi belt anyway.

Suggestions? Am I doing it right?

 

[Emergencychimps]

What about a chest rig that takes placards? 

https://shekkingears.com/collections/aor1-chest-rigs/products/ferro-chesty

This is a clone of a ferro concepts one, the ferro one is stocked by tactical kit. 

 

[concretesnail]

Like you I need a setup that I can change rif and keep playing. I use a warrior rpc and have different placards for each rif setup. I have ak open top pouches on currently but in the case with my mp9 is full placard setup for it. Two clips and rip, new pouches go on. If you don't want a plate carrier then ops do the minimo chest rig. It take placards and having used the ops before I've found the quality to be good.

 

[TheFull9]

Thanks for the @  I think you're on the right track but you can save on bulk/storage space and probably money even further if you cut out the panel and just have a placard with inserts for whichever type of mags you're running with.  Myself, for a good while I was building a collection of PALS placards in different colours with different types of pouches on them to just tear'n'swap between mag types, then I saw the light and just got rid of almost all of those for 1 placard per colour and 1 set of inserts that can cover all of them.  Definitely saved me money and a lot of storage capacity.

No way I can't sound like I'm self shilling right now, but my placard was specifically designed from day 1 to fit 3 x soviet steel 762 AK mags with the feed lips facing down, which to my knowledge are the biggest, fattest 30rnd AK mags going and there's still a little bit of extra room.  I own a Mk5 and it's awesome, brilliant construction, but Spiritus aren't fussed about catering to AKs really.  I think the 5 works with 545 mags going bullets down and just about with 762 plastic mags bullets up, but I never see it regularly done because there's just better options out there.  It isn't really wide enough for 762 mags (especially with the back rib) and going bullets down in the normal way.  Might not matter if you're rocking hi-caps, but if you want 3 mags then I'd look at a placard other than the Mk5.

If you go for anything like the Minimo, Spiritus Thing 2 or Ferro Chesty wide I'd have to say also that velcro adhesion is quite important in my experience, as I always found the edges would peel on my Chestys and once the peeling starts and you run it can propagate.  The Mk5 is a brilliant laminate which will last even your grandkids, but because it's thick and so structured it won't really curve to your chest where the Ammo Hub will, possibly also the Ferro DOPE though I don't own one.

 

[Skara]

Sorry for disappearing, lately I've been struggling to find the time to do anything but basic survival functions and working like a mule.

Had a look at tactical kit and I now remember why I don't have an Ammo Hub yet, fucking €50+ postage! (thanks again, Brexit)

It'd be much cheaper for me to book a flight to the UK, buy it from TK and fly back home! 

So with that out of the way, I started browsing for alternatives, and I came across this.

The description states that it takes inserts, I sent them a mail asking what type of inserts it takes, and for more detailed pictures and measurements of the internal compartment.

Should it take Spiritus inserts, and should it fit 3x 5.45 AK mags, I think I have found the base rig!

Now let's pretend for a moment that all of the above is true, I would then be looking at actual inserts:

• For MP5/Glock mags I can use a regular Spritus/Viper SMG insert (which I already own). It's okay for extracting mags but not exactly ideal to reindex (it's just elastic so it tends to close itself when empty). I've seen Kydex inserts made by TMC that should fit (it's 200mm wide apparently, just shy of 8 silly units of measure);
  
• For AK mags, the issue lies in the locking lips, they tend to snag on everything they come in contact with, and it's the main reason why I looked at TACOs in the first place, the plastic liner keeps the tabs from snagging and make extraction/reindexing very quick and convenient. There are a couple of US made inserts that fit the bill, namely the Hugo Industries and Enamel Pie inserts, but I don't think they can ship to EU and even if they can, I'm gonna get buttfucked by customs. So I'm looking at EU made products, or even a homemade bodged solution.
  

 

[concretesnail]

As far as inserts go have a look for kydex units. I use a set of 7.62 kydex grips in my bungee ak pouches, as I didn't want the bungee. The kydex holds the pouch open enough so I can jam a magazine in at speed and the shape of the kydex holds the mag tight enough that it doesn't jump about. 

 

[C-Diddy]

Just adding my two pence having seen the comment mentioning TMC kydex inserts. 

I bought a TMC kydex insert to carry gas MP7 mags in my chest rig. In a word, dogshit. The insert is one big piece with bungee cord to tension it. As a result the mags all slap against each other and retention is utter gash. 

Bought a £4 Viper insert and job's a fish. 

 

[Speedbird_666]

Bought a £4 Viper insert and job's a fish.

Problem I find with Viper inserts is re-indexing magazines - I'm only speaking from M4 mag experience so YMMV, but it was such a ballache that I 3D printed insert to sit inside the elastic loops.

View attachment 96181

 

[C-Diddy]

Can't disagree with you there @Speedbird_666 The Viper was a cheap interim solution until I decide whether to keep the MP7. 

The kydex inserts in the Esstac and C2R pouches are awesome, but what you've done there looks great! 

 

[TheFull9]

I passed @Skara's experience/findings on to the owner of Tactical-Kit (good, chill bloke and former airsofter btw) in the hope of finding the truth and maybe making things better in the process; this is the sitch, directly copied from my IG DMs:











Thanks for the info. We are going to change our shipping to Italy. We used to ship via Royal Mail but there was issue with Italian customs and we had three customers open PayPal disputes. All the goods were finally delivered so we ended up losing the goods and the money. After that we banged up the shipping to Italy and shipped via DHL on a next day option so to avoid future losses
 
Unfortunately due to shipping costs increasing because we moved to DHL instead of Fedex we’ll have to put our Euro prices up






 
Been one of those lose-lose situations really, unless you're Italian and got totally free kit a while back lol.

 

[Skara]

Sorry for disappearing again!!!

Managed to see one of those BTG rigs at the national finals last weekend (October 8-9th) and they're well made, the only problem is the velcro lining, it's hook & loop instead of just loop, so no spiritus compatible inserts unless I ask them to make a one off for me.

Which, judging by how they answer their emails (they don't), might not be feasible.

@TheFull9I appreciate your help but it's still going to be silly expensive for just the placard (with the method you suggested I'm paying double VAT + it's going through customs anyway), so I'm trying to find alternatives first and, shall I fail, I will end up buying directly from TK.

 

[TheFull9]

To be honest I primarily had a suspicion that someone at TK might've pressed the wrong button in their site config somewhere, and I know I can't say this without sounding super-blowhard but since I know some shop owners and gear maker owners etc I just try and remedy this stuff while I can; otherwise the untolds thousands I've spunked going to Shot show would be wasted ?

 

[Skara]

2 weeks later update:

Still haven't found anything suitable except for another Italian company that "specializes" in cloning existing designs.

They make their own version of the Mayflower UV gen IV, Spiritus Mk4 and Mk5 rigs (this one with two pouches instead of one, for some reason).

In the meantime, I've looked around at various options in order to build a belt kit, or rather, a belt ecosystem.

The idea is to use a velcro inner belt with various outers, ranging from a simple duty belt, to my FRV, to a full on battle belt + suspenders setup, each one for a different application (duty belt will only have a dump pouch attached, FRV belt will be used in conjunction with a pistol and the battle belt will most likely be a standalone system for longer games).

- duty belt: will most likely buy a warrior one, it's cheap enough and will mostly serve as a protective layer for the velcro inner, alternatively I can buy a loop backed belt and use that one instead;

- FRV belt: it's good as it is right now;

- battle belt: unsure on what base to use, for now the top two contenders are Templar's Gear (PT-4 belt sleeve) and Direct Action (Hornet belt sleeve). Both can supposedly be strapped to a hook inner belt to prevent shifting. Harness will be Templar's, pouches 4x Templar's Gear tacos (front, two per side), Helikon dump pouch (rear middle) and a couple of Templar's Gear GPs (kidney area, right besides the dump). Might add a nalgene pouch at some point for quick access to water.

thoughts on this?