Vests, Chest rigs & Plate Carriers! Post your pictures & reviews

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RabidNinja64

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Among the case of needing an upgrade to my gear, so that it fits in with my MP7 and the mags that are to come in the future, aswell as donning a new look that may not involve so much black (no racism intended!) I need some motivation & feedback on your vests, rigs and plate carriers. Preferably need the following information:

  • Manufacturer & Price Tag
  • Overall Quality
  • Customisability
  • How well it serves your loadout
  • What would you change about it? (Not aftermarket additions, sadly; more like, would you have ditched an integrated pistol holster for more primary magazine pouches?)
I'll start :)

Considering this is my first ever airsoft loadout, im not particularly buying things to suit around my vest, I'm just buying whatever i feel is necessary in terms of usefulness and capacity. Anywho......

medscalemil-tec_usmc_vest_black_amazon.jpg


Here is my vest; originally found on Military1st.co.uk (Great site, fast delivery and mediocre prices for the product quality) but was bought on ebay for a little less for the same new unboxed quality) and is a great product and well priced by mil-tec :)

Holds 3 Pistol and Rifle magazines, possibly 2 SMG mags in one pouch if you have the willingness and has a MOLLE attached pistol holster with an extra pistol mag pouch. comes with an integrated utility pouch with a velcro covering and its overall a very secure vest. also, considering im abit on the chunky side in terms of body shape, the adjustable straps, located at the sides and shoulders of the vest, go to a wider varying degree of space to accommodate larger people; throwing a guess out there, t-shirt size referencing, possibly an XL-XXL. With my vest, personally, however, i've made a few additions involving lots of stitching, an umbrella corporation patch & the smiley face from nirvana.

At this time, i can't say how well it suits my loadout due to my recently purchasing my MP7 which has yet to see fieldwork, but the pouches hold the magazine very tightly with very little wobble in any direction.

If i had to change one thing to the vest, it would be that all the pouches minus the utility pouch were MOLLE attached, giving the vest a wider form of customisation to fit even the heaviest of loadouts.

Good quality product, good pricing and would recommend for any starting airsofter.

 
First one I had was a Viper SWAT vest in OD. Not bad, good for a beginner. Set me back around £40 from Patrol Base which is a pair price.

I have a review of my Bulle rig in the gear reviews section. Very well priced at about £25 IIRC and has held up well. Features I like are the UTX hardware and admin panel section which can fold away.

Will move to a Warrior DCS plate carrier later. For my urban / arid loadout I will get a Warrior 901 in A-TACS AU or alternatively a Flyye FAPC in coyote brown (affordable but no cummerbund)

 
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First rig I had was a real steel Crossdraw assault vest I bought off a mate who'd been to Afghan with the Royal Marines. He got it off a contractor and I gave him £10 for it :D

Later on I got myself a Tactical Tailor Mini MAV. Ridiculously lightweight and hi speed.

tt_mm-4.jpg


Mine's in OD.

Also got a Bulle Lightweight Chest Rig in tan for a different loadout. Great rig, used to be really good value but the main supplier (flecktarn.co.uk) jacked the price up from £25 to about £40.

bulle-molle-lightweight-chest-rig-3426-p%5Bekm%5D230x230%5Bekm%5D.jpg


 
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Surplus dutch assault vest. Can get them for all of about £10 from Ebay, not a huge amount of molle space but enough for a good number of mags, solid as anything. Doubt it'll fall apart any time soon.

Can also attach a sling to the shoulder bits, works great.

 
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Being a slim midget (5ft 5) I have to run chest rigs since finding a plate carrier that fits is quite hard unless I don't mind doing a lot of tailoring.

First one I brought was a Viper Chest Rig which I got for £20 off eBay:

VPS-Chest-Harness-B.jpg


Was light and surprisingly tough for such a cheap price. Main issues I had were the inconsistent molle weave width (I had to loosen some of the stitching to get the molle straps to fit) and the buckles on the shoulders seemed to have been made from pasta (first skirmish one broke from a direct hit - luckily I had some cable ties handy).

My current main rig is a Blue Force Gear Ten-Speed SR25 which I picked up as part of a trade for one of my old guns:

SR25_Chest_Rig-Front-BK-800x533.jpg


Very lightweight and maneuverable. Has pouches for three rifle mags, two pistol mags and a pouch behind these for odds and ends. Has fit every regular mag I've tried in it and never had any issues with them coming loose. Looking around £90 new, but it's brilliant with the warmer weather we've been having lately.

 
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Selfie bedroom wanker pic, I apologise, but you can see largely what's going on with the front of the plate carrier.

It's a crye AVS with the harness, medium plate bags, 6x9 side armour, molle extensions and 2-band airlite cummerbund. Pouches I've stuck on there are a blue force gear ten speed M4 triple on the front, small 4"x4" utility pouch on my right kidney, radio pouch front right, 2x small utility pouches front left for grenades and a 1litre hydro pouch on the back. That's pretty much it.

To address your specific points;

Price tag; expensive, I think the plate carrier before pouches was approx $800 from a US retailer, I expect it'd be more if you could get them in the uk.

Overall quality; bombproof, made to hold up to the demands of real soldiers in real gunfights, massive overkill for airsoft but no one makes a decent replica.

Customisability; hands down the most versatile rig money can buy. I can strip it down to a lightweight front and back plate with one band cummerbund or scale it up to how it is there in a matter of minutes, the front 'flap' is also changeable in seconds with Velcro and every surface is molle compatible.

How well it serves my loadout; carries everything I need in a low-profile and comfortable (it's like being hugged by a cloud) package, almost infinitely customisable I regularly swap the front flaps over for different magazine types (I have one set up for M4 mags and one for MP7).

Things I would change; have already changed a couple of bits about, the 2 band cummerbund has been replaced with the larger 3-band one for more versatility with carrying things on my sides; I have some pouches mounted direct to the harness which sit under the cummerbund and then some attached to the cummerbund itself, allowing me to 'double up' on usable space.

The back has also been changed, the hydro pouch has been replaced with a zip-on panel which has a built in hydro pocket so if I want to carry a backpack or whatever I can just zip my water off in 2 seconds and stuff the whole thing into the backpack. Also gives me more space on the back to mount other stuff (smoke grenades I expect along with a big ish utility pouch for snacks and a waterproof jacket).

Obviously this isn't a 'beginner' kit, but I thought I'd put it up as a counterpoint to the more reasonably priced rigs that are on offer... There's a sliding scale of expensive (it gets way pricier than my setup if you want something in genuine AOR patterns!) and this rig doesn't, for airsoft, do a vast amount more than a £50 Chinese LBT6094 knockoff.

 
For an MP7, you should be able to use MP5 pouches. Maybe consider drop leg pouches. That way, when you carry another weapon with pouches on a vest, you will not get confused about where each ones mags are.

 
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