I know everyone loves looking at the coolest gear out there, from Crye pants to Gucci guns that cost more than some people's cars. But the question I have is what is the order of obtaining the gear? Ie: Chest rig, helmet, then plates and night vision?

I only ask because I'm working on getting the gear, but I only have so much money. (Broke college student)

I have a chest rig, an AR pistol and rifle, a set of peltors, and that's about it. I'm working on getting a CCW and a handgun that will pull triple duty as a HD/CCW/throw on a belt gun.

So the question I guess I'm asking, is what should I get next? Plate carrier with plates? NV? Helmet? Radio? Any advice would be appreciated.

If you're a broke college student, there are probably better things upon which you could spend your limited budget than stuff you'll likely never use.

Instead of buying a plate carrier or a set of NVG's, which will sit in a closet except for while you watch movies or "clear your apartment," make an extra principle payment on your car, pay off a credit card, or start saving for when you graduate, so you have a fund to get you through until you find a job, or to cover any expenses should you have to move to find a job.

Once you graduate, find a job, start funding your retirement account, and get a rainy day nest egg going, that's when you should really worry about 'gear.' In the mean time, get a gun, mags, ammo, and the means to carry it. That's half the battle right there. Once you're not a 'broke college student,' a plate carrier would probably be better to prioritize over NVG's, as it's going to be less expensive to get a quality carrier and plates. Who knows, maybe you'll land a job where you'll make enough that the gear will be easier to acquire and the big decision will be which transferable MG to get before prices get higher than they already are.

Is SiVisPacem a buzzkill? Yes.

Is he right? Absolutely.

Absolutely correct. However, not to totally buzzkill, you could look into getting into local matches and any training available, even if just your local CCW class. Gear by itself is useless. And I mean anything that doesn't cause you to miss your cell phone payment, etc. BTW, I have two plate carriers, one concealable, one standard, and plates to fit them all. The outside carrier is gathering dust in the garage, and the concealable is, with the good plates installed, with a young Marine who uses it for his physical conditioning routine. The last plate is in my son's school backpack. I wore them ONCE.
BTW, take some criminal justice classes at your college, if you can - might help if you ever do actually have to use your firearms for lawful self defense.
Oh, and if you have to buy something, buy a box of ammo every two weeks - it's what us working class stiffs can actually afford.

Enlist in the national guard. Free gear, training, and money for college.

For about $300, two weeks pay for a part time minimum wage job, you should be able to get a NAR IPOK with combat gauze, ATS slimline pouch, Safariland or quality Kydex holster, Esstac double pistol Kywi pouch, and a decent EDC belt. Your pistol should be some kind of polymer framed double stack pistol with three mags. Assuming you have a setup like that you should be able to do most local pistol comps. A club near me runs two matches a month and range fees and club fees come to about twenty bucks. Once you're at that point you can start saving for a carbine. You can get a decent upper for around $600 and lowers for not too expensive. A used aimpoint or similar would be around $300 and a used surefire light with pressure pad should be under $150 for an older model. Once you have that together with a sling you can add one or two rifle pouches to the belt and get a chest rig. I really like the BFG ten speed chest rig. It's like a much updated Chi com type 86 and under $100. The Spiritus bank robber is another nifty lightweight thing. It's not a bad idea to get a swift clip chest rig so you can integrate it with a plate carrier in the future. Like your rifle and pistol armor isn't something that should be skimped on. You'll be looking at at least $400 per plate on top of the cost of the carrier.

It’s funny you mention that Roy... I’m in the guard in your state and we do not have body armor issued. And I am a dismount TL in a cav troop. I do have my own armor though. I’m sure if we got sent to afghanistan or something the army would get us some.

Unless you are a college athlete, a gym membership would be beneficial unless you have a free one you’ve got access to.

Fitness > gear

Go take a training class. You will have a better idea of what you really need for your intended purpose. And you can compare gear with other guys in your class. I would suggest you buy used gear as you work on setting yourself up. Lots of really good threads here. Read everything you can posted by guys who actually use it.

I totally agree with taking a training class. You don't have to take out student loans to afford one, either. You can probably find some decent training near you that won't require airplane flights and hotel rooms. Just vet the instructor before giving them your money. Start with the basics, such as pistol, carbine, and first aid (even a simple Red Cross class can be a good place to start if you don't have any prior medical experience). Once you get a better grasp of how to use your guns, you'll have a better frame of reference for how gear fits into its use.

SiVis, Thank you for your advice. I'll start working on getting an  emergency fund set up and not missing any payments.

Sawlaw, I need to start getting into some training or comps, once I grab a pistol I'll get into training. My college offers some basic first aid courses, so that'll be a good start.

Thank you all for the help, I'll work on getting a pistol, first aid stuff, and work on getting some training.

Smart move my man.  Software will serve you better than hardware.  Although it doesn't seem like it now, one day you'll look around and think, "why did I buy all this shit, and what could I have done with that money?"

Regardless of your situational life details, here is the order I would reccomend, in general.

1. Micro warbelt. This should have an IFAK on the back accessible from either side,  a pistol holster, 2 pistol mag pouches, 1 rifle mag pouch, and a hand held light pouch as minimum gear to start. It allows you to train reloads for both pistol and rifle, train low light and shooting with a handheld flashlight and pistol, etc.

2. Peltor COMTAC or equivalent. You want active hearing protection. You don't need com specific versions with military mic and downlead. You will use them every time you shoot.

3. Plate carrier and plates. Level III+ stand alone, SAPI cut, multicurve plates. Alternatively just a chest rig. An IFAK, TQ, 3 rifle mag pouches, as minimum gear. This allows for you to carry more rifle mags and practice reloads and positional shooting with mags on your chest. Dont put handgun mags on your plate carrier.If you have your plate carrier you will have a rifle. For plates, they will be your primary armor and will be worn more than a helmet. Dont get side plates for a while. Most people dislike them.

4. Crye Nightcap. You wont like wearing a helmet in hot weather, but you need something to use your NV. The Crye is not expensive, lightweight, and cool. Also need a shroud.

5. PVS14. I think this is the best starting place for night vision. Best bang for the buck.

6. Helmet. Something high cut makes life easier if you intend to put Peltors on the helmet. You wont wear a helmet other than specific training in full kit, to use as a NV platform, or to fight in. This means very little use. Helmets are hot and uncomfortable. They offer limited coverage and only 3a pistol caliber protection. For many people, ballistic protection is not a requirement and they want more comfort for dual tubes and a lot of crap on their head. Bump helmets work well for that and are more breathable and lighter.

7. ARC rails, ARC adapters, shroud for helmet to mount Peltors and PVS14 to helmet. Once you have all that gear you might as well put everything on the helmet.

Somewhere in there you need a radio,  but only if you have someone to talk to. If you get a HAM license, great... get more than one radio, because your friends are unlikely to get one (license or radio), regardless of interest or money. MURS, FRS, GMRS are all something you need to agree upon with people you train and hunt with. They are much more likely to buy something that just requires a purchase and not training/testing.

Of course this assumes you already have a rifle with sling, weapon light, and optic and a handgun with weaponlight. All that gear is pointless otherwise.

As soon as you get the belt, take a pistol class, a tactical medical class, and a lowlight handgun class. As soon as you get a chest rig or plate carrier, be sure you have a carbine class before moving on with more gear.

As soon as you get night vision gear, get trained.

Gear is useless without training.

For clothes on a budget... the cheapest combat tops that are high quality are the British MTP UBACS. MTP is a multicam type pattern and 10 times better quality than US Army combat shirts and they sell for only $20. For pants...all a matter of budget vs personal taste and if you want integrated knee pads. If you dont want knee pads $25 MTP British surplus pants are also a good deal.

DevL,

Thank you very much for the advice. I'm just curious, why a micro warbelt?

Preach it.

That was going to one of my suggestions.  You'll get to practice first aid on college hotties, so there's that

Read through the 1st line thread and build a good belt that suits your needs

Save the plate carrier and NV for when you get a good job and are a little more settled down.  By that time NV should be much more affordable, it's like any other tech

As someone with low income, I just stuck with ALICE and similar era and older LBE.  Got it all pretty cheap.  I have a couple of modern bits, like a Camelbak and radio pouch, but for the most part it's stuff I got cheap from the surplus store or online surplus vendors, or even sites like ebay.  Works well enough and cost not much more than $130.  Plates and NVGs are too expensive to bother with in my case.  If I need a helmet for any reason (probably won't) I have a steel one I got cheap at the surplus store as well.  The only costly item I am looking to get right now is an IFAK.

My priority is having LBE that I can carry at least a basic load and sidearm with, water, IFAK, radio, and maybe a few miscellaneous supplies, plus something just for a pistol and maybe a rifle mag or two for more likely scenarios (I use a belt for the stuff), and whatever setup I use for carry when I can legally do so.  Stuff beyond that is a luxury to me.  Nice to have if I can get it, but not a necessity or high priority.

Night

Vision

@grumpystumpy12

I don't want to turn this reply into a GD thread but protect your life first.

Depending on your build, maybe a good concealable IIIA vest with special handgun threats insert.

Most wear Level II but IIIA conceals well too depending on build and your taste. 99.99% here will say get II.

ALICE gear can be picked up from a gun show pretty cheap. LBT always has a good sale for Halloween and Black Friday as may others. You can buy gear anytime.

Focus on ban threats. Perhaps you can wait on the PC and gear, but if that active shooter was wearing mags, body armor and plates too. The potential ban hysteria and other legislative actions to come, may impact everything from guns, mags, ammo, gear, body armor, etc.

usaday,

I saw AR500 was having a pretty good sale this weekend, would they be a good place for picking up some plates? I have a bunch of mags already, I'm just working on the ammo part.

If the price is good for you then I'd say go for it. I wouldn't want to wear AR500 plates as actual armor day in and day out, but they'll do in a pinch and you can work out with them even after you get better ceramic plates.

Lots of bad stuff happens at night. You think things like Katrina are bad during the day?

Night vision. Unfortunately it’s one of those things where you can’t really cheap out. A gen three tube is what you seek. Pvs-7 with a blem tube for $900-$1300 is perfect.

Sure a plate carrier and all of that is really nice. But if you can sit and watch you just might be able to avoid trouble and avoid testing out the plates in that PC.

I'll offer my two cents from an average Joe non leo non mil.

I picked up a condor pc and Cati plates just to have something for that shtf middle of the night moment. It's next to my rifle and easy to throw on.  Is it the best carrier and most comfortable? Not by a long shot but it will work in an emergency. But 99.9% of the time it sits in the corner.

What I actually use is a belt pad and holsters. I picked up a Wilder tactical belt pad $59.and a riggers belt from Amazon $15.  Add what ever holster you like plus mag pouchs. G code scorpions are great and are fairly cheap.

I actually practice shooting with this setup and don't feel like a duche at the range all kitted out.

I also have a shot timer that I use at the same time to practice my draw and hitting a target under time/stress

I was all gun ho at first about gear and zombie apocalypse prep stuff but I asked my self in a real world situation what am I more likely going to use to defend my self an AR or a pistol?  More likely my ccw 9mm shield so that is what I started practicing with drawing from concealment and putting 2 shots in center mass at 5 feet or closer.

Why did I reccomend a micro warbelt? So you dont buy a big full sized warbelt.

Priority:

1. Rifle and pistol, some mags, training and "reserve" ammo for both.
2. Red dot for rifle, lights for both.

3. A way to carry the above. Sling, holster, mag carriers. Get a SOLID holster - the old boltaron Safariland ALS are the probably the single best value OWB holster out there - and I say this as the CFO of a large kydex company. $35 for active retention and tank-like construction (made in Mexico)? Yes please!

4. Do you have friends with radios? Then a radio like theirs. If no friends with guns, get some.

As you are doing the above work on your skills and fitness. Skills > gear. For rifle work on your reloads, field stripping the gun, dry-fire, and "snap shots" (from low ready, safety on, bring the muzzle up and place a shot on a specific, precise target. Get fast and precise - this skill is the building block for all others, IMHO.) Ideally, find a place to go running while carrying your rifle. Get to know your rifle and pistol intimately, like field-strip blindfold level.
Shoot a lot. Thousands of rounds. If you have 10,000 rounds of solid practice down your rifle barrel then you are a truly valuable member of society. If I put a bone-stock AR with no upgrades in your hands you would be a force to be reckoned with.

5. Kevlar vest. Probably the best bang for the buck armor. Used, about $200 for something dependable.

Don't bother with NVG until you are GOOD with your rifle. That's the highest priority.
Figure NVG is going to run: $1500 for a used PVS-14 or PVS-7, $200 for Crye Nightcap/Shroud, $75 for Rhino II mount/J-Arm.
But then you need an IR laser - the OTAL is cheap. ($350)

I'm law enforcement,  own an L3 filmless PVS14 and RARELY use my NV. Get it last. I also HATE soft armor in the heat of the south. Plate carrier over soft armor every time. Plate carrier interference is less than soft armor for shooting rifle. Its more comfortable. It protects againt rifle rounds.



As for the set up above, Id strongly reccomend swapping the knife and handheld light sides. If you have a handgun in your hand you need to be able to seamlessly access your handheld light and your hand held will be used 100% of the time with your off hand. Likewise, your knife will be used 95% of the time with your strong hand. A belt mounted fixed blade is not really a weapon, it is a tool, because if it were a weapon for use in case of gun grabs, a bad guy would grab your unsecured, plainly visible, and easily accessible knife and stab your neck in under 1 second before any gun grab. With a knife strong side, you can at least blade your weapon side away instead of always presenting a weapon to an opponent. Gun grab defenses also use both hands on one side, meaning you would present that knife with no hands to stop a knife grab.

I guess I'm weird because I shoot left handed and  fine motor skill stuff but my power arm is my right. Thus the knife on the right side.  But I see your reasoning and will play around with placement. Thanks for the advice

Edit.  Moved the knife and med pouch. I'll run it like this for a bit

Attached File

Because in my very limited experience the standard molle warbelt gets left home most days.

When I first bought it I wore it every day out in the woods, now it sits with my helmet in the PC bag in my closet