Any of y’all have any experience with these? I’m thinking about setting up a basic chest rig, and don’t want to break the bank doing so.
I’ve seen them on LAPG, Amazon, and Ebay for about $70.
Any and all input is greatly appreciated!

With the advent of laser cut MOLLE rigs I see little reason to go with the fabric and webbing style chest rig. If you wait till they have a sale I have got BFG rackminuses for about $75 before shipping. It's a thinner also swiftclip system that is lighter than older styles.

Several years ago I brainstormed a minimalist rig that still carried what I felt I needed.

Chest Rig Single Laye four M4 TACOs w TT Enhanced and Pistol TACO by Dan Passaro, on Flickr

It had to allow for prone.

It took me a couple of months to find the right components.  Some manufacturers didn't make the cut simply by virtue of the fact that the photos on their site sucked

With my base I went with the AO chest rig.  The size, the map compartment, the rear velcro area.  For this area I special ordered a loop-loop panel (I couldn't find the size on my own) from HSGI so that I could prevent the rig from hooking onto what I was wearing while still allowing me to add any style dangler pouch or similar.

I originally asked about how I could buy something like this from them and HSGI made a big deal about making it .  I didn't give a damn about their source or future plans for this type of thing though and was finally able to pay for it and have it delivered.

AO Chest Rig by Dan Passaro, on Flickr

Here is what I originally added to the rig:  
- Esstac Triple kiwi M4
- HSGI soft taco serving as a general purpose pouch (water bottle in this shot, extra mags in later shot.  Can fit up to three ).  
- Blue Force Gear admin pouch, attached to the mag triple.  It was the slimmest-yet-still-useful admin pouch that I could find.
- WTF straps.  I ended up using these for mounting molle to molle.

AO Chest Rig by Dan Passaro, on Flickr

AO Chest Rig by Dan Passaro, on Flickr

AO Chest Rig by Dan Passaro, on Flickr

AO Chest Rig by Dan Passaro, on Flickr

AO Chest Rig by Dan Passaro, on Flickr

I made an insert sleeve out of stretch material because, you know, good luck finding something like that lol

AO Chest Rig by Dan Passaro, on Flickr

I also ordered a Taco rifle triple with the thinking that I could then use AK mags in the same exact chest rig.  But there is something odd about the Taco mounting pattern where the Taco shingle is too high (or too low) on the panel.

If I keep the setup as shown above I need to somehow 'attach' the soft taco to the shingle.  The soft taco does sag outward.  I think a couple of runs of shockcord, perhaps even paracord, will do.

But let me end with this:  If I was looking to do the same thing TODAY then I would go with either Haley Strategic's newest chest rig, the D3CRM Micro, or Spiritus' Micro Fight Chassis Mk 3.  Putting together either one of those will be cheaper than what I put together here.

I had the HSGI AO, an original D3CR, a knockoff Molle only, and most recently a Mayflower Modified Gen IV placard that I further modified into a chest rig and all had their short comings.  I was about to pick up the Spiritus knowing it still wasn’t exactly what I wanted and somehow missed the new Haley D3CM, I’m sold on it, just waiting on the SMG inserts to come in stock.

I found that the MOLLE chest rigs didn’t hold the pouches tight enough to the chest rig itself and caused some sag and I like the adaptability to use the swift clip system.

Thanks for the input y’all! Like I said in my OP, this is the first time I’ve set one of these up. I wound up ordering one of the HSGI AO’s off of ebay for about $70. I’ll definitely look at some of the other options mentioned, but for right now I don’t want to go hog wild. I’m looking to spend no more than about $300 for the whole kit, between the chest rig, magazine carrier and whatever else I decide to put on it. I’m planning on adding either an HSGI triple double decker rifle/pistol taco, or an ESSTAC 3+3 KYWI, and then either an admin pouch or IFAK/blowout kit. Again, I’m pretty new to this so there’s going to be some trial and error

Wish I would have found this sooner I've got an OD green AO chest rig in a box in the shed that's never been used.  Would have let you have it for 50 dollars shipped. One word on the double decker taco pouches they are quite bulky.  Most find this ok I found it annoying and went back to the single stacker TACOs.  It takes up more molle real estate but I feel less "bloated" when moving around.  My current setup went from 3 double deckers on the belt and 2 on the chest rig to 3 single rifles and 2 single pistols on the belt, and 3 single rifles on the chest along with a radio pouch.

That thing is sex. And I can’t just buy it...

I just bought an Esstac 3+3 Kywi. This build is slowly but surely coming together. Once I get my Kywi in I’ll post a couple of update pics.

I just got done using mine for about 2 months in the field, mostly mounted operations in Humvees. I have it set up for 4 rifle mags, 2 pistol mags, and an Admin pouch that holds a Surefire G2X and Gerber. In the Admin pouch I keep quick reference cards and a map protractor.



It clips into my Mayflower APC swift clips

I covered what I keep in the Haley Strategic Hanger here.

I built a similar rig off of a  Head On Tactical 4 Mag AK/M4 Chest Rig - Compact Type. After I got out of the military, I didn't find it necessary to have a full size RRV that carried 6 mags plus whatever else I needed for a full combat load. So i sold it and set out to put something a little more compact and practical together.

Took me awhile to find it, seems to be a small company but the main reason I chose this one was the already built in mag pouches to reduce too much bulk from adding too many layers of PALs. The rig itself is also one large map pouch.



I removed 3 of the bungee mag retainers and added kydex inserts. I left one to allow the option of carrying a pistol on the rig, though now that I have a paddle holster I don't know that I ever actually will again. I upgraded to an SOE padded H harness but probably wouldn't spring for it again. Great piece of kit but I'm not wearing this daily for patrols and if I were it could be mounted to my plate carrier. I usually leave the X harness that it came with on it because its much more compact and fits in to a pack much better.

My only complaint is that my IFAK is a little bulky but even though I don't plan on being in a combat zone anytime soon, I can't bring myself to downsize its contents.

(I can't for the life of me share an image on this forum anymore. No matter the hosting site, it appears in the preview but when posted just turns to a link.)

That's because you're not a team member and have less than 100 posts. Team members can see the picture but we have to approve it.  After 3 Team members approve it then it will show normally.

We see this
Attached File

Ahhhhh, now I see. Thank you for the clarification!

No experience with the HSGI rig, but I have an OSOE PALS micro rig (yeah I know their BS politics), H harness, camelbak bladder, and HSGI Tacos with an admin pouch. All together it works very well after trying multiple options.