Looking to build a plate carrier. The base for this will be a spiritus systems lv119. I have a carbine if the shotgun is seriously ill advised, but the shotgun is what I’m wanting to use. My property is ~160 acres with lots of hills and foliage. Longest possible shot is in the 200yd range.

So, with that info at hand, what would someone be looking for if they were building a placard for the front of a plate carrier? Shotgun cards fit in a stanag magazine pouch, but what about loose shells? Kangaroo pouch? Head on tactical shotgun pursuit pouch? How many shells should be kept on hand? I’m thinking that I want the shells “loose” as in not in elastic loops on the front of the rig.

If I use stanag magazine pouches for the shotgun card storage, it could obviously be switched over to my carbine in pretty short order.

Anyways, looking forward to some experienced input as I have precisely none. And as I said, if the shotgun is a poor choice, that’s a valid point. Thanks!

https://olongapooutfitters.com/equipment-and-gear/shotgun-grab-and-go/

I'm not tell you to get this, because its not what you're asking about, but what I will say is this is an excellent setup for me.  More than 20 shells per pouch, shock cord draw closures at the top, so you can keep it tight but still reach in, of each and a velcro flap lid.

I looked at the Head On ones, and they look nice.  Now never having seen one in person, my observations are, they look like they might be tight to reach into and if you inadvertently opened the flap while prone or taking the carrier off, shells could dump out in a hurry.

If you really wanted to run this on a PC, I might look at a couple of elastic closure pouches, like small canteen pouches.  These are quite a bit more compact than the normal canteen pouches with the little pockets on the side and they have a shock cord draw string:

https://entrygear.com/product.asp?id=BAE-3054

You could probably mount one of those on your cummerbund at 10 or 11 o'clock and be covered.

Might also be a problem for a belt mounted pouch.

I see where you’re going with this. So basically, if I buy 3 of those canteen pouches, I’ve effectively replicated that grab and go rig on the front of a plate carrier.

Those canteen pouches are bigger than the grab and go's pouches.  Two things from that; 1, each pouch is three PALS columns wide, so on your regular carrier you'd only be able to get two on the front; 2, you can probably fit way more than 20s shell in each.  Also, if you're already running some cards, you may not need more than one extra loose shell pouch to carry a comfortable amount of shells and you could just put a single one to the side of your plate and be good to go.

Depends on how many shells you're trying to carry.  Any more than three cards on the front and a 25-30 shell pouch on the cummerbund, I'm putting stuff on a belt.  I also have never reckoned on a 100 shell gun fight.  I mostly like drilling with my shotgun because is more fun and complex than a rifle.

I personally love the shotgun cards. Esstac specifically.

I run one as a side saddle mounted to all of my scatter guns. When the card is empty I pull it and retain it on a carabiner, then slap on a fresh one.

If you were looking for birdshot in bulk, cards obviously are limiting for that use case. If you are slinging slugs and 00 buck, then the cards are plenty. I generally slide 1 card per double AR soft pouch, or have been know to simply attach to open loop velcro if it was a 3 gun stage in need of quick returns.

So roll with the shotgun cards and put them in the m4 mag pouches, then loose shells in some type of pouch with actual closure, not just Velcro.

Might try a T-Rex Arms dump pouch. It has a semi-closed opening at the top that should retain the shells fairly well while providing easy access.

I am a huge fan of 12ga it just requires significantly more effort compared to a carbine, with that said I use Aridus Industries QDCs with my 1301 and just stick them in mag pouches.

I need to look into those detachable carriers a bit more. I like the idea of having them favored downward for more purchase when retrieving the shell. This wouldn’t be possible with the esstac cards

Been using a fanny pack on the dove field since the '80s (eat your heart out James Reeves; and I started using one after seeing someone else doing it).  It works for walking around rabbit hunting too.  Just don't get one of the shallow ones, get one that has more of a top flap.  I replaced the shorter pull tabs with pieces of paracord with figure eight knots to make it faster and easier with gloves but other than that it's a cheap, easy option.  I've tried a belt pouch that holds a box of shells (good on a skeet range, sucks everywhere else, and a dump pouch, a shorter one that doesn't move as much when you walk would work better, but I end up back at the fanny pack since I can just drape it over the gun.  I also have an older surplus canvas shoulder bag (gas mask maybe?) that I also like.  Yes, I have side saddles and I keep saying I'm going to swap to one of the Velcro styles but I never get around to it since it's not my primary weapon.  If eight rounds in the gun and six rounds on it doesn't solve the problem I'm probably going to get eaten before I can get into whatever other system I'm carrying.  

That aridus side saddle is the best. Velcro side saddles are ok untill you try shooting in the cold.

I use an soe micro rig that I really like
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The exposed loops will drop the occasional shell.

For a grab and go rig I'm starting to prefer a belt and canteen pouch. Ironically that's what I used in Fallujah. Add a metal side saddle for emergency reloads.

I still prefer brass to the sky. I reload off the gun for emergency reloads. If I'm loading the magazine it's off my body

This rig is set up for carbine currently this was thrown together for demonstration purposes.

Normally the internal pouches would have velcro battery retainers I use for 12ga admin reloads, the front pouch same thing but for slug select, currently both are pulled for range admin gear so the shells are in the respective pouches loose in the images.

The shotguns shells in the QDCs are all different directions to show that with the aridus QDC you can do brass up and down mixed and still get it in an AR mag pouch as long as everything is flush on both sides.

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Thanks for taking the time here. Looks like about as much ammo as you’d ever want/need on board. Sucks that the barrier for entry on the quick detach carrier is so expensive.

So the spiritus overt plate bag that I’m rocking has the mk4 fight chassis and the mk3 SACK. I think I’ll just rip the tabs off of some boxes of slugs, and tuck them in there. The SACK I’m using for medical at the moment. The 3 cell magazine holder can house my 6 round shotgun cards loaded with buckshot. That’s a full 7 round tube, 6 extra on the receiver, and 24 on standby in the plate carrier, plus the slugs for selective changeover type stuff. God help me should I ever need more than that. I believe that’s what you call a “bad day”.

Hello fellow shockwave enthusiast. I know this is about side saddles/carriers

But Check this out:



Basically it's an overmolded 870 police style forend. Also has a strap if you want to use it. With that forend and a stippled rear grip the shockwave handles even better. Plus I have big mitts, so the corncob felt a little small.

As for carrying shells. I ended up just getting a condor 12 gauge pouch. I kinda like it but I'm open to better ideas.

Thanks
Because of how far forward I push the gun out my hand sits at the rearwardmost part of the grip. I've got grip tape there. I'm actually 100% satisfied with that. I seldom shoot the gun anymore so it works good enough.