Ok, I'll admit I'm rarely happy with gear or guns.  They all need a little this a little that, but when Im done its what works best for me...  Same thing applies to gear.  This is where I get in trouble.  Ive spent hours replacing needles on my wifes sewing machine (she cant sew, but I wont admit defacto ownership).  Ive tried having reupolstry (sp?) folks do stuff - when they dont freak out, theyre either not interested or seem more interested in pretty - my lucks been bad.  I did have an ex rigger that did good work but he decided meth production paid better (now he's being passed around like a piece pipe in block A).

So who do you guys use to:

1. Make gear from your design - Gene at HSG will do this, who else do you guys like (Gene's a great guy, but never hurts to ask)?

2. Modify someone elses gear - This seems to be really the tough person to find.

I have a few pouches I need working on, but more importantly I am looking to give my cousin a chest rig that fits her small frame when she goes back to Iraq.  I took care of the army's inability to get her SAPI plates eventhough she under fire more than her husband in an inf unit, But Id really like to get her some gear that fits.

Thanks,

Roger Skic at Custom Tactical Creations does good work.  There will be others that chime in, but I've only had experience with Roger, and it was good.

SOE will custom make gear for you if you call them and them what you want (provide your specs).

They make awesome gear.

SOE GEAR

Darien  (AKA Eggroll)at
www.geardo.com
he's the man. does custom work and it is awesome. I would HIGHLY recommend him. The other choice's posted are good as well...

Quoted: I took care of the army's inability to get her SAPI plates

The army should not have let her go north from Kuwait without IBA and plates... that's the current DoD policy, period.  If she hasn't gone north yet, she will get the IBA and plates in Kuwait before she does go north into Iraq.  Most people don't get armor until they get in theater, especially support people.

If she's small in stature and coming under fire, I would recommend just attaching pouches directly to the IBA.  My girlfriend is 5'3" tall.  If she tries wearing armor and load bearing gear on top of it, then it is much more cumbersome than if I were to wear the same gear.  You can only scale down the armor so much because the thickness is nonnegotiable to maintain ballistic integrity.  Putting an additional rig over that becomes a hinderance due to thickness, not because it is sized for taller people.

About custom gear, there are plenty of people in addition to the ones already mentioned.

Essential Tactical (does expedited work for people deploying, otherwise prepare to wait)
EGL (owner is eggrolly from here on the boards)
Killer Gear (makes great custom chest rigs, owner is Matt Campbell "[email protected]")
Tactical Tailor would most likely make you a scaled down MAV on request

Hope this helps,
-Randy

Quoted: Darien  (AKA Eggroll)at www.geardo.com he's the man. does custom work and it is awesome. I would HIGHLY recommend him. The other choice's posted are good as well...

+1

Darrin is good folks!!

We at Essential Tactical love to help people out with getting the gear they need, but at the moment, we're slammed with regular orders, and won't have time to work on custom designs for a few weeks.  I myself am waiting on custom gear, but it's more important to me to help Stuart get back on top of things first.  If you need anything, or have any questions, don't hesitate to holler at me.  My email is [email protected], and I'm now a contact for EssTac.  

I hate to turn people away, but right now it's just not feasible for us to work on custom stuff.  Eggroll does good custom work, so you might send an email his way if he doesn't notice this thread soon.

William Knight
Customer Service, Essential Tactical

Darrin, also known on the boards as Eggroll, stitch bitch for EGL (Extreme Gear Labs), is the guy to whom I was referring.  Lots of people have bought his stuff.  He would be one of the primary recommendations from most gear queers as far as custom work goes.

Don't forget Jon at RecceGear! Great stuff!

Thanks for the replies guys.  Ive been playing most of the weekend.

I thought I had gotten a response in the other night in the wee hours, but the electron gremlins must have ate it.

Footrat,

Thanks for the advice offer - I'll probably steal some of your time with dumb questions this week.  No worries about being busy - its a good problem to have in business!.  I have plans for a few of your mag pouches in the near future they really seem to be very well made with thoughtful design.

The army should not have let her go north from Kuwait without IBA and plates

Yeah, no joke!  I was shocked since she's A. an officer (1LT) and B. in supply.  What made it even worse was since she was supporting an armor brigade she was constantly moving bullets, food and fuel along the unsecured highways and roads as the armor moved rapidly.  As a result she was under fire a bunch.  In fact we tease her husband that's in the cav that she got shot at more than he did in the first 6 mos.  After her co was relieved over being hesitant to travel from the safer rear zone to the front line she got even busier.  All in all it was a pretty rough time for my cousin that went from being a junior officer with little real world experience to a company CO that earned the praise of more that one line senior officer.  (can you tell Im pretty proud of her?)

In any case she NEVER had an GI Issue SAPI plates.  The civie versions we sent over got to her about 3-4 mos after the bullets started flying.  She never did get a proper sized vest.

She's 5'4" and about 125-130pounds dressed, good looking, and smart (and married and there will be no pics without her permission so dont ask pervs).  Needless to say she's not built with the operator cut, more the cheerleader cut.

She really likes the Strike carrier and Im gunna have her try out a wesatch and a denali in the next week or so.  Im still pretty sure she'll need some mods to what ever she picks.  It is kind of funny to see an attractive woman get the "lookat those shoooes....!" look over tactical gear.

While she should be taken care of by the army, why leave it to chance?  I think I can help her be equiped more comfortably with as good or better gear than Uncle S. will provide.

My current thought is some flavor of plate carrier and a level 2 civie vest.  I think this will be lighter and more comfortable.  Since she will be driving quite a bit I think some form of side and shoulder armor will also be advised.  Diamondback tactical is getting a hard look in this area.

Again thanks for the links and advice guys.  If you think of any more please let me know.  I'll try to get in touch with Eggroll and the others this week, work permitting.

if you're purchasing a vest on your own to be used as a standalone vest with a plate carrier over it, get level IIIA.  neither II or IIIA will stop rifle rounds, but the IIIA will offer better pistol and fragmentation protection.  the IBA is nice because of the fragmentation protection, but it's so thick and heavy and hot.  you should be able to get a vest that's a LOT thinner and a LOT lighter if you go with something designed to be worn by a woman either under or over her normal clothes.  there are some really light, really thin IIIA vests out there.  be choosy about materials, and look around a bit.  they won't be cheap for the good stuff, but they shouldn't cost you another mortgage.  if you're a member on the lightfighter forums, there's an entire forum devoted to body armor and protective things of that nature.  if you join, do a search in that forum to see what comes up, and what's recommended.  armor is something that someone's life could depend on, so it's not that big a deal to have to read a shitload of information to find what you need.