Cost:





Surplus chest rig was $10 from CTD





Voodoo Tactical med pouch $12





Voodoo Tactical 2x mag pouch $10





1" plastic buckle $1.50





3x metal snaps $0.90





2 feet of 1" webbing $1.94





1 evening drinking cheap beer





total investment = $36.34 + beer

So the reason behind this is that I wanted a simple chest rig, and wanted to do it on the cheap. Prior to this, the closest thing I had to a rig was a 6-mag 'ace case' shoulder bag. I really liked 762tactical's chicom vest, but I enjoy doing things myself and I am poor. (762tact vest is $45 then I would have to add the $22 of pouches anyway = $67) Still not bad though.











I started with a std 3 mag pouch Chinese rig, but wanted to be able to carry pistol magazines and a small med pouch. I cut off the smaller grenade pouches, and laid out the 1" webbing where I would stitch on for the molle attach points.










I measured out the 1.5" per loop and used a sharpie to mark where I was planning to sew. I can't sew very well...it took me quite a while to get the settings right but my wife is out of town so she couldn't yell at me for using her sewing machine. With the dimensions on the sides of the vest I could only get 2 4.5" rows, with 3 columns each. I saw a guy online use hotglue to hold his webbing in place. I ghetto taped it with electrical tape and it held it close enough for me to get it sewed in place.








sewing




On to the next side! Once I got everything in the mail I realized I could have went with a triple pistol mag pouch, or maybe a multi-tool or flashlight holder on the open molle attach points, but that is for later.




Somewhere in here I also added a plastic buckle on the back because having to tie your chest rig to put it on is not tacticool. :)




Next thing that I didn't like is the wooden toggle mag closures on the rig. So I went with snaps. I could have went with velcro, but how it is designed would not leave much area for velcro to stick and I didn't want to sew more material on. Snaps are not something to install in an apt at night, so after messing around with various quiet methods for 20 min, I finally went to the garage and had the 3 installed in a couple min. Here is the finished product. I also took a stainless mora and drilled the sheath so it mounts to the vest. I am slowly building a first line belt so the knife might not stay long.  

So now I have a decent chest rig that fits me, was dirt cheap, and will comfortably carry what I need. It might not work for everyone, but I like it.








1 gun pic since its arfcom



Converted Saiga with a german side-folder, and the forearm was made by me out of a few pieces of maple I laminated carved and stained. 1911 and the arfcom zombie reaction team patch. Hope you enjoyed reading it, please ask questions or comment if you like it.




 
 
 
 

Looks nice always gotta love diy stuff.

As far as installing snaps quietly, if you have a bench vise, you can use that to "press" them in instead of hammering. I use mine a lot to press in pins and even to bend parts without having to beat on things.

Nice job. I was considering cutting those small pockets off of mine and mounting a holster for my makarov. I just dyed mine black. Your post just gave me some ideas. Thanks!

Who did you get your voodoo stuff from? Also do you know where can you get some OD or Ranger Green Velcro (6”x5”) from? I want to be able to have a pull away med pack makes it a little better for an active shooter type of situation. Looks really good though, I have a 762tactical I’m going to set my rig up a lot like this.

Where is your easy bake oven?..............


Just kidding man. Thats an awesome job. That may inspire me to invent something also. I'll let my fiance do the sewing though...........

I got the voodoo stuff from cheaper than dirt, I hate paying shipping so I searched until I found a place that carried everything I needed. They list it as 'mod-gear' in their catalogs I believe.



For OD velcro:

http://www.diytacticalstore.com/catalog/



I haven't purchased anything from them before, but saw the link mentioned while I was searching for modified rigs. They have multicam, velcro, mesh, etc.
 

That is very well done.

Very nicely done, I've been looking to do something similar for some time. I may have to copy your idea, since I need to order some other stuff from CTD as well.

Very creative, thanks for posting.

Good job but mine holds 4 mags

Nice work bro........................

GREAT JOB!!!! That is awesome!  Guys like you and Colin at 762Tactical are awesome for being able to do that stuff.  Looks good.  Looks like mine, but cheaper; I like cheaper

Nice looking rig!

tag

good work.

Good job!



And later on if you want to upgrade the mag pouches, you could just cut them off & sew on more webbing.

Though I didn't go as custom as the OP ...I thought the web straps can get a little uncomfortable with extended wearand found some WWII GP pack strap pads to put on it. This mod really helps if you happen to be running the 6-mag version of this rig. Would be even better if the pads from the Russian Lifchik rig were used since those are thicker.  The only mods were to the pads and that was just having the webbing sewn down in a few spots since the chinese straps were narrower...............

How about some more pics of that home made hand guard?

Excellent.....An example of Improvise, Adapt, Overcome. Got to love that BIY      

I cant find the 4 mag version ANYWHERE!

OP great job.
AZHONKY

I just bought this on Ebay for $10 plus $14 shipping.  Search "Type 81"  and add chest or pouch.  The 3 cell are Type 56, and the 4 cell are for the Type 81 rifle. The 3 cells are everywhere, now.

<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rt=nc&nma=true&item=220696556306&si=W6G9cdl%252F%252BR8Vntkem4ISE7a7aMo%253D&viewitem=>

He gets them on a regular basis.  This is the second one I am getting from him.  About 1 1/2 years ago I got one that was new.  I put the fastex buckles on the waste strap like the other post.  Unfortunately when I sold off my AK last spring, I sold it too.  I could not stand being AK-less (even though I have a CAR-15 retro and a gorgeous USGI Inland M1 Carbine from CMP), so I bought a Saiga last month and restored it.  I needed a chest rig, and I like the Chinese 4 cells.

I also got an ACE  6-pack snatch and grab shoulder bag from Cheaper Than Dirt for $14.  It is very nice for the money.
<http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ZAA024-1.html>

I put a fastex buckle on it also.

I like it! Where did you get the strap pads?





 

Local surplus store. The strap pads were about $4 for the set IIRC. Any surplus shop should be able to hook you up with a set or two.