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Posted: 9/23/2011 8:37:53 PM EDT
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Well my gear use...or future use is going to be two fold, i would like to use it for some tactical rifle courses and for bugging out if need ever arises. The problem i have is i purchased a condor( ok i know its not the best but it was a starter to see what would work) vest and after wearing it around the house realized that with a loaded pack on, it would be well not comfortable at all. SO now for the reccomendations, where do i go from here? LBE, Plate carrier with no plates or just SOL? thanks guys and gals!
Rod |
What I have found (so far) that works best for me and will probably be enough in most of the situations I can dream up is my 1st line belt with a few rifle mags, a few pistol mags, handgun, etc. The Nalgene pouch and GP pouch are usually empty but I like the ability to carry water and a few odds and ends if needed. Around my house, I grab this belt to check the fence line/property/horses and so on. We also just had our 4th "shoot-out" in the 12 past years. My crazy neighbor got in a gunfight with his girlsfriends step dad the other night which justified some of my gear fetish to my wife.
If the need to carry more ammo arises (highly unlikely), I go to the RRV with basically ammo pouches. 
I've only made a few trips in complete freak out mode, but I have used a Spec Ops THE pack in conjunction with the RRV and it works. It is a lot of straps and you'd think that everything gets in the way of each other but they don't. The most likely setup for me, if things really got bad and I had to travel on foot would be the belt with a pack loaded down. The RRV is honestly more for my enjoyment and goofing around. I don't carry armor simply because I think if it comes to needing armor and a vest full of ammo, we are done for anyways. 
What a way to start a Saturday morning... |
| I recently started buying some tactical gear for the same reasons you mentioned - SHTF situation and carbine courses. I started off with Tactical Assault Gear chest rigs after asking many questions about different gear here. Now, I am looking a Plate Carrier. Tactical Assault Gear is great gear and very well priced. Check tacticalassaultgear.com, shellbacktactical.com and lapolicegear.com to see their stuff as well as others. |
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As a general rule here you'll rapidly discover that you get what you pay for, and secondly a "comfortable" plate carrier is not something I have ever met. There are more comfortable and less comfortable options but by and large that shit just plain sucks.
That being said I've spend a decent amount of time in both a Mayflower APC and a London Bridge Tactical 6094. Of the two I prefer the LBT 6094, it seems better put together and I'm running it with just plates and backers instead of BALCS cut armor. I will concede that my APC looks cooler as it's multicam, and my LBT 6094 is coyote. The LBT 6094 feels like it has less coverage and just feels less in the way, but I prefer being able to move quickly and effectively as opposed to being like a turtle. Both of these rigs have a Kangaroo pouch which is something I now find to be absolutely crititcal for a PC and I will probably never run another PC without a kangaroo set up. In fact I'm currently sporting it everyday in Iraq this rotation. I'd like to post pics but that's not really feasible for me right now, sorry. I do run a lighter load than most of ARFCOM though. I have 3 mags in my kangaroo pouch, 2pistol mags on top of those, a fast mag next to those on the cummerbund and a MBITR and a BOK. That's it. I've heard a lot of good things about the various crye rigs and I'd love to try them but I don't have the cash or the balls to try to get it by the CSM. Generally for classes you can get by with a war belt type set up, and I would far recommend that for carbine class. I mean sure it doesn't look nearly as badass as full armor, but its a lot less to fuck with while you're trying to concentrate on learning. When I go to class I wear my war belt, sometimes I'll kit up but usually not. For the SHTF scenario if you haven't trained frequently wearing all that crap (ie plates, ammo, water, blah blah blah) It's definitely not going to be comfortable, and you'll pretty much be ineffective as fuck, if you're not prepared physically. My final recommendation is get a war belt, and you can set one of those up pretty cheap. Then take some classes look at what other people are running, and then make an educated decision based on your needs. People in this community are friendly in person too, go up to them and ask them, I like to explain why I run my stuff the way I do, it makes me think about it. I also have no problem letting people try my shit on if they don't mind the stink, and after 3 deployments in my kit, it stinks. JMHO YMMV |
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My suggestion is the same as FFEMT11Bs, get a war belt. Combat patrols and SHTF are two very different animals, one you're expecting combat the other you should be avoiding combat.
My setup for SHTF is a warbelt so I can comfortably carry my gear on my back in whichever ruck I'm using. I have a PC/chest rig loaded with ammo and kit that gets basically wrapped around and over the top of my ruck, like my rucks wearing the rig. This way, if I get into it I can drop my Ruck and fight with a bit of ammo on my gunbelt and I can also pull spare ammo straight from my rig on my ruck. If I get the time I can always snap two buckles and throw my rig on if need be. YMMV |
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