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Posted: 3/5/2017 3:30:30 AM EDT
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Anyone using the USMC assault pack from the IBLE system as a general hiking pack? These seem to be available fairly cheap, good quality and U.S. made.
Just looking for something basic to hike with the dog and occasionally run with. I'm not concerned about lack of pockets as typically only carry water, couple necessities and additional layer due to colder/wet environment. Any feedback would be appreciated. |
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I have one of the USMC assault packs. They are a little on the heavy side (when compared to a civilian pack) which means overbuilt for what you are looking to use it for. That said, it isn't like wearing a boat anchor and it is cheaper than a comparable civilian pack, so I would recommend it. I keep seeing people asking about "but does it have X number of organizational pockets?" and I don't think they understand that all comes at a big price on weight and usable space.
Make sure it has the frame sheet in it if you buy one. Not sure I've seen them for sale without, but it wouldn't work well without it. The water compartment will hold any decent commercial system. To me the overall pack seems large for a one day pack, but that depends on where you are and what you need. |
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Fits a bunch of junk, isn't obnoxious, well built. Comfortable to wear.
I usually strap 2 canteen pouches on the side with less zipper (right when wearing it), and clip my camelback onto the other side. Get an "assault pouch" and stick it on the upper face, to augment the storage. This lets me fit rain gear, a gallon jug, 2 mres, a skivvy roll, a thermal top, and some other junk quite well just in the main compartment. Mine is quite water resistant. It takes a decent rain or very long exposure for the contents to get wet. |
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Had one for 6 years as part of my issued gear. It's ok. The Ilbe is also ok. If it's a good price, then it'll do.
It's just decent gear made for people who break crap easily. Every day Marine's are not operators, they don't get operator level gear. There are better options but this is a good one that works fine. Don't spend too much and you won't regret having it because it's good, just not super high speed. |
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Instead of the Assault pack, consider spending additional $ for the ILBE Recon/Corpsman pack. Larger overall, separately-accessable compartment at the bottom for small amount of sleeping gear, and most importantly both a frame sheet AND a load-bearing waistbelt. Miles ahead of its' little brother. The only difference between the Recon pack and the Corpsman pack is that the corpsman pack usually comes with up to three medical-oriented inserts. The same inserts can be bought separately and installed into the identical Recon pack shell. One of the inserts is a double mesh panel, with two separate zippered compartments. The other two Corpsman inserts are of limited non-medical use, IMHO. Med inserts available separately on Ebay and Amazon.
FWIW, I have both, and have used them. The Corpsman/Recon pack usually costs 2X the price of the smaller Assault pack, but it is well worth it, IMHO. Anyone can make a frame sheet easily and cheaply out of .060 black HDPE sheeting, available from Grainger's or Amazon. Note that some London Bridge Trading Co. packs, specifically the 3-day pack often seen on sale, do not come with frame sheets, which is rather stupid of them. Maybe a frame sheet comes with the ones sold at MSRP, but for the difference in Sale price Vs.MSRP, one could make quite a pile of sheet frames. |
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Quoted:
What do you think of using a heavier sheet for the frame? I don't see why it wouldn't fit. Seems like it would help some when you don't have the pack stuffed much. I notice mine wants to slouch. The deal with frame sheets is they are intended to be used in conjunction with very thin pockets designed to accommodate them. In most packs, the common bladder compartment can also be made to serve as a frame sheet pocket. Absent either a designed-in frame sheet pocket, or a suitable bladder compartment. the frame sheet literally falls down in a partially or lightly-loaded pack because there is nothing with which to contain it in the proper position--as you have noticed. Enclosing the frame sheet in a thin pocket/compartment allows it to do its' job, and .060" seems to be adequate for the job, in small to medium packs if so encapsulated. If you don't have some sort of suitable pocket for the frame sheet, increasing the thickness will help a little, but the end result will likely not be entirely satisfactory. |
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I score .080" kydex and ABS with a razor knife and break it off on the score line Every frame sheet is going to have rounded corners, and it's easier to simply cut them with shears than scoring and snapping. I get what you're saying about .080" HDPE, though. If scoring and snapping is the only way to do it, then there it is. You'll have a lot of filing and sanding to do compared to using shears, especially on the corners, but if shears won't work on .080" HDPE (I don't say shears won't work, simply that I've not tried it) then go for it. To each his own, though. |
I can always use the band saw 
I've done many a trim job on plastic during the vac form days for Bowties and ,Fix Or Repair Daily and The Mostly Old Parts And Rust Co. A good way to get a good fit, is to make a template ( pattern) out of cardboad, then transfer that via scribe or xtacto knife to the sheet, then rub some chalk or grease pencil in the line. Saw and sand or cut with shears Many ways to do that. This is just another option, use whatever method will work for your present tool situation 
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Quoted:
I can always use the band saw
I've done many a trim job on plastic during the vac form days for Bowties and ,Fix Or Repair Daily and The Mostly Old Parts And Rust Co. A good way to get a good fit, is to make a template ( pattern) out of cardboad, then transfer that via scribe or xtacto knife to the sheet, then rub some chalk or grease pencil in the line. Saw and sand or cut with shears Many ways to do that. This is just another option, use whatever method will work for your present tool situation |
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I put two aluminum stays in mine.
Remove the stock frame sheet, sew two pieces of nylon strapping onto the sheet and slide two 1" wide aluminum straps bent to fit your back into the pouches. Very comfortable, even with the stock belt you hardly even need to tighten the shoulder straps. Even better, slide a load bearing belt like a prairie belt from HPG and its like a giant lumber pack. Shoulder straps are just for balance And the Tara insert from HPG fits into the smaller zippered pocket perfectly. It is a loop field with cuts for pals webbing if you want to organize with mounted or tearaway pouches |
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Quoted:
I put two aluminum stays in mine. Remove the stock frame sheet, sew two pieces of nylon strapping onto the sheet and slide two 1" wide aluminum straps bent to fit your back into the pouches. Very comfortable, even with the stock belt you hardly even need to tighten the shoulder straps. Even better, slide a load bearing belt like a prairie belt from HPG and its like a giant lumber pack. Shoulder straps are just for balance And the Tara insert from HPG fits into the smaller zippered pocket perfectly. It is a loop field with cuts for pals webbing if you want to organize with mounted or tearaway pouches For the most part, frame sheets with auxiliary aluminum stays are most useful in conjunction with packs that come equipped with an integrated load-bearing waist belt. In this instance, the stays (in conjunction with the frame sheet) help the pack to direct the weight of the pack onto the waist belt, and so take weight off the user's shoulders. To my mind, there is no useful benefit in having aluminum stays integrated with a frame sheet when used on a pack without a load-bearing waist belt, such as the classic LBT 3-day pack. With the LBT 3-day pack, there is no load-bearing waist belt, and so there is no advantage in having aluminum stays on such packs. What's a Load-Bearing waist belt? Many small packs have, at most, a belly-band that encircles the user's torso, and prevents the pack from swaying and flopping around much under strenuous activity.. Very useful, but a belly band does not carry any of the pack's weight. A load-bearing waist belt is built-in to the pack, and is intended to be worn on the user's hips so as to transfer most of the weight of the pack from the user's shoulders onto the user's waist. Let's say one has a 50-pound pack; it's a PITA without a load-bearing waist belt. The same pack, with a load-bearing waist belt is a relative breeze to use. Frame sheets with integrated aluminum stays come into their own when one considers packs larger than the LBT 3-day pack, and which have decent, adequately padded waist-belts that are load-bearing. As it happens, a majority of such packs either come with such a stayed frame sheet, or have such as an option. Witness Spec-Ops offerings, as well as others. |
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Quoted:
For the most part, frame sheets with auxiliary aluminum stays are most useful in conjunction with packs that come equipped with an integrated load-bearing waist belt. In this instance, the stays (in conjunction with the frame sheet) help the pack to direct the weight of the pack onto the waist belt, and so take weight off the user's shoulders. To my mind, there is no useful benefit in having aluminum stays integrated with a frame sheet when used on a pack without a load-bearing waist belt, such as the classic LBT 3-day pack. With the LBT 3-day pack, there is no load-bearing waist belt, and so there is no advantage in having aluminum stays on such packs. Luckily the Assault pack has a channel that the prairie belt fits through perfectly. With a decent load for the packs size (over 35# or so) I can still completely release the shoulder straps and the pack doesn't budge from my hips when jumping up and down. Biggest advantage I have with my homemade stayed framesheet when carrying lighter day loads with just the stock belt is it keeps the pack from barreling when over-stuffed with bulky items like extra clothing. I can still carry the weight on my hips, like a lumbar pack, and not have the pack sag if I have weight up top. Also I get much better airflow to my back, so not completely worthless, especially for the miniscule increased weight of the stays. Sure many packs are better, but for a $25 pack and $2 worth of aluminum at Lowe's and a little time sewing, it's hard to beat. Granted, the prairie belt added $90 to my setup, but I had already had bought it for the full size ILBE pack I already owned and and modified to fit my long torso. I had also planned to use it for a battle belt setup. So really that was free |
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All, thanks for the feedback - very much appreciated! I've got an assault pack coming next week. I've been looking for a Corpsman/Recon pack but no luck so far. If anyone has a source, please send my way. Not saying this one is the one to buy, just the first that popped up. Point is to take a close look at the pix, and look for the padded waist belt and zippered lower sleeping gear compartment. The example linked has excellent pix (off to the left of main pic), and a close study of same will show you what to look for in order to make certain you are buying what you want, instead of something that's mislabeled. |
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Anyone can make a frame sheet easily and cheaply out of .060 black HDPE sheeting, available from Grainger's or Amazon. Note that some London Bridge Trading Co. packs, specifically the 3-day pack often seen on sale, do not come with frame sheets, which is rather stupid of them. Maybe a frame sheet comes with the ones sold at MSRP, but for the difference in Sale price Vs.MSRP, one could make quite a pile of sheet frames. |
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So you making a few for the LBT 3 day pack for me then? Quoted:
Anyone can make a frame sheet easily and cheaply out of .060 black HDPE sheeting, available from Grainger's or Amazon. Note that some London Bridge Trading Co. packs, specifically the 3-day pack often seen on sale, do not come with frame sheets, which is rather stupid of them. Maybe a frame sheet comes with the ones sold at MSRP, but for the difference in Sale price Vs.MSRP, one could make quite a pile of sheet frames. |
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Allow me to make a suggestion to anyone who has, or is considering buying a pack that has little or no internal or external organization. A good example is the ILBE Assault pack which is the subject of this thread, but the LBT 3-Day pack is another.
Particularly when used as an EDC pack ,it is a real bother to access smaller items which always seem to drift to the very bottom of these packs. If there is sufficient MOLLE/PALS webbing on the dorsal side of the pack, one of these Condor T+T pouches will be of very great usefulness: Condor T+T Pouch. I know what you might be thinking: Condor, raf? Well, I trust condor in inverse proportion to the weight that will be carried by their gear. The T+T pouch will not carry much weight as it is rather small, BUT it offers organization for frequently-accessed small items all out of proportion to its' size and cost. The T+T pouch fits perfectly on the dorsal side of the LBT 3-day pack, and adding it transforms the LBT pack into a very handy EDC pack. All the small stuff is right at hand once the pouch is opened. I have added this pouch to a bunch of my packs where doing so seems useful. I have never had cause to regret doing so, as I never have to empty out the pack to find small stuff at its' bottom plus access is quick and easy, once the pack is doffed. DO shop around, as some vendors have a selection of more exotic camo patterns, and prices/shipping vary. There is a smaller, Sidekick pouch if MOLLE/PALS terrain is more limited: Condor Sidekick Pouch . Disclaimer: No financial interest. |
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