Another forum member, SCW, asked me if I could make him something for his CZ Scorpion that wasn't too big so his kids could wear it too.

It's kind of deceptive by looking pretty simple at a glance, has a lot of hidden features.

I made the CZ Scorpion triple pouch for him a while ago, got injured really bad with Achilles rupture, so just getting back to doing some projects.









The chest panel is all flatwork, but I used heavy duty mesh for the back, made it separate for maps, SAPI plate, and it has a pile tape panel inside for customization.  Instead of hook and pile closure, it uses small plastic snaps instead, very quiet.  Panel is 8 MOLLE wide.



Harness is routed for comms and hydration hose with spacer mesh underneath.  There are actually 3 layers to the harness shoulder straps, but they are still flat so that they don't dig into your traps.  I've been doing that on my own vests since 2001.  I used 500D Cordura Multicam, spacer mesh, and MC 1" tape to bind it all together.  The 3 layers are sewn together before I bind.





The hydration pouch is fully insulated with semi-rigid padding and lined with 400D Coyote packcloth and bound wrong side out, then pulled right side out. Webbing attachment is sewn flat to it before sewing wrong side out and binding all the internal seams.  Spacer mesh against the back, padding, lining.  It also has an Aviator's Day Glo Orange survival meal pocket sewn up high.  I like to keep lightweight meals in there in an MRE bag, taped shut with maybe an energy bar or 2 bonus.









You can completely detach the hydration pouch for ease of refill, especially with QD socket Camelbaks and copies.  I prefer to double or triple-stitch my tape, and on the first run, I drive the work into the binder so that I get full depth of stitch purchase into the edge of the tape and a good seam allowance into the fabric, because of all the corner-cutting tape jobs I've seen on issue and other gear on the market.  Single stitch with too close of a seam allowance results in torn tape edges, fraying, and shabby gear.  I always admired Eagle Industries' tape jobs with double stitching, perfect craftsmanship, and attention-to-detail.







It was a fun little project that took more thought and time to make the templates than actually sewing it, which is normal.

I'm working on some split-front designs right now that I've had on my to-do list, since my main split-front chest rig is a 2 x 10 MOLLE, pretty overkill for most things, and made from 1000D Cordura.  I like working with this 500D stuff, as it is about as durable, way more lightweight.

I'm using a light duty all-metal gear machine from the 1950s for a lot of my initial lay-up, and a Juki 1541S heavy duty for final assembly and some of the heavier flat work.  I wouldn't do this all on one machine.

That is slick!

Way better that what I brew up with off the shelf stuff.

Nice clean work.  Good job.

Very nice.

I am working on a similar concept, that is a throwback to the old school Rhody chest rig.  Since these level III+ multi hit steel plates are so fookin heavy, as a compromise, I was thinking of maybe trying a rig with just a front plate integrated with a chest rig format.  That way you could have good ballistic pro, that is relatively cheap and easier to stock deep, but still have some semblance of mobility, for say security patrols around your perimeter.  If needed, another plate could be added to a small assault pack, giving you additional coverage, depending on mission and threat level.

So I like what you're doing here with your back pocket that could be used with BA.  Another idea would be to use level IIIa soft armor from a surplus cop vest as padding for the chest rig base itself.  That would give you pro from lower, handgun/shotgun threats.  Then maybe an in-conjunction plate could be used to up the pro level as required.

But going back to your concept, I like the integrated hydro bladder concept because it gives nice balance to the mags n stuff in front.

I finished another one I've been working on for a while.

It also got put on the back burner when I got injured, but now it's done.

I like split front harnesses that look like AK chest rigs solid across the front.

This one is a 2 Panel x 7 wide MOLLE per panel. I just threw some pouches I've made on it.

It's very comfortable to wear with the balanced weight, spacer mesh-backed and padded Camelbak pouch, unlike regular webbing harness chest rigs.





Left magazine shingle is a Double M4, Triple Pistol Mag experiment.

It was interesting trying to get the middle pistol mag pouch to bridge over the split M4 mag pouches.





Here is the Camelbak pouch before attachment of the lid.  I added a center hangar loop made from binding tape on this one, not that you really need it for a smaller bladder, but I just wanted to experiment with how I would do it.

Great looking rig, well executed. It's perfect for observation/recce work, or a piece of "get home" kit. Is the hydration unit small enough to be worn comfortably under a ruck?

Thanks.  Yes, the smaller hydration pouch profile sits above a kidney pad or war belt.

I have some ergonomic design ideas for a war belt that I haven't really seen anyone do yet, so it's another thing on my list I need to crank out.

This also functions as a rudimentary plate carrier, as a plate will drop in between the layers of the front panels without affecting the split-front.

I have a specific plate wrap for it that inserts and retains on one side.

Makes a lightweight solution for you if you were doing Point Target Recce with a follow-on Assault, or for a flexible configuration rig without getting sucked into a dedicated PC with cummerbund and hook & pile.

I just added a 1.5" piece of webbing for directing the Camelbak hose 90° towards sternum, so I don't have dangling hose.

I just tested the weight balance with natural depletion of the Camelbak, and it still balances out really well with the front load, currently 4 loaded 30rd 5.56 mags and the 2 IFAK/GP pouches.

The next one I have in the cue will be the same type of set-up but with 2 x 8 MOLLE wide split front, so it will allow 4 x rows of mags, and 2 x 200rd Drum SAW pouch sized pouches, or MBITR and another 2 MOLLE wide pouch on one side.

Neat. Not my cup of tea, but the workmanship looks outstanding.

I added a 1.5" elastic webbing route for the Camelbak to angle 90° towards my sternum so the hose wouldn't dangle all over and get caught.