I've recently started taking some tactical classes, most notably two separate week long carbine classes. I'm learning a substantial amount and have defiantly improved, however Im to the point that my duty belt and cargo pockets just are not cutting it anymore, not to mention Im tearing my duty gear all to hell.


I know I want to get my AR mags down on my thigh, and a dump pouch. Holster wise I think I'll get a new one for my duty belt and use the old one for classes. I did look at some kit from LA Police gear, but I have no idea the quality of their stuff. Here is the LINK to the gear that I picked out. I'm fine if it's at a black hawk level but I don't want to buy things that are air soft/cheaper than dirt quality. Does anyone know who makes there stuff for them?

your link didn't pull up anything. but here's some good kit.

High Speed Gear Inc Drop Leg Magazine Carrier holds rifle and pistol mags.
High Speed Gear Inc Drop Leg Dumper

how long are these going to be on your legs? the reason i ask is that a lot of .mil(s) have advised against prolonged use of gear on your legs. If your doing a lot of running, jumping, crawling, etc, it'll start to wear on you. But, that's what the EE is for. If you find that it's not your forte' you can always sell high end kit and recoup your losses. Good quality kit usually retains its value, up to about 80-95%.

something else that you might consider is going with a good first line setup. I would probably recommend the use of the following:
ATS duty Belt $19.95
ATS War Belt A molle belt platform $39.99
Maxpedition Rolly Polly Dump Pouch $25.99

maybe throw an ifak kit on there (just in case), and any other pouches you might want (ie: pistol pouches, gas mask, etc)

Quoted: your link didn't pull up anything. but here's some good kit. )

Odd, it works when I click it. Its their multicam gear that Im talking about. Th HS stuff you linked to looks like nice kit too. So many decisions!

Quoted: Quoted: your link didn't pull up anything. but here's some good kit. ) Odd, it works when I click it. Its their multicam gear that Im talking about. Th HS stuff you linked to looks like nice kit too. So many decisions!

cause of the cookies on your puter. all the hsgi and ats stuff is avail in m/c. just not the rolly polly.

I'm not a big fan of mags being carried down on the thighs. The only time I do this is when I'm wearing overt armor like a CIRAS and cant keep the mags on my waistline. If you do decide to go with mags on your thighs, I'd recommend getting a MOLLO leg platform and adding whichever pouches you want. I'd also look at limiting the number of mags to 2.

Quoted: I'm not a big fan of mags being carried down on the thighs.

CalicoJack mentioned this too, Im not sure what to think. Why is this looked down on? Several people in my class were running thigh rigs from thier AR mags. All of them liked the rigs and appeared to have no trouble running any of the drills. I was using my cargo pocket on my pants which had built in mag holders. I found that I like having them in that area, however being in a pocket caused a few problems. One being they were not secure at all, I actually lost them on a few drills. The other was obtaining a mag while in certain positions. I had to extend my leg strait to loosen my pocket enough from my gloved hand to get at the mags while kneeling/squatting and in several modified prone positions. This also caused a big problem when it started to rain as I could not get to my pockets while wearing my rain gear.

I've got my pistol mags on my belt along with my Holster, I don't want to change this because this is how I carry them on duty. However at this time I have no real way of carrying extra mags for the M4. My thought was to add the detachable part of the thigh rig to my duty belt, that way if I need to deploy with the rifle I can grab the rig from my duty bag and strap it on. I don't always have cargo pockets while in uniform, other than caring an extra mag on the gun ( which is what we do now and I hate it ) having a thigh rig is the only may I see making this happen. I want to somewhat stick with a system that trains me on what I'll have on duty.

As for two or three mags, I tried to keep three in my left pocket at all times while in class. The extra weight did not bother me at all. Their is a blade-tech three mag thigh rig that's really catching my eye now. Any experience with them?

new to gear, need class gear?
I would suggest starting small and simple.




This is the mini mav, a chest rig with pals.  I added a Tactical Tailor tripple shingle, 2 pistol mag pouches and 2 shotgun mounts.  This would get me through a class with no problem, allowing you to still use your duty belt and holster on your waist.  They can be bought from site vendors and are pretty modular and inexpensive.

thats my .02

Quoted: Quoted: I'm not a big fan of mags being carried down on the thighs.   CalicoJack mentioned this too, Im not sure what to think. Why is this looked down on?

I agree with NCPatrolAR. You do not want a lot of weight on the leg. I would not carry more than 2 AR mags on my thigh.

I also like having mags on my thigh as a thigh rig/subload. I used to carry an MP5 at a former Dept. I started out on my own carrying mags on the thigh and the dept followed suit and issued us thigh rigs. Mine was streamlined and fast. Theirs was heavy because I had to carry MP mags PLUS flashbangs. The more weight on the rig, the harder it is to stabilize and the more it shifts, flops around, and the quicker it fatigues you as you are always working more weight on the legs.

If you like the thigh rigs, there are a couple of options that way. SOTech makes some rigs that they've sold to a number of west coast LEO agencies. They clip to a baton ring and could be had in a few different configurations. Another option along this line is to have the female end of a fastex buckle on your pants belt with the thigh rig sitting pn the seat next to you ready to click in. I agree with the MOLLE panel idea, but I havn't found pouches with buckles like I would prefer. They're all velcro or shingles it seems.

If you're going to go the subload route, wear it as high as possible on your leg. It prevents shifting and loose thigh straps. It will be much more comfortable. I can always tell someone that doens't know how to run their gear when I see subloads and tac holsters hanging down by the kneecaps...

Another couple suggestions is to look into the satchel/rifle loadout-type bags like the Hawkepaks, BHI Battlebags, Active Shooter bags, etc... A simple MOLLE mag shoulder pouch setup would be an inexpensive way to see if this type of carry is what you want.

You could also look at going with a small chest rig, like the Eagle Universal-types or the ATS model. Gives you the option to carry some additional equipment that could be needed at an extended incident scene where you may be postioned.

For dump,I have used eagle, tt and now this Csm in multicam
I like this one alot

Quoted: For dump,I have used eagle, tt and now this Csm in multicam I like this one alot

Looks nice but a bit bigger than I was thinking. I want to keep everything as simple as possible. I envision a dump pouch sized to fit about three or four mags, and rolls up when not in use.

I like the above chest rig, however I also like to shoot a couple of modified prone positions that a chest rig would not work out well with. My partner in the class had a chest rig and ran into a problem that way.  

The chest rig I have pictured will not give you any problems from prone.  I wear it when I hammer targets with my SPR too.  It is so small I could probably wear it UNDER a shirt and you wouldnt know I have it on.  the triple shingle is very flat.  The shot shell holders are an extra feature that add width.

Quoted: Quoted: For dump,I have used eagle, tt and now this Csm in multicam I like this one alot Looks nice but a bit bigger than I was thinking. I want to keep everything as simple as possible. I envision a dump pouch sized to fit about three or four mags, and rolls up when not in use.

Maxpedition Rollypoly.

Quoted: Quoted: For dump,I have used eagle, tt and now this Csm in multicam I like this one alot Looks nice but a bit bigger than I was thinking. I want to keep everything as simple as possible. I envision a dump pouch sized to fit about three or four mags, and rolls up when not in use. I like the above chest rig, however I also like to shoot a couple of modified prone positions that a chest rig would not work out well with. My partner in the class had a chest rig and ran into a problem that way.

You will run into that problem anytime you have gear like mags on your chest, either with vests or chest rigs. Some chest rigs are slimmer than others, and it mostly comes down to how many mags and other gear is on the chest. Using gear has tradeoffs with everything you do, so its just a matter of working with it and training with it enough.

Quoted: Quoted: For dump,I have used eagle, tt and now this Csm in multicam I like this one alot Looks nice but a bit bigger than I was thinking. I want to keep everything as simple as possible. I envision a dump pouch sized to fit about three or four mags, and rolls up when not in use.

csmgear.com/cgi-bin/imcart/display.cgi?item_id=minidrop&cat=10&page=1&search=&since=&status=