Plate Service Placards Overview: Half 1

The marketplace for plate carriers, chest rigs, and modular plate provider placards has seen unprecedented progress within the final 10 years. We nonetheless keep in mind when issues like bandoleers and chest rigs have been being custom-sewn for particular operators by their parachute riggers. Now there may be an ever-expanding enjoying subject of plates, plate carriers, chest rigs, and equipment that just about ensures an off-the-shelf answer for any use case. Nevertheless, this large number of decisions comes with some drawbacks.

An Overload of Choices

One of many aspect of results of this tactical nylon renaissance is one thing we name “package glut”. There are such a lot of choices to select from, that we wind up selecting separate choices for particular person use instances.

It’s frighteningly simple to wind up with a row of plastic tubs or cardboard packing containers in your attic or storage containing:

• A chest rig for vary days and courses
• A slick plate provider for low-profile hid safety
• A chest rig to put on over the slick plate provider when extra firepower is required
• A plate provider for recon or surveillance functions
• A plate provider for direct-action or assault functions
• et cetera…

A few of this could possibly be pushed by skilled necessities. For instance, if you’re a patrol officer who serves in your division’s SWAT workforce as a collateral responsibility, you’ll have totally different armor carriers for patrol use and entry-team use. If you’re in a navy unit with various mission units, it’s possible you’ll fall into the “recon vs assault” conundrum and have a package for every. If you’re a civilian operating a number of weapon programs (a shotgun or pistol-caliber carbine for house protection, however an AR or AK for SHTF use) you’ll have a provider or chest rig devoted to every system.

Streamline Your Package with Modular Placards

Whereas there’s nothing inherently mistaken about constructing a handful of chest rig and plate provider setups for various duties, it prices a big period of time, cash, cupboard space, and probably heartache. This is the reason the appearance of modular plate carriers with interchangeable entrance panels (or placards) is so interesting.

Above: This Dynamic Ideas Laser-cut MOLLE Placard served as our direct-attachment setup. Keep tuned for a full checklist of its options and elements in Half 2.

Whereas there are a myriad of variations accessible, you’re probably acquainted with the fundamental format of a modular plate provider: slick entrance with loop-side Velcro and a pair of quick-release “pinch” buckles, typically often called SRBs (Aspect-Launch Buckles) or QASM buckles (Fast Connect Floor Mount). The placards then connect to the provider with each Velcro and buckle.

Above: These buckles on the plate provider help the load of the placard, and forestall it from peeling off the Velcro unexpectedly.

Some carriers will include a primary MOLLE-loop-covered placard as a normal providing. Different firms supply the plate provider as a standalone buy, with a set of various placards accessible a la carte. However the true great thing about a QASM-placard-based system is that you’re not confined to the producer you bought your provider from.

The plate provider you see here’s a Arbor Arms CAS 2.0—Communicator Armor System—loaded with Degree III+ plates from Prime Armor. These plates weigh lower than 5 kilos every whereas nonetheless with the ability to cease 7.62x39mm Armor-Piercing ammo out of an AK-47, or the navy’s new M855A1 spherical in 5.56mm.

Like many fashionable plate carriers, the Arbor Arms CAS is a testomony to modularity. To show our level, not one of the entrance placards showcased listed below are from Arbor Arms. Solely their provider is used. If you are going to buy your individual CAS 2.0, Arbor does have their very own placard choices, and they’re good. However we wish to showcase the huge compatibility throughout manufacturers. The next overview is a sampling of various placards from totally different firms, with quite a lot of distinctive options. This checklist just isn’t even remotely inclusive of what’s accessible within the market-at-large. However we hope to provide you a place to begin to plan out a survival armor provider, or maybe streamline your current setup.

Normal Goal Load Carriage: HRT Tactical Maximus Placard

The HRT Tactical Maximus is a wonderful plac-of-all-trades (see what we did there?) that gives well-rounded load carriage for quite a lot of jobs whereas nonetheless bringing some modularity. The Maximus is constructed off a velcro-lined “kangaroo” pocket that may settle for quite a lot of elastic inserts, that are included, for various journal varieties.

There’s a 3-mag AR-15 type magazine insert, a 2-mag insert that accepts AR-10 or comparable mags, and a 5-mag insert for subgun/PCC sticks. There may be even a full-length zipper-top that may used in case you don’t need/want to hold any rifle mags in any respect. In that case, the kangaroo pouch could be excellent for every little thing from meals to maps to medical gear.

Every finish of the Maximus has a pistol magazine pouch. These pouches have full cowl flaps which might be removeable, in addition to S-shaped polymer inserts that present magazine retention with out the flap. The polymer retention inserts are additionally removeable, permitting the tip pouches to carry different miscellaneous gadgets like flashlights, multi-tools, folding knives, small OC spray cans or a bundle of chem lights. The entrance of the placard has two sq. general-purpose pouches laborious sewn in place. The sq. zippered GP pouches have elastic loops inside to retain an assortment of substances.

On our check pattern Maximus, we used considered one of these pouches as a private trauma package, and the opposite to carry pyrotechnics – one smoke grenade from Sport Smoke, and one flash bang from IWA Worldwide.

Lean Load: LBX Tactical Variable Assaulter Panel

In order for you most ammo storage, we’d counsel trying elsewhere. However that’s not the purpose of LBX’s Variable Assaulter Panel. An offshoot of London Bridge Buying and selling, an organization doing {custom} nylon gear for elite professionals lengthy earlier than anybody was listening to such issues, LBX brings the identical ingenuity and verified design expertise to a extra commercial-facing market. The Variable Assaulter Panel incorporates a single sewn-on rifle magazine pouch with a double-pistol-mag pouch layered over that. The rifle journal is retained by shock wire, the 2 pistol mags by a single massive Velcro flap. The one hybrid ammo pouch is flanked on both aspect by two rows of sewn-on MOLLE webbing.

May you employ mentioned webbing so as to add extra magazine pouches? Completely. However we predict that’s form of lacking the purpose. There are many different entrance panels purpose-built to carry extra ammo. We see this as an choice for somebody who 1. Doesn’t use a carbine as their major weapon, and a couple of. Doesn’t anticipate a protracted gunfight. Plainclothes LEOs who use plate carriers for warrant service or fugitive restoration may discover the Variable Assaulter Panel a wonderful match. To that finish, we adorned this panel with an open-top handcuff pouch and radio pouch from Sentry Tactical.

In fact, this placard is hardly cop-specific. We arrange an alternate loadout that includes a pair of civilian-legal flashbang units from IWA worldwide, in Longship Design Frag Pouches from Unobtanium Gear. We additionally added a Fast Open Sled IFAK from Wilde Customized Gear, which incorporates a detachable tray to your med provides.

For the ready citizen, 30 rounds of 5.56mm and 30 rounds of 9mm—plus no matter is in your weapons—ought be sufficient to resolve nearly any drawback you’re prone to encounter, wanting a full-blown international invasion. Which is why we just like the Variable Assaulter Panel’s stripped-down design. It retains a modest quantity of ammunition front-and-center in your loadout, whereas permitting correct house for different gadgets, from radios or med kits to fire-starting instruments or meal substitute bars.

PCC-Particular: Wilde Customized Gear CZ Scorpion/SIG MPX 30rnd Placard

In case your go-to gun is a submachine gun or PCC, this Wilde Customized Gear placard is a simple selection to maximise firepower. There’s a caveat to this. There are some essential dimensional variations between magazines, relying on which PCC platform you’re operating. Whether or not you’re operating curved mags like a Scorpion EVO or MPX, or straight ones like B&T, Colt SMG or Glock-pattern “completely happy sticks” will make a distinct as to which pouches or placards you want.

On this case, Wilde particularly states this placard is for CZ and SIG magazines. Whichever you’re operating, the Wilde placard will maintain 4 magazines in particular person pouches with shock-cord retention. Every pouch as a column of laser-cut slots for attaching extra pouches, so you’ll be able to carry extra than simply bullets on board this placard.

We added some numerous sundries together with a Blue Pressure Gear tourniquet pouch, pair of chem lights, Emdom Multitasker pouch and HSGI TACO with a mini smoke grenade from FAST Ordnance.

Shotgun-Particular: HRT Tactical Shotgun Placard

Just like the Wilde Customized Gear PCC placard, the HRT Tactical Shotgun Placard is a really easy answer for ammo administration, and maybe the least-complicated design of all of the placards featured right here. What you see is what you get right here – 21 elastic loops in three columns with simply sufficient house between them to carry 2-¾ or 3-inch 12-gauge shotgun shells. That’s sufficient to utterly fill a normal Remington 870 or Mossberg 500 thrice, with a 6- or 7-shot tube. Extra in case you’re utilizing a shorter pistol-grip or breacher mannequin. It’s additionally precisely 10.5 reloads for a double-barrel, in case you ascribe to the present President’s philosophy of house protection.

Our solely gripe is that it that the loops are simply too huge for 20-gauge shells. Having mentioned that, if we have been going through an issue that we felt would require nearly 30 rounds from a shotgun to repair, we’d most likely be bringing a 12-gauge anyway. Masking the complete entrance placard with elastic loops does preclude every other kind of load carriage on the entrance of your package, however this placard was made for one goal and one goal solely – making a complete lot of shotshells accessible in a rush. If that’s a distinct segment it’s essential fill in your preparedness plan, we predict this is without doubt one of the higher methods to do it.

Keep tuned for Half 2 of this text, which is able to include information about direct-attachment MOLLE placards, a placard-compatible chest rig from Javlin Ideas, and ideas for getting your placard of selection to suit your plate provider.

Written by Tom Marshall