Weaponry & Gear Reviews

Carryover from the Old TFP:

Since I swoon at the sight of MOLLE, I figure we can open this up to include military, weaponry, and go-go-go gear reviews.

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Skydex Helmet Pads (for the ACH or to upgrade a PASGT)


Honestly, these were kind of expensive ($80, but you can find them for less money on Ebay). However, after using these pads extensively, I highly recommend them. The current issue MSA pads are very stiff, and feel like styrofoam. Indeed, they tend to pinch my head. In contrast, these pads are supple and feel very comfortable, even in cold or hot weather. In addition, they tend to hold less sweat than other pads. After a 90 minute smoke session in the summer sun, my pads dried in 30 minutes.

The skydex layering should help with shock absorption should you be unfortunate enough to bang your head in a bad way. However, I have no personal experience with this, other than what the marketers tell me, so YMMV.

Anyway. They're comfortable.

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Walther PPS, 40 S&W:



Very slim, easy to conceal, especially during summer months. I tuck it in to a simple IWB and it disappears underneath my polo shirt. Grip is large enough so it isn't unpleasant to shoot (feels more like a snappy glock, than a LCP, or a snubbie .38). Very controllable, IIRC has a pretty decent trigger reset.

Only problem is the mag capacity--IIRC 6+1 in the .40 S&W config. Like I said, most SD shootings take place at contact distances and end within 7 shots, so 7 shots should be enough to end the encounter (for better or worse).



The question often arises whether to go subcompact Glock or Walther PPS. IMHO, if you were getting a dedicated civilian CCW, PPS hands down. OTOH, if you had glock magazines, holsters and other items, the G26 *may* be worthwhile. In the end, however, the slim PPS wins as a CCW for me.

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Feel free to add your own. Solvents? Scopes? Ruck-sacks? Boots? Guns? They can all go here.

 

SKDTAC's PIG Plate Carrier
Product description and additional pictures available at the above link.

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If you learn nothing else about the PIG, know this: It protects your high center mass vitals and you can really move and shoot in it; two things most of the other plate carriers on the market aren't very good at delivering on despite having years to come up with a better product.

I’ve been wearing body armor since 2003 and the PIG plate carrier is by far the most comfortable and adaptable piece of plate-toting personal protection equipment I’ve come across in the last decade. Having wrapped my guts in the USGI Point Blank IBA, the Blackhawk STRIKE plate carrier, the Diamondback Tactical Predator and a variety of soft armor carriers, I’d say I’m qualified to judge the PIG plate carrier as nearly perfect. I really wish I'd had one when I was in uniform.

I’m ~6’ with a ~40” chest and I'm using medium size level 4 stand alone plates.

Pros:

You can move in it. The PIG PC has a super low profile, body-hugging precision fit. This thing is the Ferrari of armor carriers. The PIG is so light and tight that I hardly notice it when I’m running; there is minimal bounce and it doesn’t feel like a midget is standing on my shoulders after wearing it for a few sweaty hours, even when loaded with mags and a water bladder carrier I still didn’t find myself doing the usual “shrug and lift” routine to relieve pressure points. This cannot be stressed enough. The PIG is comfortable and won’t wear you out the way other carriers do. The always-outta-my-way contoured shoulder straps, the rib-wrapping adjustable cummerbund, interior padding (especially the back channel) are refreshingly ergonomic. No more plate sores from rubbing on your lumbar. The abbreviated shape and padded back channel also reduce the suck as far as heat retention, especially when compared to the encumbering “combat sweaters” produced by some companies today. The corner snaps on the cummerbund are a nice touch and keep the flaps anchored.

You can shoot in it. The contoured shoulder straps don’t interfere with the natural buttplate pocket but stay off your neck. There is only minimal interference from the plate pocket when shouldering a rifle; worlds better than 90% of the armor on the market that forces you to balance the buttplate on an unnecessarily bulky shoulder strap or the awkward too-far-out armor panel that messes up your cheek weld and shooting posture. The high-riding design allows you to put plenty of primary weapon mags on your chest while giving you ample clearance to run your 1st line gear (battle belt) underneath. The abbreviated shape and padded back channel allow you to get into (and stay in) modern tactical shooting positions that are incredibly awkward in other armor carriers (fetal prone, UBT prone, etc.)

One piece of kit, many missions. You can make this whatever kind of creature you want, from super slick to wear under your man dress while you play daddy daycare to the CA weenies to Godzilla mode with 12 AR mags hanging off the front. The modular design allows you to trade cummerbunds and shoulder strap attachments, add on an assault pack or water bladder carrier, side plates—you name it.

Cons:

Two tiny kangaroo pockets suck. They're are completely unnecessary and add bulk / weaken the cummerbund flaps. Unless you’ve got the hands of a 12 year old Vietnamese boy that learned the hard way not to play with M80s, you’re not getting much in there and all they do is create another layer of Velcro to tug at when you’re trying to don/doff your PIG and mess around with the items on your center line, typically rifle magazines. SKD would do well to just ditch that feature in the future and keep the dual cummerbund flaps as flat and stiff as possible. If I need a place to put my tactical lip balm and the keys to the tactical Prius, I’ve got some DCU pants pockets that work better.

Cummerbund elastic replacement. I use the MOLLE cummerbund and I noticed that the 3.5” V-shaped brown elastic stretch panels connected to the nylon 3-grommet girth adjustment. I feel it would have been better to create a field-replaceable girth adjustment by having the grommets on the two nylon MOLLE panels themselves and creating a semi-disposable elastic portion on the inside. Not a huge issue, but elastic items always have a shelf life, especially in extreme temps (as I've learned the hard way). I wouldn’t want to have the cummerbund fail on me and have to MacGyver myself something with 550 and zip ties unnecessarily.

Cummerbund pull cords are overkill. Instead of simple 1x2” flat nylon grab tab to pull when doffing, I have two huge grommets with an ungutted piece of 550 cord. Unnecessarily bulky. Feels sloppy. I removed both of them and replaced it with gutted 550 on the left side until I figure out how I want to modify it further. It certainly makes it easy to ditch the vest (only thing faster would be QASM buckles), but I figure there is a better way to go about this (especially for $330) that doesn’t look like Joe rigged it up in the field.

This is the plate carrier to own. If you're worried about cost or comfort, know that you will not find a better product for any amount of money as of 2011. This is it. Until they come out with air conditioned vests with beef jerky dispensers, the PIG is what you wanna wear if you need to wear a plate carrier.

 

This nifty piece of kit bolts on to your bolt hold open paddle. It basically allows you to lock the bolt back or drop the bolt with your trigger finger.



It's pretty great--the biggest advantage to the BAD lever is in clearing double feeds. It's *very* easy to lock the bolt back. Instead of taking your firing hand off the pistol grip and grabbing the charging handle to initiate a bolt lock, all one needs to do is lift the BAD with the trigger finger while using the support hand to pull back the charging handle.

The BAD also helps in emergency reloads--it basically eliminates the ping-pong paddle slap.

Now for the *negative* aspects of the BAD:

1.) BAD causes malfunctions with certain weapons--i.e. early bolt lock (even with rounds in the magazine), failure to lock back on empty, etc.
2.) One incident where the BAD broke during a competition, and broke in such a way that the weapon couldn't go in to battery without removing the BAD. If you don't have the necessary hex-key to remove the BAD, then you basically have a deadlined weapon. This is a pretty big No-Go. But it's only been reported in 1 isolated incident.
3.) Some people blame Negligent Discharges on the BAD. I don't know if this is a training issue or not. People blame ND's on holsters all the time, so YMMV.

Overall Recommendation: The BAD's a pretty good piece of kit. I'd recommend trying it if you're looking to improve the functionality of your AR.

/GearQueer.

 

*ETA* The BAD also makes weak hand reloads easier as it allows your right hand to hit the bolt release with your thumb, rather than having to wrap around the mag well to hit the bolt release.