Drop-Leg Platform Redux
Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 4:49 am
Or, "a superior way to carry your smaller gear".
Would you like to have a cheap, tough, silent, compact, easy-to-reach, no-glare solution for your smaller equipment?
Of course you would.
Enter the US GI magazine pouch.
It's tiny yet large enough to store your pick sets, a small light, multitool, and anything else small you might want. All you need to do is find yourself a cheap drop leg platform with MOLLE loops and clip it on. These run ALICE clips that you can either leave as-is, modify into tools, or replace with polymer MOLLE clips. I highly recommend you choose one with rubberized grip inside of the leg strap and inside of the panel. You can find these dirt cheap on Amazon or Ebay all day, or probably even locally.
If you shop around, the system can be made for ~20USD. Money well spent.
The pouch has a rigid plastic lining on the rear to keep it from collapsing and coupled with that specific buckle they use, the pouch can be very easily opened and closed with one hand. They're small enough that they'll never get in your way even if you're squeezing into a tight space and the cover sits over the top in such a way that your equipment isn't going to spill out while you're crawling, jumping, rolling, etc.
Two Three very simple mods make this the best system I've used:
1. Cut those grenade pouches off. Don't need them and they're just snag points. This is trivial to do with any knife, just cut the nylon sewing and remove them. Stretch the pouch away as you slice to expose the sewing better.
2. Get yourself a pair of shrink tubes. I chose the above picture specifically for the sake of this mod. See those tines on the upper part of the buckle? You can see how it works. You press it into the tube and it expands after a point and clicks into place. You can eliminate this click by shoving the shrink tubes over the narrow portion of the tines and shrinking into place with a lighter. This will eliminate that click when the buckle rapidly snaps into its lock position.
If you can't get shrink tubing for whatever reason, electrical tape can work in a pinch. Just be aware that you'll need to constantly maintain it between operations as the adhesive fails over time.
Edit: 3. Almost forgot about the mag separators these have normally. Needless to say, cut those out unless you feel like you might want them. I guess you could leave one to clip a certain item to for better organization but I've removed mine completely.
Finally, if you're only carrying a few items... for one you might need the pouch at all but if you feel like you do and you're concerned about your items inside being loose, just add some light material inside to fill the space. Foam is great obviously. Failing that, perhaps some cloth or cardboard. But seriously just get foam when you can and have a few inserts available.
I find this superior to even purpose-built commercial pouches personally. Those tend to be either too large, have inferior buckles/snaps/zippers, poor leg straps, etc. The buckle on this once silenced is the best you can ask for. I wish ALL my gear used the same kind.
Would you like to have a cheap, tough, silent, compact, easy-to-reach, no-glare solution for your smaller equipment?
Of course you would.
Enter the US GI magazine pouch.
Code: Select all
https://www.milsurpsales.com/uploads/1/3/3/9/133939709/s381381265310536461_p35_i2_w3024.jpeg?width=2560If you shop around, the system can be made for ~20USD. Money well spent.
The pouch has a rigid plastic lining on the rear to keep it from collapsing and coupled with that specific buckle they use, the pouch can be very easily opened and closed with one hand. They're small enough that they'll never get in your way even if you're squeezing into a tight space and the cover sits over the top in such a way that your equipment isn't going to spill out while you're crawling, jumping, rolling, etc.
Two Three very simple mods make this the best system I've used:
1. Cut those grenade pouches off. Don't need them and they're just snag points. This is trivial to do with any knife, just cut the nylon sewing and remove them. Stretch the pouch away as you slice to expose the sewing better.
2. Get yourself a pair of shrink tubes. I chose the above picture specifically for the sake of this mod. See those tines on the upper part of the buckle? You can see how it works. You press it into the tube and it expands after a point and clicks into place. You can eliminate this click by shoving the shrink tubes over the narrow portion of the tines and shrinking into place with a lighter. This will eliminate that click when the buckle rapidly snaps into its lock position.
If you can't get shrink tubing for whatever reason, electrical tape can work in a pinch. Just be aware that you'll need to constantly maintain it between operations as the adhesive fails over time.
Edit: 3. Almost forgot about the mag separators these have normally. Needless to say, cut those out unless you feel like you might want them. I guess you could leave one to clip a certain item to for better organization but I've removed mine completely.
Finally, if you're only carrying a few items... for one you might need the pouch at all but if you feel like you do and you're concerned about your items inside being loose, just add some light material inside to fill the space. Foam is great obviously. Failing that, perhaps some cloth or cardboard. But seriously just get foam when you can and have a few inserts available.
I find this superior to even purpose-built commercial pouches personally. Those tend to be either too large, have inferior buckles/snaps/zippers, poor leg straps, etc. The buckle on this once silenced is the best you can ask for. I wish ALL my gear used the same kind.