This will be my first carrier and I’ll be wearing it at classes, range. I’m a local RSO and RSO at times for a group that does training. We all know you can’t fix stupid and the family (mainly the wife) would feel better if I wore one. Plus it would be nice to have something in a SHTF situation. I’ve read the stickies and see how people load them out as well.
So far after talking to some people and reading. I’ve narrowed it down to three.
Have you reviewed any of the offerings from TYR Tactical? I just recently ordered one of their PICO carriers. It’s scalability and some other features put it ahead of some other offerings including the PIG, Crye JPC, LBT,etc. Atleast for my purposes.
Might be worth a look. Their customer service is great as well.
I went with the Tyr Tactical BPC. Ordered June 1 with expectation of 60 day wait time.
Still no carrier. Emailed and received no reply. Facebooked them and got a reply. It’s scheduled now for end of August. Would have been nice to know that.
If I was going to serve as RSO for a day or daily duty I’d prefer to be light as possible. After spending hours on the qual range doing my standard military duties, I would opt for the lightest, yet still protective option around.
So I have the Velocity Systems Lightweight Plate Carrier with the swift clips and I add the Haley Strategic D3CR to it when I go live.
OP: from the choices you listed, I’d go with the Mayflower for precisely this reason. You can scale down for days when you’re just running the range. You can put a couple ten-speeds on it to hold some basic first aid/trauma stuff, and a radio, if you use one. If you have to demo, or if you’re using it for something else, you can strap on a chest rig.
Nothing wrong with the other rigs; just that this one might be more fitting for your envisioned usage.
J_B: I have a BPC. I like it; using it for an active shooter/hasty perimeter role. Definitely well made; I would have done up the side straps differently, but that’s just me, and $3 at REI fixed it. You won’t be disappointed.
Any one of the three you listed, as well as a Tyr BPC, would probably do you well as they are all reputable companies known for their quality. You might also consider:
I am new to plate carriers and chest rigs. Why use a chest rig over plate carrier? I assume this is what you are doing, if not please disregard.
Which ever plate carrier I got I would going to get some HGSI tacos for mags and dark angel trauma/med kit (still looking for med kit). Most class I have to carry min 3/4 mags.
Fwiw when I ordered my PICO a few days ago I was advised it would be approximately 45-60 business days until I received it. I asked since some products on the site noted a lead time while others didn’t. No big deal I can wait but was just curious. From the sounds of things they just moved or are in process to moving to a new shop as well. I was also advised they just concluded a rather large .mil order so that probably didn’t help matters either.
Curisously Brownells is selling Tyr stuff including LWPCs (which I’m guessing are the General purpose carriers?) and show them in stock with a 10 day lead time from the factory, so I don’t know how or if those are available for expedited delivery or not. I forgot to inquire.
It makes it easier to remove your shooting accessories (mags, tools, etc) if you don’t actually need them for your particular task. With a modular system, you actually have three setups:
slick plate carrier for when you want protection without extra weight of equipment you aren’t using (rangemaster/RSO duties, or when you’re purely running off your belt kit)
Plate carrier with chest rig quick-attached, for actually training, or for whatever real life scenarios you envision. Many plate carriers and chest rigs now allow you to attach the chest rig to the carrier, without using the shoulder straps.
Chest rig only (attached to harness, no plate carrier): for when its hot out, to wear over weather layering, or you just want to go shoot and not fully kit up.
Ive been using the skd pig for 2 years now love it. I would also suggest taking a look at First Spear some their offerings are pretty damn cool/good especially