Okay to date I have pouches and chest rigs with Fastex buckles and Velcro closures for fasteners. They both have there draw backs, Velcro is noisy and you have to pull the flap up for the item to clear the pouch. Fastex buckles while silent as the grave are slow and you still have to clear the pouches flap.
I’m looking at getting a rig that has double shock retention cords with large, easy to grab, pull tabs. Anyone have experience with this kind of kit and what are your thoughts on ease of extracting mags from their pouches?
I am an industry professional…unfortunately it’s the construction industry, so I can’t give you firsthand experiential knowledge.
Here is my reasoning on pouch closures, though, speaking as a guy with an interest in home defense:
ammo pouches. If I am pulling ammo out of a pouch it’s because my gun is empty and the process of emptying my gun probably made both myself and my intended target(s) deaf anyway.
FAK. That’s about the only other thing I’m going to go for in a hurry and I fully expect to be screaming or at least thumping around like a tazed manatee if I ever need it for myself, or talking to whoever needs it if it’s not for me.
So for my applications, I don’t worry about noise too much. I have a velcro closure on my FAK because I want to be able to wrench it open no matter what.
I just use elastic tensioners on my mags because I don’t have to go through a vehicle rollover and still have mags, I just have to haul mags from my bedroom to my kitchen in the dark while trying to figure out whether I’m under attack by zombies or whether my dog just knocked over my guitar again.
I’m assuming that we are talking about M4 mags?? If so -
I used to use velcro closure mag pouches like the eagle mag pouch with the Top Folded inside leaving my Primary Draw mags exposed. I never had any issues with losing my mags. I have however recently switched to Esstac Shingles with the KyWi insert. You can easily switch back and forth between the standard bungee closure or the KyWi insert. I have yet to loose a mag due to Kywi Failure. I also have two ITW Fastmags on my kit. They are hard plastic though and do make noise when my rifle hits them.
With both the Esstac Shingles and the ITW Fastmags I am done with my reload in about the time it took me to get my mags out on other pouches. It’s so fast I look like I sit at home and practice… not saying I don’t either though. I was very happy with my reload speeds at my last match and also while practicing room clearing with my unit. Good luck.
SOS
Pistol mag pouches are a different story altogether. Either get Kydex or some of Tactical Tailors Magnetic Pistol mag pouches.
No one is going to hear your velcro flap ripping open after you just dumped 30 rounds of 5.56 or whatever in their general direction.
I do prefer open topped pouches, though. I just picked up 4 from Original SOE gear. They’re double mag shingles lined with velcro, but also have shock cord tabs on top. I removed the shock cord and put a 1" square piece of velcro on my AK mags. This provides pretty good retention while also being pretty fast.
I prefer Velcro. Its a blend of security and speed. Depending on what assignment, I might just tuck the velcro anyways. Can’t do that with the buckles.
Actually, the only buckle pouch I have is for a flashbang; quiet until time to use, and just a little added security, and it doesn’t need to come out quickly.
If you stick with the well-known pouches mentioned from users here, you’ll be G2G. I’ve encountered a few “import” bungee pouches where there was clearly no end-user-input and the bungee was way to thick and way too tight for practical application.
Not to change gears, but I am a fan of the Spanish/UK buckle, also used in a more primitive variant on older comblock kit. We’ve offered them on some ESSTAC kit in the past, and are working on a few designs integrating them on future pouches.
I have a couple of these Gen 3 ITW Fast-Mags on my belt rig. Eventually I’ll replace my bungee-corded mag pouches with the MOLLE version of the Fast-Mag. They are very secure, amazingly fast to get out and easy to replace mags such as in a tactical reload. Can be set up single or double stack, MOLLE or belt, USGI or PMags. Found them at SKD Tactical or T.A.D. Gear. ITW makes some very cool stuff, but these pouches are fantastic IMHO.
I have always stuck with Eagle Ind but have recently found out they sold to a foreign company, same one that owns Blackhawk if I remember correctly.
I’ve had Specter gear before and have never had a issue with their products and or their service. Here is the rig I’m looking at getting for my AKs, these are the first I have seen to offer the bungee style retention tabs for the AK and MBR platforms. .
