Nightcrawler
New member
I admit, I have a liking for load beaing equipment and such. Even if I'll never need it, it's one of those things I like to have. And, frankly, if you have a serious weapon of some sort, be it a rifle, a pistol, or a shotgun, you really ought to have a way to carry spare ammunition for it, should you ever actually need it.
But wear it to the range? Nah, probably not.
In the Guards, we've gone from the old load carrying equipment to the new load bearing vests. Both work fine if you want to carry six extra M16 mags. Though with the LBV and a pistol belt, you can put two ammo pouches on the belt and give youself twelve M16 mags.
But then again, I'm a SAW gunner, so my spare ammo goes on my belt anway. What goes into the ammo pouches? My glasses rag, my camo paint, my notebook, my little field mirror, etc. Stuff you need. I have a buttpack on my rig for my MRE, too, as well as two canteens.
There are a lot of good designs out there, though. Check out what FMCO has to offer. Really well thought out stuff.
If you want to shoot prone, though, beware of having TOO much stuff directly on your chests. Any more than two magazines in a single chest pouch and you're going to have a hard time crawling on your belly (though to be honest, when you've got an LBV, pistol belt, buttpack w/ MRE, two full canteens, two mag pouches on your belt with assorted stuff in 'em, an extra 200 round SAW box on a big pouch on your belt, a 20-lb SAW with 200 rounds in your hands, a spare barrel on your back, a kevar helmet on your head, and a gas mask on your left hip (either attached to your belt or wrapped on its own) you're not going to have the worlds greatest flexibility anyway.)
But wear it to the range? Nah, probably not.
In the Guards, we've gone from the old load carrying equipment to the new load bearing vests. Both work fine if you want to carry six extra M16 mags. Though with the LBV and a pistol belt, you can put two ammo pouches on the belt and give youself twelve M16 mags.
But then again, I'm a SAW gunner, so my spare ammo goes on my belt anway. What goes into the ammo pouches? My glasses rag, my camo paint, my notebook, my little field mirror, etc. Stuff you need. I have a buttpack on my rig for my MRE, too, as well as two canteens.
There are a lot of good designs out there, though. Check out what FMCO has to offer. Really well thought out stuff.
If you want to shoot prone, though, beware of having TOO much stuff directly on your chests. Any more than two magazines in a single chest pouch and you're going to have a hard time crawling on your belly (though to be honest, when you've got an LBV, pistol belt, buttpack w/ MRE, two full canteens, two mag pouches on your belt with assorted stuff in 'em, an extra 200 round SAW box on a big pouch on your belt, a 20-lb SAW with 200 rounds in your hands, a spare barrel on your back, a kevar helmet on your head, and a gas mask on your left hip (either attached to your belt or wrapped on its own) you're not going to have the worlds greatest flexibility anyway.)