Plate Carrier Placards Overview: Part 2

Editor’s Observe: In yesterday’s OFFGRIDweb-exclusive article, we shared Half 1 of our deep dive into the topic of plate service placards. If you have not learn it already, go check it out — it explores 4 completely different placards for general-purpose and weapon-specific purposes. Learn on for Half 2 of the article, the place we’ll handle a MOLLE-compatible placard that lets you carry your individual pouches, and present how modular placards may be utilized to chest rigs in conditions the place armor might not be crucial.

Direct Attachment: Dynamic Ideas Laser-cut MOLLE Placard

What piqued our curiosity with this placard was not its load carriage. Whereas we recognize using laser-cut, we had been extra fascinated about the truth that this Dynamic Principles placard truly has TacTik buckles mounted on to the ends of it. Our Arbor Arms CAS 2.0 plate carrier already makes use of a QD cummerbund with TacTik buckles, so this offered an fascinating new possibility to not how we load our plate service, however to how out service wears mentioned load.

The CAS 2.0, as with most plate carriers of this design, have a two-part cummerbund system. The arms of the cummerbund itself – the half that wraps round your torso. There are additionally two buckle adapters that are, primarily, velcro squares with the feminine aspect of the TacTik buckle sewn on to it. Mate the Velcro sq. to the entrance plate bag, click on the cummerbund arm into the adapter, then press your placard down over high the adapters. However utilizing the Dynamic Ideas placard permits us to bypass the necessity for these adapter squares, because the cummerbund arms can “click on” instantly into the placard itself.

Subscribe At the moment and Save!

Above: The cummerbund on our Arbor Arms plate service may be related on to this Dynamic Ideas placard, sustaining a cosy match and eliminating the necessity for sandwiched Velcro adapters.

What’s gained from this? In case your cummerbund is elastic, or partially elastic, this might push the mounting level additional ahead and put a bit little bit of extra load on the elastic. In case you have an issue together with your plate service bouncing or shifting, or simply choose a snugger match, that is one method to handle that. Likewise, you now have cummerbund holding stress instantly on the placard – the half which is bearing all the load of your ammo and different gear. Any placard, particularly these with heavily-loaded MOLLE pouches woven into webbing loops, will start to sag after prolonged intervals of these pouches pulling on these loops. Repeated tearing and re-pressing of the Velcro, plus environmental elements like mud, mud or water, may also weaken the bond between plate bag and placard. Even when your plate service sits cosy towards your physique, these pouches on the entrance should shuffle, rustle or bounce a bit when shifting as soon as placard fatigue units in. Utilizing the cummerbunds to actually pull-in towards the placard helps safe the placard, and the load its carrying, towards your service for a safer placard-plate-carrier-torso sandwich.

Having mentioned all that, we actually don’t wish to overlook the placard itself. The all-MOLLE design offers most modularity to make use of no matter pouches chances are you’ll have already got in no matter configuration you like. If not one of the “pre-set” placard choices we’ve coated tickle your fancy, you would merely buy a number of of those and construct out your individual pouch suite on each for various functions. We set this one up for normal carbine use – assume vary days or weekend lessons.

The double magazine pouch is from Wilde Customized Gear, paired with a Bleeder/Blowout Pouch from HSGI. Along with the standard-width six rows of MOLLE loops, the Dynamic Ideas placard has three elastic loops. A wider loop on the underside fringe of the placard for a fast-access tourniquet, and a narrower loop on both finish supreme for Sharpie markers, chem lights or different slender, cylindrical instruments. These loops are a pleasant contact that add some low-profile bespoke storage for a pair few small gadgets to make life simpler for the top person. There are many all-MOLLE placards on the market. However the direct-connect function, and “good contact” onboard elastic storage set this one aside in a sea of otherwise-all-the-same.

What About Placards on Chest Rigs?

Plate carriers just like the CAS 2.0 are nice for internet hosting quite a lot of placards, however is there an equally modular resolution for individuals who don’t have to put on armor? The reply we discovered comes by means of Javlin Ideas, within the type of their JCR (Javlin Chest Rig).

The JCR is light-weight design that, just like the CAS service, is ready to host placards from throughout an array of producers. The JCR Base consists of two inflexible, light-weight, Tegris panels coated in soft-side Velcro and related by an X-style shoulder harness. It needs to be famous that there the JCR Base doesn’t include any type of cummerbund or closure system, so you’ll have to add your individual. We went with a 3-inch Hybrid Skeletal Cummerbund by Protection Mechanisms.

This cummerbund is designed to connect to their Mission Essential Plate Carrier by massive Velcro panels sewn to both finish of the cummerbund, however the configuration of the JCR Base panels permit them to undertake the Def Mech elements with none trouble or heartache. The versatile, semi-elastic cummerbund arms are outfitted with TacTik fast launch buckles, similar to these on each the CAS 2.0 and the Dynamic Ideas placard – making a seamless ecosystem between panel, plate service, and chest rig.

The rigidity of the JCR helps help even fully-laden placards and cummerbunds, whereas including little extra weight or bulk to the system as a complete. It can be worn over slick or low-profile armor carriers for a scalable two-part system that may embody armor as wanted.

Placard Compatibility and Fitment Suggestions

Above: The Wilde Customized Gear PCC placard (discussed in Part 1) on our JCR chest rig.

There are three main elements that may have an effect on how nicely your placards match to you plate service: buckle measurement, width between buckles and lead size from the “male” finish buckles to the placard itself – the latter affecting at what top the placard sits. These dimensions aren’t standardized throughout the whole spectrum of plate carriers and chest rigs, and even throughout the similar producer, which is demonstrated in our sampling right here. A few the problems we famous:

• The lead size (from buckle to high fringe of placard) was completely different even between the 2 samples from HRT Tactical. The Shotgun placard had an extended lead size than the Maximus
• The width between buckles between the 2 HRT placards additionally different considerably. The Maximus buckles had been a bit narrower than the feminine buckles on the CAS, whereas the buckles on the shotgun placard lined up completely.
• The buckles on the Wilde Customized Gear subgun placard had been sewn nearly instantly into the highest fringe of the placard, with little lead. The male buckles on the Wilde placard had been additionally nearer collectively than the feminine buckles on the CAS service.
• The buckles on the LBX Tactical Placard had been a distinct measurement, ¾-inch, versus the so-called-standard 1-inch buckles on all the opposite placards.

Above: The HRT Tactical shotgun-specific placard hooked up to the Javlin chest rig.

None of those points are an indictment of the placards, or their producers. However take into account it an advisory that there’s not a tough industry-wide commonplace for these sorts of placards and their mounting footprints. The lead-length/placard top points had been simply remedied, because of the design of the Arbor Arms CAS 2.0. The CAS 2.0 has a number of units of cutouts for mounting feminine QASM-type buckles and, because the buckles aren’t hard-sewn to the service, they are often moved to whichever row of mounting loops supplies optimum top. Likewise, these placards with slightly-narrower buckle spacing didn’t endure. The width disparity was not sufficient to stop any placard from clicking in to both the CAS or JCR and sitting flat.

Above: The LBX Tactical Variable Assaulter Panel placard hooked up to the Javlin chest rig. The three/4-inch buckles on this placard needed to be swapped out to match the 1-inch buckles on the JCR.

The one “onerous cease” was with the LBX Tactical placard, as there was no straightforward repair for the buckles on the placard being too small for the buckles on the plate service. Once more, we don’t maintain this towards LBX, as their web site clearly states on the product web page that the Variable Assaulter Panel comes with ¾-inch buckles. We had been capable of repair the issue on a manufacturing unit go to to Arbor Arms – the place they had been capable of do some slicing and stitching to mount 1-inch buckles on the LBX placard.

Closing Ideas

Based mostly on our expertise, it’s unlikely that one plate service or chest rig will play good with each modular placard in the marketplace. However we had been capable of finding sufficient optimistic matches throughout an array of producers to make the prospect viable. Straying outdoors of the pattern combos listed right here is actually doable, though might take some trial-and-error. Be ready to both make the most of a number of firms’ return insurance policies or have some conversations with their customer support reps to find out width-between-buckles earlier than you set cash down.

The JCR—the one chest rig we’ve seen to make the most of a blindly modular system—additional expands the chances for a profitable multi-placard “armory” that doesn’t require lugging round armor plates. The thought of 1 host with swappable faceplates is much extra engaging than organising a number of, devoted rigs for various makes use of. However your wants will dictate how crucial or helpful for you.

Written by Tom Marshall