Parashooter Pathfinder: An Adaptable Chest Rig

Parashooter Pathfinder

Parashooter Gear is a small semi-custom tactical nylon store that has executed a wonderful job of filling some market niches with well-made and modern gear. We beforehand reviewed their AK-centric VOLK chest rig which served us effectively in coaching. Extra not too long ago, they launched a brand new rig known as the Pathfinder. The premise is easy: a flat-laying multi-cell panel with laser reduce slots to connect MOLLE/PALS type pouches on the entrance, with a delicate hook-and-loop panel on the again for a drop down or “dangler” type pouch. The Pathfinder is offered in three totally different sizes: 3-, 5-, and 7-cell. We selected to separate the distinction and assessment the 5-magazine mannequin. Pricing ranges from $85 to $150 relying on dimension.

Above: Pathfinder chest rig totally loaded with drop-pouch.

After the market endured a gentle firehose of mini- and micro-sized chest rigs coming to marketplace for the higher a part of the final decade, there’s been a palpable shift within the variety of new chest rigs being scaled as much as accommodate extra ammo and extra load carriage. There are two primary colleges of thought that go into this dichotomy. 

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One idea is that “ounces equal kilos, and kilos equal ache”. In addition to batteries and water, loaded magazines are one of many heaviest stuff you’ll in all probability have in your loadout. Smaller rigs are additionally simpler to hide when worn, with a big hoodie or windbreaker usually being sufficient to utterly conceal a 2- or 3-mag chest rig. Lastly, it may be pretty argued that the chances are fairly slim for a ready citizen getting right into a protracted gunfight that may require greater than 60-100 rounds. Even when this does wind up being the case, you may carry fewer mags in your package whereas retaining extra pre-staged in your own home, automotive, or bugout bag. 

Above: Pathfinder plate service with elastic stomach strap. 

Juxtaposed to this philosophy is the concept the ready citizen have to be able to self-sustaining extra totally for longer intervals of time throughout a protracted emergency. Whereas this may not essentially embody extra capturing, bigger chest rigs may carry extra different stuff that’s shortly accessible on the transfer. Loading up a 100-pound pack is nice in idea, but when it’s a must to cease, drop your pack, and dig by it for each little gadget or instrument in your stock, this may be time-consuming and even detrimental to survival. Having extra of these instruments using in your chest not solely will increase accessibility however balances whole load weight to make motion simpler.

Pathfinder Setup

The 5-cell Pathfinder is designed to carry 5 30-round AR-pattern magazines, however we now have seen pictures within the wild of those rigs carrying some kinds of AK mags with out challenge. However bigger .30 caliber magazines comparable to AR-10, FAL, M1A, and so on might be too massive to suit into the Pathfinder. Every journal pouch has 2 columns of laser-cut attachment slots, for a complete of 10 rows of webbing on our take a look at pattern. The rig ships with two male-end facet launch buckles on the highest, permitting the Pathfinder to be clipped immediately onto plate carriers or net harnesses that have already got matched feminine attachment {hardware}. For many who want to use this as a standalone chest rig, there are two loops on every finish of the placard, and 4 split-bar feminine buckles are included within the packaging. The harness you see right here was provided by Parashooter for assessment functions, however any commonplace chest rig harness with the identical sized buckles will work. It must also be famous that the magazine pockets wouldn’t have any lively retention and depend on elastic stress. That is in all probability superb for many functions however, in case you need an over-the-top bungee, there are small “tabs” constructed into the highest of every pouch with two holes pre-punched in every for passing bungee wire by. 

Above: Pathfinder chest rig with out drop pouch.

After years of operating reduced-footprint micro chest rigs, we had been pleasantly shocked with how a lot attachment room we had with the Pathfinder. To take advantage of the obtainable load house, we hooked up the next pouches:

1. An XL Multi-Function Pouch from Arbor Arms. The MFP is precisely because the title describes. A big flap-closure, bucket-style pouch meant to carry no matter you may slot in it. On this case, we stuffed it with an Armasight PVS-14 white phosphorous night time imaginative and prescient monocular, with Wilcox dovetail mount, and a Crye Precision NightCap.

Above: Pathfinder Multi-function pouch unpacked. Simply shops helpful tools like this night time imaginative and prescient optic.

The NightCap is a soft-cover various to mounting night time imaginative and prescient on a helmet for conditions the place it’s essential use your NVGs hands-free, however don’t require the ballistic or bump safety of a helmet. It’s an incredible piece of package that reduces the burden and bulk of an evening imaginative and prescient setup from one thing that must be saved gingerly in a pack to one thing that may be balled up across the PVS unit and slid right into a chest pouch for quick entry. The one draw back to the Night time Cap is that it doesn’t include the mounting shroud, however we had been capable of get a Wilcox shroud from our mates at Night Vision Network.

Above: Pathfinder Multi-purpose pouch full of night time imaginative and prescient optic and head gear.

2. An HSGI Bleeder Blowout Pouch. This slender, vertically-oriented med pouch has a quick-release buckle as effectively Velcro closure choices. There’s simply sufficient room for important medical provides, plus a pocket for shears. The MOLLE loops on both facet of the pouch assist plus up storage functionality. We adorned one facet with a Grey Man Tactical STRAP TQ to carry a Tourniquet. 

Above: Shut up of the Pathfinder Bleeder Blowout Pouch.

3. One Unobtanium Gear frag grenade pouch. These pouches, designed by Longship Designs and obtainable by Unobtanium Gear, had been initially designed to be small footprint, ultra-low-bulk pouches for navy challenge fragmentation grenades. Since we are able to’t discover any of these, it has served as a wonderful place to stash a smoke grenade from IWA International. These palm-sized sign aids use a handy pull-pin fuse, are waterproofed, and put out cloud for its dimension. These may be efficient for getting folks’s consideration and signaling for assist, or presumably making a helpful distraction. 

4. Talking of grenades, we additionally added two USGI surplus grenade pouches. These are cheap, sturdy pouches that make nice general-use pouches for small provides like compasses, batteries, and fire-starting materials. We scored these off a navy surplus web site for $2.50 every. We don’t spend a number of time speaking about surplus pouches as they’re not often essentially the most modern or attention-grabbing pouch decisions in any state of affairs, however they’re an instance of how one can get well-built gear at dust low cost costs.  

Chest Rig Use Circumstances

Along with the improved load-bearing profit, standalone chest rigs make an incredible scalable load-out possibility when paired with an unadorned armor service. We used a Slick plate carrier from First Spear as a companion armor base for the Pathfinder. The Slick is probably essentially the most minimalist plate service we’ve seen. It’s only a skinny, performance-fabric shell to carry plates. No delicate armor, no functionality to mount pouches or placards – simply most concealment. With out plates, the service is skinny sufficient to ball up and stuff within the leg pocket of your cargo pants. For those who’re in a state of affairs the place you need armor, however aren’t positive in case you want extra gear, the Slick is nice “first line” safety that may be quickly and considerably scaled up by merely placing the Pathfinder on over it. Whereas it’s not as handy as a full-blown tactical plate service, the two-part system can be utilized in a greater diversity of conditions, and layered on the fly, retaining your “posture” unobtrusive however your capabilities strong. 

Above: Pathfinders’ minimalist strategy makes sporting the chest rig simple to put on in a large number of conditions. 

This precept may be distilled even additional down. If you don’t mount any pouches to the entrance of the Pathfinder, it’s elastic journal cells — even when loaded — are skinny and unobtrusive. Utilizing it only for spare mags, whereas carrying the remainder of your gear in a pack, offers you much more modularity to create and re-create a picked-for-mission gear bundle as the character of an unexpected disaster morphs over time. And, with 150 rounds on faucet, you’ve acquired loads of firepower to go round to survival tribe- and team-mates.

Written by Tom Marshall