Beez Combat Systems AK Chest Rig

6/24/11 - The BCS AK47 Low Profile Chest Rig from Beez Combat Systems is a light weight chest rig designed to hold five AK47 magazines in five internal compartments with elastic retention.

It's been six years since I reviewed the BCS NIJ Body Armour Carrier from BCS, and since then, Beez Combat Systems has added quite a few more items to their lineup. When Beez contacted me and asked if I was interested in checking out their AK47 chest rig, I said 'yes', but I added the request that he make a version that had lat straps that could be adjusted by pulling foward and down. The main reason why you haven't seen me review too many new chest rigs or non-armour carrying rigs is that none of them are as easy to don and adjust as my old Blackhawk STRIKE Commando chest harness, on which I modifed the straps myself. My main complaint with all the rigs I've come across is that they have can't be adjusted while being worn. You have to take them off, adjust them, put them back on, and repeat the process. If a chest rig is adjusted properly so it's snug, it can be inconvenient to don, especially if you add a jacket or article of bulky clothing. If you want to loosen or tighten the shoulder/lat straps, you're shit out of luck, and need help from a friend, or have to take it off to do it yourself. Most shoulder or lat straps, for some reason, adjust by pulling up and towards the back. That's a physical impossibility for anyone to do that while wearing the rig.

When I modified my BH STRIKE rig, I swapped the strap configuration around so that I could leave them loose, put the rig on, then snug them up to my liking. In the eight years I've had that rig, I haven't had the desire to switch to anything else because of that reason. That's why you still see me wearing it in so many of my photos. So, when I brought this up to Beez, he was very open to the idea, and said 'no problem'. He sent me the standard configuration, and the modified 'pull forward' configuration chest rigs for me to compare.

Description - The BCS AK Chest rig is a system that holds five AK47 magazines in five internal/separate compartments that are retained with oversized elastic pull tab retainers. It measures 22" wide x 9" tall, and has three rows and fourteen columns of PALS webbing across the expanse of the rig, allowing the user to configure it as needed with any molle-compatible pouches. The main body of the rig is made up of two layers of 1000D Cordura nylon, sewn together around the perimeter to form a large pocket. The pocket is accessed through a 10" wide, velcro-secured opening in the middle, with pull tabs.

Two more layers of cordura sewn to the front form the five AK47 magazine compartments. Two layers are necessary as the PALS webbing is sewn to the outer layer, while the inner layer forms the sides, or separators between each compartment. A length of 1" webbing is sewn across the front of the main rig body, just inside the magazine compartments. A webbing eyelet is sewn to the front of the compartment, at the top. Elastic shock cord with an upside-down Y-shaped webbing pull tab retainer is routed through this eyelet and the 1" webbing to provide the magazine retention. The Y-shaped retainer centers itself at the corner of the magazine, whether it's "lips up" or "floorplate up" in the compartment. The compartments are symmetrical, so magazines can be carried with bullets facing left or right. Some AK chest rigs have pouches or compartments that are curved like the AK mag, and limit the orientation a particular way. As a lefty, I'd rather have one that doesn't.

The shoulder straps are configured in a H-harness style, and are made of 1.5" wide webbing. Two 1.5" buckles on the chest allow the shoulders to be released from the rig at the front. The straps go over the shoulders and are connected by a cross-strap below the neck, on the upper back. 1" straps are sewn at this juncture to provide the lat straps. A 1" wide waist belt secures the bottom of the rig around the waist.

BCS is offering two options for the AK47 Chest Rig - a 'Standard' model with the regular lat strap configuration, and the "Pull-forward" model with lat strap configuration that can be adjusted by pulling forward on the lat strap ends. Both models have a lot of strap length, so it can be trimmed by the customer if there's too much excess.

Standard configuration - The Standard configuration has female SR buckles sewn to the upper corners of the rig. The male buckle is attached to the lat strap, which has a triglide for adjustment. As you can see from the photos below, the triglide is in its uppermost position and there's still a lot of extra length left. Normally, I'd just trim that off, but left it on for illustration. To adjust the fit, you don the rig, take it off and adjust the lat strap and shoulder straps. It's an interative process. The position of the shoulder strap triglide can be varied, and excess cut off if needed. So, with the standard model, you pre-adjust the straps and leave them alone. To doff the rig, I found it easier to unbuckle the lat straps as it can be a bit tight coming off.

Note that a strip of molle webbing has been added to the production versions (shown in the third photo below - my samples did not have this), at the inside bottom of the carrier for the attachment of a mag drop pouch

Pull-Forward Configuration Advantages - The advantages to the Pull-forward lat strap configuration over the Standard configuration are that once set up, it can be adjusted by the user to accomodate thicker or thinner clothing, or soft body armour without having to take it off. It's essentially self-adjusting. You pull forward on the pull strap until it's snug, no matter what you're wearing. With the Standard configuration (which is common to most chest rigs), you have to go through that initial iterative process all over again, anytime you need to adjust the strap length. If you want to wear the rig over a thicker field jacket or soft body armour, you'll have to adjust the straps each time.

The Pull-forward configuration is also easier to don, as the lat strap is longer. As I mentioned before, I've used the pull-forward configuration on my old BH STRIKE recon chest rig, which I modified a long time ago, and because of that, keep going back to it over other chest rigs.

In the two photos below, I'm wearing the BCS Pull-forward configuration, but have trimmed the excess strap length to suit my needs, and trimmed the waist belt, getting rid of the 2nd triglide. You can see that it's quite a clean configuration. I'm wearing it over the Crye Blast Belt.

Straps 'cleaned up'

Observations/Notes - Overall construction and quality of BCS gear is generally very good. I did notice that some of the internal webbing ends were not heat sealed, and would tend to fray. I noticed this in the front pocket pull tab, and some of the internal webbing that the shock cord was routed through. The elastic shock cord ends were also not heat sealed and when I went to adjust the retention tabs, the sheath has frayed so I took a lighter to them. I brought this up to Beez, and said 'dude, you need to get a heat cutter.' A heat cutter works better than a lighter, with a cleaner cut that's less likely to unravel. I'm happy to say that Beez invested in one, and now cuts his webbing with it. So, you should be seeing all webbing and shock cord ends heat sealed on subsequent items.

When using the chest rig at the range, I noticed that when the rig has all 5 magazines in it, it's obviously a bit tighter than when empty. When the magazines start coming out of the pouches, the rig flattens out and becomes looser. This is common to all internal-magazine rigs. With the pull-forward lat straps, any changes can be accommodated immediately. If the rig loosens up, I can tug on the pull strap to snug it up a bit, or loosen if I need to. All without having to remove the rig, or get someone to help me adjust it With the weight of 5 mags distributed across the chest, the rig is very stable and comfortable; even without padding on the shoulders.

With 5 mags in the rig, it's still quite slim and low profile - more so that if the mags were in external pouches. I didn't have a need to add any additional pouches at this time, but appreciate the capability to do so later on as needed. The Y-shaped retention tabs worked great, either with bullets up or down in the compartments. The magazines came out smoothly and didn't snag or hang up on anything. I was initially concerned that the two end magazines might be uncomfortable under my arms, but I didn't find it to be the case. Obviously, reloading from the end compartments isn't as fast, so when possible, I move them at first chance the middle 3 compartments as I use those up.

For those looking for a simple molle chest rig with internal AK mag capacity, the BCS rig is a very good option. Especially with the pull-forward lat straps :-). But, I'm biased, of course.

SKD PIG Hydration Carrier

9/23/11 - The PIG Hydration Carrier from SKD Tactical is designed for the Source WXP 2L Hydration Bladder, and offers innovations that increase performance while minimizing bulk and weight.

Description - The PIG Hydration carrier is a tapered hydration carrier made of 500D Cordura nylon, and is designed to fit the Source WXP 2L (70 oz) hydration bladder, or the 50 oz reservoir. The PIG carrier has a unique wedge shape when viewed from the side, measuring about 3" thick at the top, and tapering down to a point at the bottom. It measures about 14" tall x 7" wide at the top, and about 6" wide at the bottom (it tapers slightly when viewed from the rear as well). Near the bottom, there's a 4" wide elastic band which helps keep the bottom of the reservoir from bulging out at the bottom; keeping the side profile of the carrier flatter, and the water distributed more evenly as the reservoir empties.

The carrier is actually open at the sides where the elastic goes into the body, and the elastic runs directly over the bladder. This was done to allow the carrier to expand and contract without adding weight and material since there's no outside channel for the elastic. This configuration works very well, as seen in the photos below of it mounted to my Crye JPC. The side profile is relatively flat.

A wide-profile zippered opening offers easy access to the hydration bladder for refilling and maintenance. The Source 2L bladder (also available from SKD), fits into the carrier perfectly. I've also used the smaller 1.5L Source bladder in the PIG carrier. The PIG Carrier uses 2 short malice clips and 2 long ones to attach to any molle platform. It has six rows and four columns of PALS webbing on the front for attaching other pouches or accessories. A loop velcro patch version is also in the works. Instead of a grommet, the entire bottom of the back panel is made of mesh to aid in drainage and evaporation of condensation. There are hydration tube ports at both top corners of the carrier, allowing the hydration tube to be routed over either shoulder.