Review: One Source Sneaky Bag on Tacticalyellowvisor.net

Great review of this innovative product here: Tacticalyellowvisor.net Sneaky Bag Review.

This is an innovative product that provides an alternative, non-tactical-looking way to carry essential gear.

Mixing mag shingles - Paraclete and Tactical Tailor

For a while now I've been eyeing the Paraclete's triple M4/triple pistol shingle and recently had the chance to pick one up used. I've been running a Tactical Tailor triple shingle with a 3-mag pistol shingle mounted on the front, and it works fine but I was itching to try something different.

Once I got the Paraclete pouch mounted on my TT MAV it occurred to me that I could run the two triple shingles side-by-side to carry six mags. I lined them up to check out the setup and noticed something interesting.  They don't line up.

Look at the photo below.  The TT pouches are mounted flush with the top of the shingle, while the Paraclete M4 mag pouches sit an inch below the top.  I'm not sure it really matters to me, and I won't know until I try it out.  I may find that it's easier to index a mag without looking if they're all the same height.  So it's worth thinking about if you're considering mixing pouches.

Eagle 2x4 Hybrid Rifle/Pistol Pouch FB Molle

Did you know Eagle has rifle/pistol hybrid pouches that aren't even on its site?  I came across these on Triad Tactical's site - direct link: http://www.triadtactical.com/Double-M4-Quad-1911-Magazine-Pouch.html.

Here's the 1x2 which carries 1x M4 mag and 2x pistol.  There are separate versions for single-stack and double-stack pistol mags.  It's open-top so no flap to cover the mags, but this is an FB pouch so there's a Kydex insert to retain the mags.  UPDATE 1/17/10: It appears that Triad Tactical no longer carries the 1x2.

Here's the 2x4 which carries 2x M4 and 4x pistol mags.  Again it uses FB-style retention and in addition has flaps secured by velcro.

Hybrid pouches can be great in that the overall packaging is more compact than strapping a separate pistol mag pouch onto an M4 shingle. Paraclete, ATS and TAG also make hybrids.

Attaching gear with MALICE clips

I recently came across this great video from HSGI on how to attach their Taco mag pouch using MALICE clips.

If you're not familiar with the right way to use MALICE clips this is a great tutorial on how to get your pouches snugged up tight.  The HSGI Taco is used for the example but the method applies to any modular pouch.

Modular and Belt Pouch Comparison

The Pouch Central Spreadsheet is the most comprehensive source of info about ammo pouches on the internet.

When I started doing carbine training I had to figure out how to navigate the large number of solutions for carrying ammo, and needless to say it was confusing. There are tons of options out there. Folks in the military and law enforcement use this stuff for work so they know this area better than a regular guy like me, but they still often have questions about specific applications. So I put together a spreadsheet to break down the different options and help people compare them.

Here's the pouch comparison spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet has separate tabs for rifle and pistol pouches.  The first tab gives an overview of how to use the spreadsheet, along with definitions of the labels used in the spreadsheet.  The rest of the tabs contain the lists of rifle and pistol pouches.  Both the rifle and pistol pouch info is presented in two different formats: raw data, and filtered data.

If you're not very familiar with ammo pouches, start off with the raw data.  It's formatted for easier browsing and helps provide a good overall picture of what's out there.

If you already know what you're looking for, go straight to the "filtered" tab.  Use the dropdown menus at the top to filter the data down to exactly what you want.  For example if you were looking only for Eagle duty pouches, you would choose "Eagle" from the Manufacturer column and "Yes" from the Belt Attach column.