Editor-in-Chief’s Note: ITS contributor Chris Sajnog is a former Navy SEAL and current Director of Training at Center Mass Group. 

A few months back my good friends and Fellow Former Frogmen (F3?) over at T3 Gear were kind enough let me try out some of their gear. The gear was free, but I was asked to give them honest feedback on what I liked, and what I didn’t.

It took a few months to put their gear through the paces; gear evaluation takes longer outside of a combat zone. The first piece that I can provide an honest assessment of is the centerpiece of your warrior-wear: the plate carrier.

T3 calls this model the Geronimo Plate Carrier. I’m guessing they named it this as tribute to Operation Geronimo (later changed to Operation Neptune Spear), in which a few of my SEAL brothers paid a little visit to Osama bin Laden.

What T3 Says

Let’s start out with the basic info from the T3 Gear website.

[The] only fully scalable plate carrier in the world: can be changed to 7.62 version including different cummerbunds in less than 2 minutes.

• Geronimo plate carrier size is based on your hard armor plate size, not body size
• Fully adjustable shoulder strap
• Fully adjustable cummerbund adjusts with Velcro® to fit almost anyone
• Will work with SAPI, ESAPI, XSAPI and Swimmer Cut armor plates
• Cummerbund designed to carry 6″ x 6″ side plates internally
• Removable shoulder pads
• Removable side buckle kit
• Comes with triple 5.56 magazine front flap (removable)
• Removable front flap can be replaced with a triple 7.62 front flap (sold separately)
• Cummerbund comes with a 5″ x 10″ pocket to accommodate optional soft armor inserts (sold separately)

Price: $299.99
Made in the USA
Lifetime Warranty

After Two Months

I’ve got to say, T3 didn’t disappoint with the Geronimo Plate Carrier. It’s easily the lightest, most comfortable plate carrier I’ve used. The thing that I like most is that there is plenty of room for me to mount my rifle deep in my shoulder. It covers the vital parts without a lot of extra material to get in the way.

With the last carrier that I used, I had a special technique to mount the rifle by wedging it in-between the side of the carrier and my shoulder. It was stable if I got it right, but if I missed, the buttstock was either too high, too far out, or on my plates. This isn’t an issue with the Geronimo and I can quickly mount the gun right where I want.

I’m not a fan of the cummerbund so it was nice that I could just take it off. I know a lot of guys like it, but it just annoys me and normally I cut it off.

The mag pouches that came with it were pretty good and they should work for you unless you only like a certain type or brand of pouch. They’re low-profile and keep your ammo in place until you want it out. They use small bungee cords instead of Velcro closures, which I like better, but might just be a personal preference. All the adjustments are extremely easy and intuitive. If you’ve ever adjusted the shoulder straps on some plate carriers, you know they can be a real pain in the ass. It’s nice to just open it, adjust and close.

I noticed that I didn’t seem to get as hot wearing this plate carrier compared to others. I’m not sure if it’s because of the design, mesh lining or just that it’s a smaller cut. Whatever the reason, it’s nice. I guess this is to be expected from a group of SEALs with a store on the same base as BUD/S and all the West Coast SEAL Teams. I’m guessing they get a steady stream of Team-guys coming back from deployment and letting them know how to make their kit better.

Final Assessment

I would definitely recommend this plate carrier to anyone going into harm’s way. The only negative I see is the higher price compared to other manufacturers, but, like anything else, you get what you pay for. You need to ask how much your life is worth. Luckily I didn’t have to pay for this, thanks to T3.

This is the first time I was given gear from a company to T&E (while not in the Navy) and I’ve always wondered just how honest reviewers of free gear have been. I can’t speak for them, but if anyone thinks this may be a paid advertisement, wait for my next review of T3 Gear. You’ll learn why my favorite sling is still made by Magpul!

Editor-in-Chief’s Note: ITS contributor Chris Sajnog is a former Navy SEAL and the Director of Training for Center Mass Group, started by two retired Navy SEAL Instructors. Giving people the experience of being trained by the most elite combat unit in the world, Chris is currently a Maritime-Counter-Terrorism and advanced marksmanship Instructor who has trained DOD, DHS, FBI, CIA and multiple foreign allies in all aspects of combat weapons handling, marksmanship and Maritime Operations.

Despite the article title, US Palm certainly makes more than just gear and parts for the AK platform, but our primary focus in this article will be showcasing a few of their AK specifics.

We’ll also be taking a look at two different plate carriers, the Defender MOLLE and the ASP-C (Air Save Plate Carrier) to see how they stack up. Our testing has encompassed the better part of a year and this comprehensive review is the result. There’s a couple of video overviews embedded into this article as well as detailed photos to go along with it.

US PALM

Primary Armament Logistical Manufacturing (US PALM) has been around for the better part of two years now and is focused on making US made products and accessories for the shooting and tactical industry.

Their innovative and much needed improvements to the AK platform are what originally drew us to them. This coupled with their craftsmanship (see below,) is why we have no hesitation in highly recommending their products.

AK Battle Grip

The US PALM AK Battle Grip is huge upgrade to the AK platform and one that was sorely needed. If you’re the owner of an AK, then you’ll know what you’re up against when it comes to the stock plastic or wood grips that stock AKs feature. Personally, my issue was the angle of the grip and the general lack of contouring that contributed to fighting with the stock grip all the time during reloads.

When my weak side had would come off the firearm to grab for another magazine I’d constantly fight to keep it where I wanted it. Not to say it was impossible to control, but I didn’t know what I was missing until I tried out the AK Battle Grip for the first time. It was drastically easier to manipulate the AK one-handed and led to not only being able to stabilize it easier, but ensure it stayed in the direction I wanted it to during mag changes.

The contour of the AK Battle Grip does exactly what US PALM says it does, it drives your hand up to ensure a positive grip. I’d also add that the increased circumference of the Battle Grip aids in stability.

A few of the US Palm accessories like this AK Battle Grip and their AR Grip are manufactured by Tango Down utilizing TD’s aerospace polymer. I say this also because if you’re familiar with Tango Down, you’ll notice their signature Dry-Lok plug in the bottom of the grip. This will enable you to store ear pro, batteries, etc. in the bottom without worry of it getting wet in a downpour.

Another winner with the AK Battle Grip is that it’s designed to fit nearly every AK variant out there, from 47s, 74s, AKMs and RPKs. They’re available in Black, Flat Dark Earth, Brown, Red Bakelite and weigh 5.8 ounces soaking wet.

AK30 Magazine

US Palm’s AK30 represents a significant improvement from other polymer AK mags on the market today. Produced by Tango Down from the same great aerospace polymer, the AK30 certainly gives traditional metal mags some steep competition.

While the AK30 still features a stainless steel internal cage to support the front and rear lugs, the use of polymer is now a proven material by Tango Down with their ARC magazines and by Magpul with their PMAGs. Like we were, you’re probably curious how the feed lips will hold up over repeated abuse.

So far we’ve put around two hundred rounds through the few we have and even dropped full mags repeatedly on their feed lips with no damage reported other than scratching. While further torture testing is certainly in order and coming, we’re very impressed with how they’re built.

The AK30 features a five sided box configuration with a bonded two piece body and one piece endcap that are molecularly bonded. While no disassembly is possible, US PALM states that it’s not necessary. The chrome silicone spring is heat treated, stress relieved and US Mil Spec corrosion resistant coated. Life expectancy for the spring is 100,000+ cycles.

The holes in the follower also allow the gunk and water to easily flow out during cleaning. We haven’t tested this feature, but it appears to function as described. I particularly like that the waffle-pattern body coupled with the ridged spines creates a positive grip during mag changes. More so than the metal mags, hands down.

The AK30 comes in 7.62 x 39 only and available in Black, Brown and Flat Dark Earth; each weighing approx. 7 ounces. Another great option for your existing metal mags is that US PALM is now offering an AK30 rebuild kit to replace the followers and springs with an upgrade to the same follower and spring used in the AK30.

Defender MOLLE and AK Mag Pouches

The Defender MOLLE plate carrier from US PALM is advertised as a complete system that can be easily donned in the middle of the night when you hear that noise that none of us are hoping to hear. We found this to be very accurate, as with the easy to secure straps and many configurations the Defender is available in, it’s certainly fast.

That’s not to say that other plate carriers aren’t also easy to don quickly, just to confirm that it is easy to put the Defender on in a hurry. This is thanks to the large 2″ wide webbing/velcro straps that overlap each other in the lower front of the carrier. Even if you get the straps twisted while you’re putting it on in a hurry they’ll still secure to the velcro enough to allow you to move out quickly.

The only potential that I see with storing this rig next to the bed ready to roll is that you’d have to leave the straps undone and hope that when you grabbed at it in a hurry they didn’t stick to one another and add to the confusion of the moment.

Shoulder strap adjustment is handled though 2″ wide webbing shoulder straps with full length velcro for adjusting to different sizes and shapes. Obviously if you’re tossing this on in the middle of the night, you’d already want to have these properly configured.

The Defender comes standard with a single front IIIa armor panel in the front and a second can be added for the back for a modest price. As prices change you’ll have to check the Website for current pricing, but this is a very cost effective way to have your own body armor at the ready. It will also accommodate plates if necessary, so it’s definitely versatile in that regard. Another thing that gives the Defender versatility is the MOLLE option on the particular Defender we’re reviewing.

As you’ll see in the photos we have this configured with a Triple Cell AK47 Pouch, but the possibilities for configuration on a MOLLE carrier are certainly endless. As mentioned earlier, US PALM also manufactures different versions of the Defender to allow you to have many choices in finding what’s right for you.

The Defender Handgun makes the most sense to me for most home defense use in the case of a home invasion, but if clearing the house with an AR like I would, the Defender AR-15 might make more sense. One last thing to note is the Defender MOLLE features a small 1″ loop strip on the front for attaching a name tape or the last word you want an intruder to read. I know I can think of some choice words for an embroidered name tag!

You can get the Defender MOLLE in 500D Cordura colorways of Black, Coyote, Ranger Green and Multicam with many different size configurations.

ASP-C Air Save Plate Carrier

While we don’t normally publish pricing in articles, I’m going to break our rules by saying that at $399.99 for a US made plate carrier and two Level IV stand-alone plates (US PALM rates at withstanding .308 AP rounds,) the Air Save Plate Carrier is a fantastic deal!

It may be a rectangular design and not contoured as traditional SAPI plates are, but I had no problem getting a good stock-shoulder weld wearing it. The complete package with plates is fairly heavy as far as plates go, weighing 17 lbs. but certainly not unmanageable.

A few features I really like about the ASP-C is the fact that the steel-ceramic composite plates have a rubber grommet around the exterior edge. While adding bulk and bringing them to 3/4″ thick, it’s nice if you set them down on a hard surface.

The 500D Cordura carrier is very nicely made with spacer mesh on the backside of the front, back and removable shoulder pads. The spacer mesh is padded as well which adds to the comfort of wearing 17 lbs. around. Shoulder straps adjust similar to the Defender, but are sewn in versus moving through a looploc like on that rig.

There’s a single row of PALS webbing sewn on each shoulder strap for attaching various accoutrements or pieces of flair if you work at Chachki’s. Plates get inserted though a velcro closure flap at the bottom of each panel, which features a webbing pull tab. The velcro is too strong to be able to use the pull tab as a stand-alone opening method and is more to aid in opening once you get your hand in there to break the hook.

The top two rows of PALS on each side of the carrier are loop covered for attaching identifiers, morale patches or even more flair! There is only one size that the ASP-C comes in, but it adjusts to all the body types we’ve tried the rig on. Lastly on adjustment the sides are secured with sewn webbing and an adjustable ITW Nexus SRB (slide release buckle) for quick release. There’s also a small elastic keeper to secure the loose webbing after adjustment.

The ASP-C is available in one size in either Black, Coyote, Ranger Green or Multicam. Again, we feel this is an incredible deal for Level IV rated plates and a carrier!

Here’s an additional video of US PALM firing different calibers at the ASP-C with Level IV plates:

In the past few years I’ve noticed a big surge in the popularity of hard plate carriers. Not only for the military (those have been around for a while) but for law enforcement and even civilian use.

Trying to navigate through all the companies that are now producing plate carriers can be quite a feat these days. Just Google armor plate carries and you get blasted with acronyms like IOTV, CIRAS, PIG, LVAC, BOAR, RBAV, and PICO among a bunch of others.

Since we’re reviewing the Shellback Tactical BANSHEE Plate Carrier today, we’ll stick with stand alone designs in this article. You might think looking for a stand alone carrier is easy, but there are so many choices in companies, designs, and options. Trying to work through all this can be a real nightmare if you’re a new buyer.

So what do you with your old ballistic vest panels? If you have been in law enforcement or other occupation where you get a new vest roughly every 5 years, you probably have a couple of sets sitting around.

A few years ago I figured there had to be a way to use the panels I’d accumulated, as mine were sitting in the closet collecting dust.

Around that time I came across a video and photos of a Schertz Texas Police cruiser that had taken a bunch of rounds to the front from a AK-47.  The article showed forensics photos of the trajectory the rounds took and had the officer been in the front seat he would have been killed.

While attempting to defeat rifle rounds would only be accomplished by an armored vehicle, it doesn’t take much to send pistol rounds through the windshield, windows and doors.  I came up with a simple solution that got my vest panels out of the closet and into my cruiser. We’ll also talk about other ways you could use this concept in the civilian world. The photos presented here are older, but the concept remains the same and I still carry this system with me today.

About “old” Vests

Let’s talk about “used” vest panels before we go any further. What were talking about here are your vest panels that you have cared for, cleaned properly, and maintained like you’re life depended on it (because well, your life did depend on it). I’m not advocating running out to the nearest surplus store and buying panels out of a pile of Vietnam web gear. If that is the route you want to go because you don’t have your own panels then you do so at your own risk.

Properly cared for ballistic panels will last for years if maintained correctly. I’ll give two examples: A few years ago one of our firearms instructors took his old issued vest (from the mid 80s’) to the range and it stopped everything it was rated against. Our training section also had an old vest they used during knife defense classes that they tried to sick a ice pick through. The old vest stopped it every time.

The Concept

All we’re doing is making a bag to hold the ballistic panels. That’s it. It doesn’t have to be fancy or made out of 10,000 Denier Cordura with quadruple stitching. It should at the very least have handles to make it easy to carry and stitched well enough that it wont fall apart if you need to use it.  As you can see in the photos of the bag I have, there isn’t much to it.

This bag was made by a local Sailmaker. I took my ballistic panels in and gave them a basic idea of what I wanted done. I lucked out as they did a fantastic job with a heavy Cordura type material and heavy stitching. I had two sets of handles made; one set for the top and one set to hold like a shield. The top is secured with heavy Velcro to keep it closed. As you can see in the photos I have both my panels in the bag. Two panels might be an overkill but in this case more might be better because having to deploy it means the crap has hit the fan.

Uses

This idea is pretty simple and can be used in multiple ways.  From throwing it up on the dashboard, holding it against a door, or tossing it to someone pinned down. I keep mine on the passenger seat in my cruiser or take it with me when doing surveillance.

You could keep it at the office or classroom (if you’re a teacher). During the Virginia Tech shooting, students and teachers attempted to hold the doors shut with their bodies. Cho shot through the doors because he knew victims’ were behind them. If I were to design one for a school setting I wound have two separate panels that folded out to give you extra height protection. In effect a soft shield.

There is no reason you couldn’t apply those same ideas at home. Also look at the news footage of the recent tornadoes. You could use this as added protection against flying debris for you or your family while your in your safe room. Think outside the box.

Make one with adjustable handles and you could hang it behind the seat of your cruiser for extra protection.  Yes, officers miss guns on prisoners and yes prisoners can slip their cuffs to the front.

You could also keep it in your TFDV (tactical family deployment vehicle) to help protect your family if the need ever arises. Everyone else has a swagger wagon right? Looking at the recent article on SSG Peoples who confronted the bank robber in Sarasota Florida, he surely could have used something like this.

Bad things tend to happen quickly and without warning. You may not have time to deploy this concept in certain circumstances, but having something like this at your disposal could come in handy. It surely beats having your ballistic panels siting in your closet or garage doing nothing for you.

Please leave us your thoughts and feedback in the comments below. Stay safe out there!

Based on a Naval Special Warfare design, the Mayflower R&C APC (Assault Plate Carrier) represents an evolution in Mayflower’s growing lineup of innovative products and solutions for the military athlete.

Despite being designed as a more “overt” plate carrier with exterior mounting options, we’re still classifying the APC as low-profile due to the versatile form-fitting nature of the design, the significant range of motion the end user is capable of and the lightweight nature of the 500D Cordura construction.

Today we’ll be taking a look at the brand new APC in both the following written review and corresponding video review below.

Assault Plate Carrier

I’ve spent a significant amount of time in the APC since receiving it for evaluation around two months ago. In that time I’ve really been able to get a feel for the multiple design elements that make this carrier stand out, as well as enable me to push myself out of the traditional loadout and shooting style I’m used to with chest rigs and plate carriers.

As designs and safety requirements have evolved in this industry, we’re seeing more thought into integrating side plate armor; as a natural result this has spawned creativity in available cummerbund options. My mention of a traditional loadout is in reference to the standard spare mag placement centered on the shooter’s chest. There’s no arguing this is one of the most optimal placements for those spare magazines and also facilitates quick reloads.

What I’ve been experimenting with is running a “slick” front and just two spare magazines; one in both the right and left side cummerbund. I’ve not only used this as a way to stay more streamlined and mobile, but as a way to work on reloads both right and left handed. I’m in no way advocating that this is the solution in all situations, but it’s been helping my training and I wanted to mention it.

Where this information fits into the design of the APC, is through the versatility of the cummerbund and the optional Triple Mag Insert that I’ll get into in a few paragraphs.

Plate Pockets

As mentioned previously, the APC is designed to provide ample PALS real estate to mount whatever mission essential equipment your needs dictate. We’ll first take a look at the core component of the carrier, the plate pockets.

These are available in two sizes, a small/medium and a large/extra-large. Being 5’10 with a 44″ chest I typically get medium sized carriers and rigs because I find that ordering the next size up leaves me with more adjustment than necessary and I also run medium SAPI plates. There is, however, a notable difference in the available PALS on the upper front and upper rear plate pockets of the S/M vs. the L/XL.

The S/M has a 2 rows x 4 columns in the front, while the rear features a single top row of 4 columns and two upper rows of 6 columns. The L/XL has a 4 x 6 pattern on both the front and back upper sections. The lower sections on both the S/M and L/XL all have 3 rows x 6 columns on both the front and back.

I’ve taken the time to describe this is so you’ll take note of how much wider and taller the upper sections are on the L/XL plate pockets. Because of my chest size I could go to large plates, requiring the larger carrier, but I would have been dealing with a wider and taller carrier than I would have liked.

There’s also the addition of two 3/4″ vertical webbing strips running on each side of the PALS which enable you to clip in a PTT (Push-to-Talk) attachment from comms.

I feel that because of the contoured shape of the upper plate pocket section I was really able to get a nice stock placement without having to “tuck” it behind the carrier as I’ve had to do with other wider plate carrier designs.

Triple Mag Insert and Pockets

The entire upper 10″ wide x 5″ tall section of the plate pocket doubles as an admin pocket featuring internal 1″ elastic sewn into four channels for storing pens, ChemLights or other admin supplies. It’s a contoured pocket accessible via velcro at the top which has more width at the bottom than the top. I found it easy to access items in this pocket when running plates and backers.

A lower kangaroo pocket was designed to hold up to three M4 mags and accepts a brilliant insert from Mayflower R&C called the Triple Mag Insert which is pure awesome! As the kangaroo pocket lacks any kind of retention or separation for the three mags it holds.

The Triple Mag Insert was designed to accomplish those by utilizing velcro to secure the insert to the kangaroo pocket opening, while providing shock cord retention and separation with sewn-in webbing dividers. It’s also made of thin pack Nylon which cuts down on the weight and bulk of the insert.

However, I found that when running plates and backers, the amount of available space in the kangaroo pocket (either with or without the insert) was lacking in width. The sides get squeezed, thus making drawing and re-inserting the outer mags a bit laborious. While re-inserting shouldn’t be much of a concern, the extra tension when drawing them is. I’m hopeful that the production version has accounted for this and just an issue on my pre-production APC.

The real value of the Triple Mag Insert comes in it’s versatility to also be used in the Cummerbund, which I’ll get to below.

Armor

While I may now have you confused about the plate pocket sizing, the simple answer is to order based on your plate size.

They’re sized to accommodate stand alone or in-conjunction with BALCs/ESAPI or Swimmer cut plates. The S/M APC will fit small, medium and 10×12 sized plates. The L/XL APC will fit large and extra-large plates.

The plate pockets will also accommodate soft armor backers if needed to upgrade “in-conjunction with” plates to their full ballistic protection rating. I run the NIJ Certified Velocity Systems VS-33A Level III-A Soft Armor Dyneema Backers behind my SAPI plates. While we’ve mentioned Dyneema isn’t as optimal in contact shot situations, these plate backers and not designed to be worn as stand-alone protection.

Inserting plates and/or backers is a pretty straight forward, yet well thought out design. In the front, there’s simply a flap with hook velcro that tucks around the bottom side of the plate and mates to the loop velcro on the body side of the front plate pocket. On the pre-production version I have, it lacks the strap hanger that’s been integrated into the production models, which lifts the plate up towards the top of the carrier to place it in the optimal position.

Despite my carrier not having this strap, I still felt that the plate adjustment flap did a great job of keeping the plate up where it needed to be in the pocket.

Cummerbund

The PALS compatible cummerbund on the APC is a well thought out design that accepts 6″x 6″ hard armor plates and side soft armor. The APC is also compatible with Mayflower’s suite of modular cummerbund options like their slick cummerbund sans PALS and their mesh cummerbund.

Three different sizes are available in the cummerbund for the APC and only differ in length and available PALS. The small has five columns, medium has seven and large has nine. The rear cummerbund attachment is another simple, yet well thought out design.

You simply lift an outer flap that is pretty much the entire lower rear section of the plate pocket and reveal a large loop velcro field. Utilizing the Velcro One-Wrap side of the cummerbund you simply stack the two sides of the cummerbund over each other and close the flap.

What’s great about the One-Wrap is that the bottom side has hook and the top had loop so it can be stacked, enabling a lower profile and sticking to the overall design elements of this carrier. One-Wrap is a fantastic invention and I can’t say enough about what great cable ties it makes!

The front attachment of the cummerbund is via another large flap that’s essentially the entire lower front half of the plate carrier pocket. If you look in the images you’ll see that the lower corners have 45 degree angles and a small piece of webbing to facilitate easier lifting, which really helps when wearing gloves.

You simply lift the flap and mate the hook and loop ends of each cummerbund to the loop field and close the flap. On the One-Wrap side of each cummerbund is also 5″ tall doubled elastic that really makes a difference in the overall comfort of the carrier. The elastic enables the carrier to fit sung to your body, yet flex and add to the mobility the APC is capable of.

Armor

On each side of the cummerbund you’ll find small offset webbing pull-tabs that easily allow you to access the interior.

Opening it up, you’ll see the larger area for soft armor and a full-width velcro pocket designed for the 6×6 side plates. The velcro-lined interior allows you to position the side plate either forward or back, depending on preference.

What I’ve found is that the interior cummerbund plate pocket is also perfect for the Triple Mag Insert and as described earlier, that’s how I’m running my APC.

With a Triple Mag Insert on both sides of the cummerbund and using Velocity Systems Dyneema IIIA Soft Armor inserts.

Shoulder Straps and Pads

The 2″ wide shoulders straps on the APC feature Mayflower’s velcro-backed webbing adjustment routed through two ITW Looplocs sewn-in on the rear plate pocket. The enables you to separate the front plate pocket from the rear if needed. The straps are sewn to the body side of the front plate pocket as well as bar tacked to the topmost stress point where the strap meets the pocket.

Covering the shoulder straps are the Armor Carrier Padded Shoulder Pieces, which are nicely innovative way to provide comfort and padding to the shoulder area.

They’re designed to also secure to the shoulder strap with two elastic loops, while still allowing easy access through a top flap to route comms wires and hydration tubes.

The body side of the shoulder pieces is made from 3D spacer mesh, which provides cushion and allows for air circulation and heat dissipation from the shoulder area.

I found these to really add to the comfort of this carrier and having run Mayflower’s Lo-Pro rig from our last review, it was definitely a welcome addition.

Notes and Video Review

One last thing to mention is the weight of the APC, I found it came in right at 17 lbs. fully loaded with SAPI plates, soft armor backers and side panels, Source Kangaroo Canteen in its LBT Bladder Pouch and my radio in a OC Tactical Small Radio Pouch. As it ships, the APC weighs just 1lb. 12 oz.

Something I would have liked to have seen on this carrier, is for the PTT webbing on the front to be 1″ webbing (instead of 3/4″). This would facilitate hooking in repair buckles to dock with Mayflower’s extensive line of chest rigs. It’s a feature we highlighted in our previous review of the Low-Profile Armor Carrier and UW Chest Rig. While it’s still possible to attach repair buckles, they don’t hold as well as they would if 1″ webbing was used. Velocity Systems also has a great feature called the SwiftClip attachment system to dock in chest rigs using the ITW Nexus QASM Buckles.

The APC is 100% Made in the USA and comes in MultiCam, Coyote Brown and Black. SKD Tactical is the first retailer to carry the new APC and also running a sale price of $195 on it until January 24th which is $15 off of the $210 SKD will be selling it for. They also only charge $5 for shipping!

Overall the APC is a fantastic plate carrier that’s loaded with features representative of the innovation that’s continuously evolving at Mayflower R&C. You won’t be disappointed with this carrier’s construction or it’s versatility. It truly lives up to the mobility requirements of the military athlete.

Anyone who has ordered anything from SKD Tactical knows that they have some of the best customer service in the business. They also have super fast and inexpensive shipping. When shopping online, they only show what items they have in actual stock so there is never a backorder.

Along with great business practices, they also work with top gear makers to have custom gear designed and sold under the SKD brand. Their newest endeavor is a research and development shop with a full computer assisted design capability.

The Patrol Incident Gear (or PIG) plate carrier is the latest in plate carrier design. It is made 100% in the USA by Eagle Industries so you know you are getting a quality product. You also have to love a product line with a motto like this: “Help the Good Guys Break Things & Kill Bad Guys™“.

History

The PIG plate carrier started life around 2006 as a modified Eagle Industries plate carrier. SKD re-routed the shoulder straps so that they no longer engaged the side release buckles. This gave more room for taking the vest on and off. It also let the plates ride higher. A new internal plate hanger was developed to force the plates to the top of the vest. The pre-production model debuted at the 2007 SHOT Show and was a baseline for what SKD wanted to fix with the current plate carriers, based on customer input. The final version was available for purchase on Christmas Day 2009.

Pre-Production Model

In 2007 I was running a HGSI Woosatch plate carrier. I wasn’t really happy with it. The front always seemed to sag and the fit was pretty loose. No matter what I did, it just didn’t fit right for me. I ordered the pre-production PIG once the MultiCam model came out. As stated, this was a modified Eagle Industries carrier; it had front or rear Velcro sewn on the PALS and the back panel was modified at the bottom to keep the rear plate from digging into your back when seated in a vehicle.

SKD offered some nice perks for those who ordered the pre-production model. You were able to give feedback on what you liked and didn’t like and you also got a very nice discount once the final model was done.

After getting user feedback, SKD wasn’t content with modifying the Eagle Industries carrier over and over, so they completely threw the design out the window.

Custom Solutions

The final production carrier is completely custom built from the ground up. It is by far the most customizable plate carrier on the market. It’s designed to have a low profile and carry any size Small Arms Protective Insert (SAPI) plates (or similar corner cut plates) in the correct location to cover your vital organs. There are separate pockets for NIJ (National Institute of Justice III-A) soft armor backers which are made by Velocity Systems and available through SKD. One of the many cummerbund options is a side plate carrier. You can pick and choose your armor levels based on how you wear the vest.

The PIG has the highest degree of adjustability of any plate carrier I’ve seen. It achieves this by using a ladder system for the shoulder straps. SKD also thought about how and what you carry on the vest, and came up with a Load Integration Kit.

A Plethora of Options

What’s so great about the multiple options is that you can buy the vest to suit your needs right from the start. In my case this vest is used in a LEO capacity for high-risk and active shooter work. Since my anticipated threat level is lower than those overseas I didn’t need the side plate carriers. I also didn’t need the ballistic backers as I would be throwing this vest over my concealable armor. I still wanted to have a MOLLE option on the cummerbund and opted for that over the slick sides.

As you will see, there are plenty of options to choose from. You can dial in the vest to suit your needs right online.

Plate Profile

What I really like about this vest is that the plates ride nice and high. This is in comparison to my HSGI Woosatch carrier, which had the plates much lower. If I adjusted the Woosatch to ride high the whole vest went with it and I would feel like it was choking me out when I sat down in a vehicle.

The PIG will accept SAPI plates ranging from small through extra-large, or any corner cut plate. In my case, I use CPC 10×12 plates. The adjustable plate system pushes the plates to the top of the carrier and holds them securely so that they don’t swim around in the vest. The rear panel holds the plate above the shoulder strap connecting points. This puts it in a optimal position. On my Woosatch the rear plate was always very low.

Weight

The first thing you notice is the weight, or lack thereof. The panels are made of a mix of 500 denier Cordura and pack nylon. This allows the vest to be light but abrasion resistant in the areas that need it. While the weight of the entire vest depends on what you load it down with, it’s definitely lighter than the Woosatch I used to run.

Cummerbund Options

There are four options for the cummerbund, two of which are for 6×6 or 6×8 plates. You can go for a low profile with slick elastic or a MOLLE system with 10 columns and 3 rows of PALS. The MOLLE system has a rear shock cord setup which can be adjusted with the cummerbund attached in the vest. This is a great feature as you can make adjustments without having to take the vest apart.

No matter which cummerbund option you pick you still have the split bib at the front. This option is awesome. You don’t have to unhook the entire front bib to take the vest on and off. In my case I leave the left side of the vest attached and only have to take apart the right side to put the vest on. When I take it off it’s even quicker as I only have to take apart the right side and then unhook the right shoulder strap.

There are small pockets built into the flaps for small items.

This is by far the quickest vest I’ve owned when talking about speed of donning and ditching the entire vest. While it’s not a “releasable” vest, it is very quick to ditch if needed.

Rear Padding

If you run the vest without concealable body armor there is a channel in the back of the vest to help with cooling and comfort. Even with all the padding in the back, the vest does not feel bulky when worn with concealable body armor.

G-Hook Shoulder Pads

I think one of the most unique things about the PIG are the G-Hooks. You have two shoulder pad attachment options when you order the vest. The first is a double D-ring and the second is a side release buckle. What’s nice is that you can mix and match each side if needed.

Both of these systems attach to the shoulder straps via G-Hooks. These are removable hooks which attach to a webbing ladder which runs the full length of the shoulder straps. Along with the front pull buckle it gives you an almost unlimited shoulder strap adjustment.

As I stated above, the side buckle release at the shoulder straps are a huge improvement on the Eagle Industries and HSGI carriers. You can now leave your helmet, headgear, communications or hearing protection, and eyewear on when taking the vest off. Plus, my ears always seemed to take a beating from the shoulder straps with the old vests. Anyone who has worn a loaded down plate carrier knows what I’m talking about.

SKD is continuing to develop the Load Integration Kit which also uses the G-Hooks to attach things like slings and hydration systems.

Final Thoughts

Since the PIG came out there have been several reviews on forums such as AR15.com and M4Carbine.net. These have been written by everyone from civilians to military and police officers. I have yet to see one bad review. I think that shows SKD really put a lot of thought into the development of the PIG.

SKD has several videos which show how to set up the PIG with the various options. This is a nice feature that really helped me make sure I had everything installed as intended.

Sometimes bigger isn’t better and this certainly came true recently when I needed a fix for my TAC vest.

I was having issues with the vest coming apart partially at the sides. The front and rear panels are only held together with Velcro strips. This works fine for concealable body armor but it isn’t optimal for a TAC vest loaded down with gear.In extreme body positions the Velcro would try to separate and that wasn’t good. Like anything velcro, once you start to separate it, it doesn’t take much force to completely undo.

I started searching for a solutions online and came up empty. None of the “big” gear carriers had anything that looked like it would work. All the pre-made strap systems were for mounting things vertically on PALS webbing. In my case I needed to have the straps run parallel and I couldn’t find anything that looked like it would work.

Down Range Gear

Enter Chris at Down Range Gear. While looking at the ITS Tactical review “Fantastic Solution for your Chest Waist Strap” I thought there might be a way to retrofit that strap on my vest. I emailed Chris with photos and explained my problem.

Chris literally emailed me back three minutes later and said he didn’t think that would be the best solution. He suggested a PALS shock cord anchor or strap system. He included photos and I had one of those “why didn’t I think of that” moments. He said he would ship me both systems and I could figure out which one worked best. He offered to exchange the winner so I would have two sets on hand.

Chris quickly produced the two systems and promptly mailed them out. I was very pleased with the quality and craftsmanship of the straps. The front buckles are QASMs and the rear are notched Tri-glide sliders to connect to the PALS.  Chris also included two ITW Nexus GhillieTex slide buckles in case the QASMs took up too much real estate. I messed around with the shock cord and strap systems and chose to go with the straps. This was a perfect solution and now the vest stays together with no issues.

If you ever have the need to get your gear modified or need custom gear made, make sure to check out Down Range Gear!

When we first saw photos of Mayflower Research & Consulting’s Low-Profile Armor Carrier, we were in awe… when we discovered the purpose of the female fastex buckles attached to the front, our jaws dropped!

What we’re reviewing today is a complete package from Mayflower that includes the Low-Profile Armor Carrier with Level IIIA Soft Armor from Velocity Systems and the Mayflower UW Chest Rig (Quick Disconnect).

With the addition of hard armor plates, we feel this combined setup creates the most versatile, modular and lightweight low-vis system available today.

Mayflower R&C proudly uses materials and workmanship that are 100% made in the USA.

Low-Profile Armor Carrier

The most prominent piece of this setup is the Low-Profile Armor Carrier, which provides the ballistic platform to house soft armor, hard armor plates and facilitates the attachment of clip-in chest rigs.

Low-visibility is the overall theme of  everything we’ll be reviewing today, and the Low-Profile Armor Carrier is no exception. It does a tremendous job of concealing armor as we’ll show in the videos below.

The use of 500D Cordura throughout the entire carrier aids in concealability by offering lightweight fabric that mitigates telltale printing and bulk commonly associated with carriers using heavier-weight fabrics. Our medium carrier weighed in at 1.1 lbs. (sans armor w/ female fastex buckles attached)

Mayflower built the Low-Profile Armor Carrier around concealment cut armor which is definitely bucking the trend for military issued soft armor, but a wise choice.

The purpose again behind this system is speed, mobility, concealability, and adaptability. Utilizing some of the other fuller cuts of soft armor such as SPEAR and BALCS would increase the bulk of the system, and take away from it’s intended purpose.

Concealment cut armor still provides adequate protection while minimizing bulk and allowing increased freedom of movement when climbing and running.

As a carrier for PSD or ASOT work the system truly shines. It can be worn under or in-conjunction with indigenous clothing and pass a 5 sec. @ 15 ft. detection test, which means that at a quick glance around 15 ft. you’d never even notice it on.

Features

The carrier features a non-removable 5″ tall elastic cummerbund wrapping with individual adjustment for the right and left. Each side secures to a large 5″ tall loop velcro field by means of a half-moon hook velcro panel and features a small 3/4″ wide tab to aid in removal.

Moving up the carrier yields the removable 1″ female Fastex side-release buckles for the quick attachment of chest rigs. The buckles are ITW-Nexus repair buckles which were originally designed to provide a fast fix in the field for broken sewn-in slide release buckles.

Further above is a large 5″ wide x 3″ tall loop velcro field for patches, IR Flags or unit identifiers.

Shoulder adjustment on the carrier is handled by 2″ wide velcro-backed, color-matched webbing routed through 2″ looplocs towards the rear of the shoulder. This further aids in the low-profile objective of the carrier by only adding 1/8″ of height to the should area.

The webbing shoulder adjustment features small 3/4″ wide tabs like the waist adjustment to aid in removal.

Something we truly appreciate on this carrier are the external plate pockets (front and rear) which make it easy to ditch and don plate armor on the fly without removing the entire carrier and provide additional comfort during long duration wear.

Even with a chest rig clipped into the armor carrier, it’s easy to remove or insert plates.

The plate pockets were built around E-SAPI Plate sizing where a medium carrier will fit medium plates, and so on. Our medium standard SAPI plates fit perfectly in the medium carrier.

The hard plates are secured in the external pockets via a velcro tail that works wonderfully and further reduces bulk found in other systems we’ve seen for securing plates.

Soft armor is accessed through internal 1″ tall velcro seams on the front and rear panels of the carrier.

One last feature of the carrier is the ability to further up-armor with ballistic groin protection. This is done by removable, opposed male and female Fastex slide-release buckles to clip in Mayflower’s Groin Protector Carrier.

This groin protection features seems to run counter to the objective of the armor carrier system, but it’s good to have options.

Soft Armor

While we haven’t shot up our Concealment Cut Level IIIA Velocity Systems Soft Armor Panels, they’re NIJ certified and in compliance with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Standard-0101.04 as incorporated by the NIJ 2005 Interim Requirements for Bullet-Resistant Armor.

They also meet or exceed the USASOC Fragmentation requirements and meet or exceed the DEA test protocol.

The front panel measures 14.75″ at the tallest part of the panel and 18.125″ wide. The back panel measure 18.25″ wide x 15.25″ tall. Together the panels weigh in at 3 lbs. 15 oz.

We’re interested in talking to Doc Roberts about these to see if he’s had a chance to put any through the FBI Body Armor Test Protocol yet.

UW Chest Rig

The last item in the Mayflower R&C modular system is the UW Chest Rig. We’re guessing the UW stands for Unconventional Warfare, as this rig truly lives up to that name. It’s definitely not your typical bulky chest rig that weighs a few pounds.

It’s designed to be a lightweight, streamlined, general purpose, mid-sized vest platform that’s just as concealable as the Low-Profile Armor Carrier.

In fact, it aids in maintaining the low-vis of the armor carrier, as it doesn’t require additional bulk is added to the shoulder area when the complete system is worn. The detachable H-Style Harness is removed, and the chest rig is directly attached to the carrier.

Made of 500D Cordura, the UW Chest Rig weighs in at a mere 11.5 ounces! Lightweight is hardly a proper label for this rig, featherweight seems more fitting to us.

Features

The Molle panel of the UW Chest Rig measures 24″ wide by 7″ tall and features three rows of color-matched PALS webbing three rows tall by 16 columns wide. The top row of PALS is contoured with the taper of the panel and only has 12 colums.

On the top of the panel are three 1″ wide elastic loops for routing antennas, comms wires and hydration bladder tubing.

A color-matched 1″ webbing two-point waist strap is secured with Fastex side-release buckles and completely removable.

Moving up the rig is the four-point detachable H-Harness made out of a single 500D Cordura 2″ wide strip that makes the shoulder straps and connecting shoulder blade area.

The shoulder blade area features a 5″ wide x 2″ tall loop velcro field and shoulder straps feature 3/4″ wide webbing strips for additional routing of antennas, comms wires and hydration bladder tubing.

1″ color-matched webbing creates the adjustable straps that secure to the panel underneath the armpits via Fastex side-release buckles.

These armpit connection points are unique because they’re not used when the rig gets attached to the armor carrier. The six-point configuration of the entire UW Chest Rig becomes a four-point attachment when mounted.

When the H-Harness is removed to facilitate the attachment to the armor carrier, the remaining female portion of each unused Fastex side-release buckle gets tucked into a 1″ elastic retention loop behind the chest rig panel.

The top-most male buckles are then clipped into the armor carrier’s female buckles and secured with the waist strap.

What’s truly exciting about the possibilities of the UW Chest Rig is the ability to have multiple pre-configured chest rigs set up for attachment to the Low-Profile Armor Carrier and switch them out as dictated by your environment, mission requirements or the continuous changing setting in a PSD/ASOT scenario.

Comments

A few comments we’d like to make on the UW Chest Rig are that the waist strap was too long at it’s shortest adjustment to properly secure it over the Low-Profile Armor Carrier. Having a sewn-in adjustment is nice, but doesn’t allow for as much adjustment as it could.

We understand why Mayflower chose to go the sewn-in route on the waist strap though, as it provides a nice way to simply grab the triglides on either side and quickly adjust the length.

Out of necessity we found a great way to make an even quicker method of adjustment for a waist strap. We simply modified a waist strap off of another rig we had lying around that also had male Fastex slide-release buckles on the ends and triglides to anchor the slack.

To make this modification you simply have to unthread the slack on one side of each triglide, double the remaining webbing over and tape a large pull-tab on each side.

By doing this you create a quick-adjust feature in the waist strap. By grasping both tabs with your hands and pulling away from your body, and then in towards your back you can make a nice, tight adjustment to the waist strap.

Check out Video #1 below for a live demonstration of this feature.

In addition to the waist strap, we also ran into the issue of the detachable H-Harness being a bit long. It may have just been torso size of our test dummy, but we had to considerably adjust the armpit webbing straps which lowered the shoulder blade connecting area fairly far down.

It wasn’t anything that caused the rig not to fit, just a note.

One thing we’d love to see with the UW Chest Rig is the ability to open at the top via velcro, in order to store documents/notebooks etc.

That may not be feasible though considering the weight of the 500D Cordura, and needing the male connecting buckles at the top to have all the support they can get.

Closing Notes

We’ve spent a lot of time with this Mayflower system over the last few months putting it through the ringer, which included a week long PSD class. It’s held up phenomenally well and truly lived up to its intended purpose and application.

Other than a few sim round splatter stains it cleaned up great for the photos.

Again, we feel that with the addition of hard armor plates, this combined setup creates the most versatile, modular and lightweight low-vis system available today.

The Low-Profile Armor Carrier and UW Chest Rig are available in the following colors: Coyote Brown: 500D solution dyed, Crye Multicam: 500D, ACU: 500D, Black: 500D, Ranger Green: 500D solution dyed.

All Fastex slide-release buckles featured on the carrier and rig are manufactured by ITW-Nexus.

For more information visit Mayflower Research & Consulting.

Photos and Video Review

This is an update to our previous article concerning the Custom Armor Technologies / Diamondback Tactical RVA3A Level 111a Soft Body Armor.

The armor is now available as a special order through Diamondback Tactical for $625.95, and has a 30-45 day turnaround.

CAT/DBT RVA3A is a custom cut, requiring each individual to send in their measurements to be custom fit. According to DBT this custom cut armor also requires a custom carrier which they offer for $350.95.

We got lucky during one of Tactical Assault Gear’s sales about six months back, and picked up the Advanced Load-Out Bag for 50% off of the $599.95 retail price. We noticed that TAG no longer includes this bag on their Web site during sales, so we feel pretty lucky to have picked one up at a great price.

We’ve been beating this bag up for the past six months and as you can see from the pictures, the only wear spots are around the back wheels from humping it up concrete stairs a few times. This bag has been bombproof so far and exceeded our expectations.

External Frame

The solid frame construction is what drew us to the bag in the first place… Its made of 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum, fully welded and powder coated. Ball-bearing wheels, similar to rollerblade wheels, ride on a one-piece axle with welded ends which prevent wheel wobble. It also features wheel guards to prevent the bag material from getting stuck in the wheels and causing wear.

There is a permanently attached 2″ webbing pull handle to the top frame bar which provides a solid pull by the frame rather than the bag. The pull handle is also extended to prevent the bag from hitting you in the leg while you’re dragging it behind you.

TAG mentioned in an ad that the axle C-Clips from other manufacturers rolling frame bags are flimsy and add to wheel wobble. We’ve personally seen C-Clips come off of the Kelty-made frame on the Eagle Industries Travel Rolling Equipment Cargo Bag and cause a wheel to come off.

The downside to an axle with welded ends, is that there’s no way to replace the wheels or bearings if they go bad. You’d have to cut and re-weld the axle to fix any problems. TAG does have a “no questions asked” lifetime guarantee, so hopefully they’d fix any problems for free, but you’d be out the frame while it was being repaired.

Frame measurements: 38″ tall x 16.25 wide x 10″ deep
Frame weight:  5.4 lbs.

Bag Exterior

The bag is made from 1000D Cordura with the main compartment measuring a whopping 37″ tall x 17.25″ wide x 12.5″ deep, making it one of the largest bags of it’s kind on the market today. It features a fully-zippered lid allowing complete access to the bag’s interior. All zippers throughout the bag feature 550 cord pulls.

Four large 14.5″ x 10.5″ x 2.5″ side pockets line the bag’s exterior (two on each side), with zippered openings that extend 1/3 of the way down each side of the pockets.

Riding on the lid and the top of the bag are clear vinyl document pockets with velcro closures. The lid vinyl pocket measures 11.5″ long x 8.5″ and the top vinyl pocket is 8.5″ x 5.5″

Two large 2″ webbing straps span the distance of the lid of the bag and velcro together to make a carrying handle. There are also three 2″ webbing handle loops on the top, bottom and lid of the bag.

The bag is contoured where it meets up with the wheel guards to allow it to ride over the wheels, without having extra material bunching up. There are also sewn-in plastic stiffeners on each side of the bottom walls of the bag to prevent sagging.

On the underside of the bag, a full-length sleeve houses the external frame, which is backed up by two 2″ webbing compression straps near the wheels to further secure the bag. The compression straps are covered by large velcro flaps that open to allow access to tighten or remove the straps.

Bag weight: 9.2 lbs. (sans frame)  14.6 lbs. (with frame)

Bag Interior

The interior of the bag is what we feel sets the Advanced Load-Out Bag apart from all bags in it’s category. It features two removable 15″ long x 9″ wide x 5″ tall pouches that Velcro into the interior floor of the bag, and three 11″ long x 7.5″ wide x 3″ tall pouches that velcro to one sidewall. The pouches all feature a mesh lid with full zipper and individual 1″ webbing carrying handles.

It’s built very nicely inside, with a full nylon lining and taped seams in the main interior, side pockets and even in the removable mesh pouches. Other than the 2″ loop Velcro strips that line the interior floor and sidewall for the pouches to attach to, the interior has nothing getting in the way of as much gear as you can stuff into it!

Notes

Some things we would have liked to see with this bag is the option to sacrifice two of the exterior pockets for one long padded-pocket to store a rifle. A Blue Force Gear DAP Discreet Case thrown inside alleviates most of our gripe though. An option for removable compression straps would be nice too, but from what we’ve used this bag for, we’ve never felt we HAD to have them.

While expensive, the TAG Advanced Load-Out Bag is by far the best load-out bag any of us here have ever purchased or been issued.

Available direct from TAG in Coyote Tan, Multicam, Ranger Green, ACU and Black www.theoperatorschoice.com