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Gear,vests, boots, goves, etc...

9674 Views 26 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  triten82
I am saving my money to start buying vests, boots and whatnot. I was wondering what type of items are recomended for someone who is ysing tactis over running and gunning? Also, do any of you who have been to any airsoft events reccomend getting a hydration pack?
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Yes, hydration pack for anything over a half a day game.

Best gear at relatively low prices is made by Blackhawk. There are cheaper "Airsoft" chinese copy's too. Guarder and King Arms make decent stuff. The rest would be not worth the money IMHO (Yes this includes UTG/Leapers, those are made with woven PVC, instead of tactical nylon like Cordura).

There's some really badass stuff made by Tactical Taylor, High Speed Gear Inc, Blackwater, Eagle Industries, 5.11 and SO Tech too, but wait on those until you are ready to make a real commitment.

My prefered gear right now:

HSGI Wasatch Plate Carrier (Added HSGI Hydration pouch, bungee pouch flaps and Medic Pouch) - Khaki. OD in picture.

HSGI Drop Leg Platform Holster - Coyote Brown Including: Eagle Industries Duty Belt. 1 really nice aad functional pistol belt. It's stiff like a old school gunfighters pistol belt with dual buckles. Spectre Single Stack mag pouch adn Gemtech TRL in Coyote Brown.

Converse Combat Boots. I got my wife the Oakley Womens Assault boots :p

Blackhawk S.O.L.A.G. Gloves

Oakley Military Goggles

Multicam BDU's

Just a warning.. once you start down teh



path there's no turning back. and FYI the vest/plate carrier is roughly more expensive then an upgraded AEG.
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As a healthcare provider (EMT Advanced and 4 weeks away from RN), I would second the hydration bladder idea. If you're sweating at all, you should be putting away between a half and a full litre per hour. Even if you're taking it easy, in a four hour game you should put away at least a litre. Most Americans are chronically dehydrated, anyhow.

I would also heartily recommend Blackhawk with two caveats:
1. The colour they promote as "Coyote Brown" or "Khaki" has a lot more in common with OD Green than any brown or tan I've ever seen.
2. It is not made in the US; ironically, most of their gear is made in 'Nam.

For one of my day jobs, I wear a modular vest by Spec Ops Brand that I'm EXTREMELY satisfied with; I'd consider picking up another for airsoft if it weren't so fracking expensive.

Good prices can be gotten on Blackhawk, Surefire and Spec Ops from LA Police Gear. I'm not connected with them in any way other than being an satisfied customer ever since I used them to replace some gear I lost responding to Katrina.

AEX also carries Blackhawk at decent prices, plus has the advantage of being able to fit-test in the showroom.

Peace,
Hans
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Agreed on the hydration bladder topic. Dehydration is a killer. I've been under the Saline IV needle 3 times in my life, and I don't want to do it again. This is what my line of work has to say about it. If you're actually interested in learning something about safe limits of physical effort, read the whole page.

http://www.hooah4health.com/deployment/heat/default.htm

Oh, and the reason that on even the heaviest work load on the hottest temp you only see 1 quart(liter)/hour, is because that's the most water your body can process in an hour in safe limits. You can actually drink yourself to death with water. It's called Saline Intoxication. Basically you flush all of your electrolytes out of your body by drinking too much water too fast. Just some friendly tips.
Cool, thanks for the information, mutch help. Already getting some stuff picked out. Thanks.
Shad:
Only 3 saline IV's?!?! Either you need to drink harder, or make more medic freinds!

Peace,
Hans
lol um yeah.. are you gonna be in a tactical fashion show sometime soon?

Yes the pouches will fit the vest. M.O.L.L.E., S.T.R.I.K.E. and PALS all work and seem to be interchangeable attachement systems.

Hate to say it but the best person to ask if things will work with each other or fit woudl be the actual retailer.

So after you get all this stuff, write up a review and post it here and let us all know how they work ;)
You may want to re-think the Blackhawk hydration pack, depending on what colour scheme you're going with. If you're going with tan, keep in mind that Blackhawk's khaki/tan/coyote brown color is more like Olive Drab than any tan or brown I've ever seen. If you're going black or O.D., you should be fine mixing vendors. I would recommend the Spec Ops H.U.M.P. hydration pack for a more accurate colour match.

I own the SpecOps vest and H.U.M.P. - I don't use it for airsoft (I use it for work), but I've been extremely satisfied with its quality and performance.

Peace,
Hans
Ya know Coyote brown is the stnadard good ol army/marine desert shit brown. Blackhawk used to make gear in desert tan/khaki, , but things like the mil issued moisture wicking undershirts used for desert wear are the coyote/army shit brown, so BHI changed over to coyote brown, because their tan/khaki gear was too light to mix with the SPEARS/MOLLE LBV and Intercepter olive drab/woodland camo vests.

http://aex.fullmetalimage.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=3834
Pic of 1st Marine Div in Iraq 2004. Guy facing the camera wearing Coyote Brown Intercepter over Desert Marpat. Guy in background Woodland Camo vest over Desert Marpat

Thus why we have coyote brown. I personally went with all my newest gear in coyote brown to blend in with my multicam, but it works equally as well with my desert marpat and my old Desert Storm 3 color desert/ OD LBV load out.
I realize Tan, Khaki, and Coyote brown are all supposed to be distinct colours. The thing is, I've ordered pieces of each colour from both Blackhawk and Eagle industries, that, while matching each other, were more green than brown or tan. Unfortunately, they photograph as brown, so I can't post an illustrative photo.

Peace,
Hans
Yup, that was kinda my point. The needed to go with something that will work with both desert and OD. My only other point was Coyote Brown gear will go with a variety of base camo/colors (i.e Multicam, Marpat Desert, 3 Color Desert, Marpat Woodland, etc).
This is some very good advise. I am starting to rethink in the means of multican. I found a good site, http://www.multicampattern.com/ But I am having a hard time finding actual equipment that has an avaliable color of multicam. Can any of you help me? Sorry for any problems.
no prob bud,

www.skdtac.com
I've bought alot of stuff from them and flat rate $5.00 Priority mail shipping. They are kidna the kings of all multicam products right now. Check out theior HSGI Plate Carriers too ;)

BUT!!! I found their source for BDU's here:

https://www.multicamproductions.com

and I found even more recently! There's actually a chinese copy at about half the price, but you have to order them directly from Hong Kong and not too sure about the quality on them.

http://www.airsoftforce.com/product_info.php?cPath=95_136&products_id=568

And if you wanna see hwo the "gear whores" (There's a whole airsoft subculture of gear whores/gerdos) are into multicam looky here:

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=37335&st=120
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Hans said:
Shad:
Only 3 saline IV's?!?! Either you need to drink harder, or make more medic freinds!

Peace,
Hans
I'll extend on the details a bit. The first time, I ended up with 2 liters of Saline and a 1/2 liter of Lactated Rings (long story short, Saline with some sugar for you non medically educated folk) and that was because my platoon had to put up (I'm not going to go into jargon) a 300 meter razor wire fence in chemical gear and my drinking hose on my mask was busted. I didn't want to be the guy that "pussed out", so I sucked it up and kept working (stupid in hindsight). First time was pretty bad, as you can tell. Second time was in Kuwait when I was "acclimating", and that was just a 500ml of Saline because I felt a like shit on a range. Third time was kind of self inflicted because I got too into the work I was doing and didn't think about water enough (also in Kuwait, sadly). I've got plenty of medic friends, but sometimes, you just have to resist the urge to play "Billy Badass" and take some safety measures. These are the lessons I've learned, anyway.
If you are looking for cheap stuff try a local army surplus stor you can get used stuff pretty cheap they usualy let you pic and choose so just pic the newest
Any of you know where I can get something like this in multy cam? http://www.diamondbacktactical.com/Hardcore-Camo-Kit-Desert-Tan-P267C55.aspx I recently got my tactical 9 sniper and some of my budys and me do airsoft stuff together and I like to play the part of sniper but it is kind of hard trying to stay in one position when you stick out like a sour thumb. Oh and does anyone know the best way to put one of these suits together or a toutorial of how to set one up?
Hmm a ghillie suit... Well no on the multicam. Best thing you sould do is buy the fabric in bolts direct from CRYE www.cryeprecision.com. But a Ghillie suit is an entirely different thing.

No need to spend so much on a kit. Kinda funny that kit includes 2 tubes of Shoe Goo.

Here's some that are already built up and ready to use:

http://search.cheaperthandirt.com/s...test&getfields=price&getfields=image&filter=p
Their shipping prices suck though.

http://www.majorsurplusnsurvival.co...Code=MSS&Product_Code=025782&Category_Code=23
If you live in So Cal, it's best just to go to this store. Down the street from Airsoft Extreme.
The most important item: BDUs (good boots being second) that match the terrain as well as possible. Lately, I've been going out in just ACUs with my G36C, two midcaps, and a quick loader. So far, I seem to be doing ok. ;) That would also be one advantage of the G36 series, and other guns like them. The mags clip together without having to buy a clip or anything. I also just realized that obviously, good eye protection would be most important, but I assume you already knew that. ;)
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