Home Front: Battle belt

There is a lot to be said for having a go-bag, get-home-bag or bug-out bag ready and kitted out for those dire-circumstances where you need bare-necessities to make it to a secondary location.  But sometimes, requirement for action is a little less dire, demanding light-weight gear in limited capacity, but needs to be ready to go.  

One such method is to have a battle-belt. In my case I have set out to build a camping/hiking belt that has all the things I might find needful whilst out on the trail or if I needed to blaze one of my own. 

I've been modifying its setup for some time adding things, moving things and testing it on every hike we go on. The current setup has been pretty stable, both physically but also dynamically. 

I've included, hydration, first aid, navigation, fire-lighting and shelter options as well as storage space for other pieces of kit.

I started off with my Heavy Cover 
Titanium canteen and nesting cup in a GGG tactical pouch that I found in my collection. I put this central at the back of the belt for weight distribution. This gives me 37oz (1.1L) of water ready to go as well as a cook-pot and water sterilization (by boiling) method, on my person. Left of the canteen pouch is an older Platatac radio pouch that I use to house a ferrocerium rod and striker combo, a bic lighter, a set of medical sheers and a folding saw. 

So I have fire-making options and fire-crafting options. to the left of the radio/fire pouch is a three-pocket admin pouch where I keep a Sharpie, a pencil, sharpener, crayons a small note-book and space for my phone, as well as space for additional items. Right of the canteen is a Blackhawk Stealth Weapon Catch which holds a Go! outfitters Landing Pad mini-tarp for some single person shelter. To the right of that i have a tear-open GGG IFAK, that i've filled with a variety of bandages, gloves and the like, along with a CAT tourniquet  for extreme bad-times recovery and a Gerber Crisis Hook to round out the rescue/aid pouch.

To the right of the IFAK is a large Kryptek Highlander pattern pouch that contains a 100 foot spool of Go! Outfitters reflective guy-line as well as my emergency IR helmet strobe. I also have a couple of bundled hanks of paracord, one half of a set of pocket binoculars, and an Extac Australia Pocket Shot along with the arrow brush fitting and a couple of bags worth of marbles and bb's as ammunition. 

Finishing up the items carried on the belt is a collapsible mesh sided platatac ld dump-pouch, for foraged or salvaged items, and a horizontally slung ZU Bladeworx Grunt fixed blade knife that sits at belt-buckle level. A very sturdy tool for cutting, battoning and all manner of blade-craft. 

After its first big outing I realized that I needed to add shoulder straps to assist with its bulk and weight, so I rigged up some harness straps with some recycled kiddy car-seat straps.  With a little adjustment, I've managed to distribute the weight of all the items and keep it stable for those long hikes, or short dashes.

The belt that forms the basis of this set up is a Propper 360 riggers belt that has a hook and loop and locking bar fixture as well placed attachment ring for attaching safety lines or other retention systems. This belt runs through an older Platatac 3s belt pad that has PALS/MOLLE loops throughout and suspender loops as well as a breathable mesh padding. 

I think I might upgrade this ad-hoc system to something purpose made, like the Platatac bk harness perhaps, but for now, this whole rig lives in my room on the back of my desk chair, ready to throw on at a moments notice before rushing out to confront whatever adventure or misfortune may come my way.

Anything i'm missing or should add or remove? 

Review: Stilletto titanium nail puller

I do love a  good salvage. Whether it be road-side junk-swap, flea market bargain or dump-harvest the idea of junk salvage strikes a deep chord in me from both a 

post-apocalypse survivor point of view  and 80's kids sci-fi. That said, sometimes having the right tool for the job, especially if you're working with aged or non standard materials. I do like to recycle timber, for garden-beds and storage shelf construction, and getting the nails out can sometimes be a real pain, especially in well seasoned hardwood pallets.  

Previously I have made do with my pair of  demolition hammers (the Dead-On Annihilator and the Stanley Fat-MAX FUBAR) which are brute force tools, even when paired with pry tools such as Jimmy and the ever rugged Breacher bar. I've had a lot of success with this combination of tools but they're inelegant. I'm also a sucker for titanium. I know its not a miracle metal, neither mithril nor vibranium/ adamantium but its pretty rad.

Now on to the tool!

This is the original Stiletto Titanium framing nail puller with the Patented nail removal feature! In essence it is a 30.48cm ( 11.5") pry bar, made of one piece of titanium. It has an open-truss design to cut weight but retain rigidity, weighing in at 300g (8.5 Oz)

One end features a standard cloven hoof pry edge, which is quite pointy, for aggressive purchase finding, and the other end its a cat's paw, 90 degree pry bar, with a similarly pointy tined  cloven end, and a smooth, rounded fulcrum for mark-free nail-pulling. The key feature of the cats-paw end is the perpendicular dimpler. This open-ended conical protrusion is used to punch a circular indentation into the wood,below the level of the head of the nail, in order to allow either of the pry ends to find purchase and pull them out. This is achieved by centering the open end of the dimpler around the had of the nail and striking the back face with a hammer, hard enough to drive a dimple into the wood around the nail-head. 

The dimpler has an internal diameter of 1cm (0.4") which should be plenty big enough for common nails found in timber. Stiletto specifically state it be used for "common nails" only

 

The divot allows the tines of the nail pullers to be worked under the nail-head without gouging the wood too much ( divot aside). I found that for especially stubborn or embedded nails ( or punched down, or otherwise deep) that the tines can be driven in by hammering in the tool from the other end. It should be worth noting that Stilleto claim the titanium strike faces outlast steel bars 3X longer - doesn't spall, crack & mushroom like steel bars. I also use the back face of the cats-paw to drive some nails, and though it took some transfer marks, the satin matte finish was un-marred. It's a bit light to act as a hammer effectively but in a pinch, just fine. 

The open truss body is clean edged and smooth to the hand, allowing a strong grip be taken without roughing up your hand.

The shaft of the tool is slim enough to be threaded through PALS/MOLLE channels, for belt, pack or carrier  carry, but I wnt through my leather scraps bag and whipped up a quick holster with a belt loop for my use. I look forward to easy break-down of pallets and furniture for firewood or lumber needs.

Its a great tool, multi-functional, rugged and fit for purpose. 

Review: Streamlight - Wedge flashlight

Sharpie for Scale

I'd been without an EDC flashlight since loaning mine to Tactical Baby for school camp, never to be heard of again. (the light, not the TB, she had a blast). I made do with a petrol-station bargain bin LED light that was usually functional but not especially bright or reliable. So when an opportunity came up to  try out another I jumped at it. I had never heard of Streamlight or their Wedge light but as soon as I looked it up I knew it was the next light or me.

 

I liked the look of its sleek but robust design, bulkier than a pen-light and that it looked like it was designed for both pocket and PALS/MOLLE carriage. I have a Fellhoelter bolt-action pen light on my Hazard 4 chest harness (which is pretty much my principle EDC go-to), but its not much more than a "dropped my keys" or pupil-dilation checking tool. 

The Wedge has a pleasant solid heft to it at 4oz (113.4g) and it fits the hand nicely, with the finger groves fall naturally into index and pointer fingers, placing the wheel button squarely under the thumb. The heel of the palm seats the butt-end of the light, tucked in securely by the pinkie finger. It measures 5 4/5"X 2/5"X ~1" (13.87 x 1.52 x 2.54 cm) overall, ( not counting the subtle pen clip ( which is reversible for lefties or righties). I tend to wear it in my front right pants pocket with the short paracord loop easily hookable for easy access. A month of daily carry has worn the anodizing of the tip, to zero functional effect.

candle Mode 

The light is activated by rolling the wheel button forward to the stable mid point, producing a bright, clear white light rated at  300 Lumen. This is the Constant-On Mode, which has a 3 hour runtime. When engaged, a small green LED behind the wheel is illuminated. This seems redundant as the main emitter LED is very clear. My own testing has the battery life lasting over 4 hours but 3 hours is a safe benchmark.  The green LED shifts to red when battery life is low, which is a nice feature. Even after my 4 hour test it wasn't especially hot either which was nice, the heat-sink of the all metal body works well. 

Standard mode activate

The built-in Lithium Polymer batteries are charged via a recessed, waterproofed USB-C port in the butt of the Wedge. When charging, the behind-the-wheel LED is red until full charge at which point the indicator light goes green.

But this is where the extra distance on the wheel button comes in. If you push the wheel beyond the constant-on mid-point, you activate the THRO, (Temporarily Heightened Regulated Output) mode. This kicks the constant-on 300 Lumen up to a dazzling 1000 Lumen output. Light throw is rated at 225' (69m) at constant-on and 360' (110m) in THRO mode. One thing that impressed me was the wide cone of light, with the main cone being around 120 degrees wide, with a secondary cone at around 160 degrees. This extra wide beam provides for an almost full room coverage from a doorway, which is very handy for those "bump in the night" investigations or "where did that battery roll under the bed" searches.

The constant-on setting is standard, with the THRO mode requiring constant forwards pressure to maintain it, such that an initial push forwards may move directly to THRO-mode then back to constant-on. This isn't too much of an issue, but I did find that some finesse was required to switch it on without moving to THRO-mode, or flickering ON/OFF. That can be a little annoying, specifically because when I want light, I want constant, stable light NOW. 

THRO mode active: wider, brighter, longer

Another thing I like about this light is its slim but not skinny-size making it convenient to deploy in a pocket, on a belt or even in the channels of PALS/MOLLE. Perfect for placement on a chest-rig or on a pouch. It's a snug fit, especially on a rigid surface, but that adds to the security of it's carry. The para-cord fob allows for easy draw, and just like that you have the utility of a bright sharp white light at the slide of a thumb.

The base of the light, even with its recessed USB-C charging port and pen clip sits flat nicely allowing the Wedge to be stood up in "candle mode" and given it's wide arc, it will illuminate a whole tent, room or goodly sized cave. 

MOLLE carry

The lens glass is slightly inset from the rim of the frame, offering it some measure of protection against  scratches and impacts. Whilst I wouldn't recommend using it as such  I suppose one could grip it like a kubaton for self defense purposes. Every tool is a weapon if your imagination can stretch far enough. It's not going to do you as a set of brass knuckles, but if you ice-pick your grip you'll make a bit of a impact focus point, even if you have to drive the switch with your pinky. Good for temple-indexing, OK for cool. 

ergonomics

I really like how the light indexes in my hand, how easy it is to activate and the sheer volume of the light it emits. It is certainly one of the most powerful lights (especially for its size) that I've had. Its sleek form factor makes it unobtrusive and easy carry and quick to deploy. My only complaint would be that the thumb switch slips back from ON to OFF too easily, if its not seated quite right. This may "wear-in" over time, and hopefully in the right direction, but isn't enough to put me off this light. I've subsequently found that flicking it to "ON" then getting my thumb of the dial reduces this stutter effect, so i'm willing to concede some user error may be in play here

One last thing, if you ever felt the need to illuminate your brain, the emitter end will fit up the standard adult nostril and will light your honker up like Rudolph. Tastes like Crayons too.

Review: MyMedic - MyFAK

Accidents happen. Burns, cuts, bumps and breaks can come to anyone at any time.  Having a first-aid kit to hand is a vital element to anyones preparedness loadout or lifestyle. Whether you're hiking in the bush, cutting firewood, camping, on a road trip, driving nails in the backyard or hitting pipe in the sandbox you'll want to be able to plug holes and tend to boo-boos to get on with the task at hand. I keep a generic first aid kit in the bottom of my day-bag, and have a small IFAK on my hiking belt, but there are some jobs they just aren't up to and frankly, being stuffed in the bottom of a pack does not make for rapid treatment in a critical situation.

This is where something like the purpose built MyFAK from My Medic comes into its own. Jam-packed with a very comprehensive collection of needful and useful items for treating a variety of ailments and accidental injuries. It does so all encompassed in a tactically minded form-factor. 

 With contents suitable for airway, bleeding, burn, hydration, outdoor safety, sprains and fractures and specialty surgical incident as well as topical treatment, the MyFAK  has packs that caters to both Basic and Advanced First Aid needs. (Available in two different configurations to suit your ability and need).

"By ordering MyMedic First Aid Kits you warrant that you have the required training and authorization to use the medical supplies contained within. MyMedic assumes no liability for their misuse."

  

https://mymedic.com/collections/first-aid-kits/products/myfak-firstaidkit

The 1000D cordura pouch measures 6.5" wide, 7.5" tall and 5" deep, its no slouch. The advanced kit weighs 1275g, the same size basic weighs a mear 975g. The front of the pouch is rigged with 6" of loop field, in 3 2" strips, with a secondary layer of 1" strips straddling these to provide 4 channels of MOLLE attachment, for those of us who like pouches on our pouches or for stowing additional accessories likepens, lights, cyalume sticks or pry-bars. A 1" wide nylon strap runs all the way around the pouch, with a fastex buckle to keep it fully secured to the backing and fully closed> This is especially important as the backing, which features not only two press-stud closure MOLLE straps but the entire back is hook and loop for tear-away capability. a 1" nylon grab handle allows for positive grip and when unbuckled the MyFAK can be torn off your pack, or load bearing gear for ease of access or to pass on to someone who needs it.

The rip-away design makes for ease of access for what is otherwise quite a bulky pouch. being able to get at it without it being strapped to yourself or a pack would greatly improve your ability to get the components you need in a timely and efficient fashion. Crucial in a medical crisis. The fastex clip is no hindrance to access and does a great job in securing the pouch, but it has two easy-grip rubber toggles with medic crosses to pull the oversized zippers open. A lightly hook-and-looped nylon tab acts as a pull tab to assist in pulling the pouch open and holding it spread. Folding down to the front loop fields to stow out of the way when not in use.

The pouches hook field backing also means once removed it can be stuck to other loop-field surfaces at your leisure.

Opening the pouch up reveals its Tri-Fold Design

MyMedic created this pouch to give you quick access to your First Aid Supplies. This tri-fold design makes it easy to see what you need, when you need it.

Working from the innermost layer forwards the front the back panel has three Elastic webbing loops to contain items, a mylar space blanket, a hank of paracord, a cyalume stick and a RATS tourniquet. Behind that are two pockets with bandages, including quick-Clot and a chest seal. The back most pocket has a hook and loop  closure tab to keep it closed until needed.

The middle panel has more elastic webbing securing more bandages, irrigation saline and suture kits. An additional pocket behind the elastic webbing holds a compressed compression bandage.

I'm really impressed with the amount of material squeezed into this kit, both by clever arrangement of pockets but also arrangement of items. I was tempted to reorganise the kit but quickly recognised I wasn't going to get it any better packed or sorted.



The third section of the internals is the zippered mesh lind pocket panel. It is filled with small items; medications, electrolyte sachets, swabs, lotions and gloves. The section is itself a tear-away as well allowing you to pass it over or just get at it without disturbing the rest of your pristine supplies.

Whilst the rest of the kit is full of bandages, burn kits, and hole closers, the medication pouch holds pain killers, anti-inflammatories, anti nausea and anti-dirorrerals and electrolytes. The mesh panel allows the plastic pouch wrapped medications to be rummaged through. Good if you find yourself off-Oregon trail and not fancying dying of dysentery.  The flip side of the medication pouch provides a smooth field for laying out items: bandages, sutures, tweezers and such as you work on your patient, or just as a cover to prevent debris falling in your kit.

So, apart from being jam-packed with all kinds of goodies and needfuls, being well put together as far as design and layout, and having an excellent quick-release and access options go, this is an excellent First Aid kit.

I find it a bit bulky and heavy to put on my person, say on a battle-belt or on a plate carrier, except maybe on the back. Personally I feel it's suitable to go on a pack, or on a dedicated medic's harness. One thing I saw on their webpage and successfully tried myself was fitting  it to the headrest of my drivers-side car seat. Putting it in easy reach for shot-gun or back seat passengers should the need for road-side assistance come up.

Secured by its Molle straps, to the headrest prongs, it can be accessed by its quick release Fastex clip and pulled free by the webbing drag handle. If needed it could then be reattached in an upright position and unfolded to access its components in a secured place for out the door or back seat triage as needed. Perfect for on-the-move treatment. 

I have a Cert 1 in first aid which is basically: bites, breaks, bleeds and burns and I feel the contents and setup of this kit is more than adequate for my needs, and beyond what I'm trained for in its Advanced format, but not beyond my ability in extremis.

Review: MIG - SORD Mad-Stick holster

My mate Shane from Rhino Ropework (note: they've gone through a branding change recently, now trading as MIG (Mark's Innovative Gear) have teamed up with my friends over at SORD Australia to put together a line of pouches for the most excellent and useful MADSticks by Rhino Ropeworks. You'll recall the MAD Sticks are a compact solid breaching and pry bar, and be pleased to note that they've gone through some more design iterations and are even madder!

One aspect that Shane / Mark wanted to address, is their very pointyness, which even when looped through PALS/MOLLE, can jab and scrape, and the pen-clip type retaining clip sometimes just weren't up to the rugged outdoor needs of some folks, so he and SORD Australia have come up with this 1000d Cordura pouch. I experienced the need for this myself after months of carrying the MAD-Stick around in my fairly rugged Mystery Ranch 1DAP , the point worked its way through the Cordura nylon and stated to poke me in he sides as I walked. This I could mitigate by shifting it around but one time I picked the pack up and the MAD-Stick fell right out and nearly spiked me in the foot.

  As I'd rather not have this happen whilst out in public I had to retire it from my EDC until they good folks and MIG could set me up with a holster.

One did magically appear shortly after I got in touch with MIG, cudos to their customer service. So. The Holster. The MAD Stick is a 400mm (15.7") long, 12.7 mm (0.50" yeah, fifty cal!) length of 4140 high tensile tool steel,  and the SORD design suits it perfectly. Not too snug as to make drawing it an issue, not so loose as to let it rattle about.
The main opening flap is rimmed with hook and loop strips to secure the stick, and backed up with a webbing strap and a Fastex style clip to ad bomb-proof jump-safety to it. Nobody wants to accidentally catch a MAD-stick I assure you. The heavy 1000D Cordura lends itself nicely to giving the whole holster structure and it is heavily stitched throughout. inside the opening flap is a "pointy end down" indicator graphic, but the holster itself is ambivalent. a metal grommet in the bottom of the holster acts more as a drainage point than as a capture point for the spike.  I have also found the chisel end doesn't pull at the hook and loop closures as much as the spike end when doing vigorous runs.
Speaking of attachment:
The back side of the holster features two PALS/MOLLE straps with reinforced stiff panels and a terminal hook and loop strip closure.
Each strip is suitable for 3 rows of MOLLE attachment for a very sturdy fixture. You could strap it to the back of a plate carrier, to the side of a pack or even off the hip of a MOLlE equipped battle-belt such as the Platatac Bongo or SICC belts.

The black holster by itself is fairly innocuous looking but at 16" long it will stand out swinging on your hip. Not very Grey-man. The side-panels of my 1DAP are already pretty crowded so I stow the whole thing inside my pack, unsecured but safely wedged in now that I'm not worried about pointy ends jabbing though my pack. Check out the whole MIG range and new developments here: Now I can keep my totally legitimately useful / rescue tool handy without causing a public panic!
Well done Mark's Innovative Gear and the whole MIG Crew.

Review: BladeTech TEK-LOK Belt Clamping Unit

When it comes to keeping extra gear on my person, and I am not wearing one of my PALS equipped belts, like the subtle SICC belt or the more hooah Condor GEN1 battle belt there are times when you still want to have a well mounted piece of gear, with a more regular belt, even if its the dual-purpose PM Leather hobble Belt ...

When you want to mount carry something with any really weight on a belt, there are really two things that you need to take into account, the strength and stiffness of the belt, and the weight, and method of use  of the item to be carried.

A stable platform, such as that produced by Bladetech in the TEK-LOK belt clamping unit. This is a high density polymer belt clip that allows the user to fasten virtually any kind of load to a regular belt.

The principle is simple. A clam shell hinged design allows the user to quickly and easily slip the mounting over a belt in place, and closes at the bottom, with first a pair of pinch-to-open horns and then a latch that folds up and around, locking the horns from pinching open, both of which are held against the body when worn, keeping them protected from any conceivable accidental release. Inside the clip there are a run of holes cut into the back face, into which two rubberised spacers which can be placed at a variety of spots in order to give the best hold on the belt, as well as eliminating slippage or wobble.

The business side of the clip however is the the flat faced plate which is dotted with a 3 x 3 grid of holes, through which rivets, screws and bolts can be threaded and fitted to the eyelets fitted to many of the  holsters, magazine carriers, phone holsters, knife sheaths and many other types of accessories that you will want to fit to belts and carry around with you. The inside face is recessed so your boltheads don't interfere with the belt, and ensure a safe and secure connection.

With bolts, and rubber spacers you can affix in many different combinations to allow you to set up whatever you are carrying to suit your needs, space and usage you had in mind.

The inner face of the TEK-LOK is slightly curved to marry with the body contours, the width of the top edge of the clip means it offers a stable platform, which as the load increases, becomes more and more important. I set mine up with my HHA ASOT-01 knife as an example and it ran really nicely.

One thing you'll find though is that you are at the mercy of the holster, sheath and carrier manufacturers, as the holes in the item to be mounted will determine how and where you can use the TEK-LOK, so bear that in mind, and if possible, try before you buy to ensure you get a good fit!

Review: Grey Ghost Gear - 6x8 Utility Pouch

I took a bunch of Grey Ghost Gear pouches out for a hike up the easy daytrip, but possibly haunted Hanging Rock State Park, with my family, I wore pouches which I fitted out with a variety of hiking goods, in order to carry whatever needfulls I might have needed on the trip.

The pouches were filled with a variety of hiking goods, whatever I might have needed on the trip. One pouch I used was the 6×8 Utility Pouch .

The 6x8 Utility Pouch is designed to hold a variety of items, from medical supplies, a 1 quart GI canteen, Nalgene bottle, or other miscellaneous items. I put a 1L Nalgene in mine, as I wanted to stay hydrated on my hike up and down, as well as any clambering I'd be doing.  Up and down rockfaces, into ravines and meandering through the alpine bush.

Read the rest of the review here on Breach Bang & Clear: 






The pouch held up pretty well on my trip, and since, although I found that the 1L Nalgene bottle was a snug fit, and made for a tight zippering, which meant that a couple of times if I didn't zip it up tight it came loose, but I caught it before I lost my bottle. A 1 quart canteen fit easily enough, but I wanted more capacity than that.

Thanks to Anthony for the photography! You'll be seeing more of his work in this series...

Review: Propper - Range Bag

First seen on Breach Bang & Clear ....
Here's a follow up from my sneak-peek review of the Propper Range Bag. I took the Range Bag with me on an international trip to the jungle-covered mountains of Bali, Indonesia in mid October for a family event, rather than for a Tropic Thunder or Rambo4 themed get-away ... I wanted to maximise my gear-totage, as well as my carry-on capacity. The Range Bag was my upgrade to the very similar Propper Multipurpose Bag, which I had been using as my every-day bag and as carry-on for some time previously.

The Range Bag is in many respects an up-sized version of the Multipurpose Bag, with many of the same design aspects, such as the long-side opening panels, the double zippered opening top lid as well as it's carry handles and the like.

I decked out my bag with a variety of airport-safe goodies, and needfuls, and set out for international customs and far away vistas. I checked out the 48cm x34cm x 23cm size restrictions on Virgin Australia's international carry-on regulations, and had already confirmed it was good-to go.

Almost twice the width of their Multipurpose Bags, the Range Bag measures 25cm x 38cm x 23cm (10" x 15" x 9") and as I mentioned is a beefed up and expanded version of the MPB. Padded on all sides for increased protection and rigidity, it holds it shape even when empty. There are two stiffened internal dividers, fitted with flaps with hook-field ends to affix the dividers to the fine-finished loop-field covered internal walls of the bag.

These walls can be adjusted or discarded, as fits your use or mission, and the whole of the internal cavity is lined in hi-contrast orange, to help you find your OD tool in its OD sheath in your bottom of your OD bag. I fitted the "back" compartment of my carry-on with a 1L Nalgene bottle, a folded up First Strike Snatch-Bag ii for any extra incidental bagging I might be needing. In the center compartment I made, I had my novels and iPad for in-flight and hurry-up-and-wait times, I also included my Propper mesh-sided boo-boo kit, loaded up with all kinds of travel first-aid needs and spares. In the "front" compartment, I had the Propper 5x7 case, which held all our passports and travel documents, and my Snowgum iPhone case as a batter-backup for my phone.

The main compartment has a lockable zipper, good enough to keep little prying hands away from dangerous things.


On the "right-hand" side panel is fitted with a mesh pocket, and a fold-out mat to do your weapon maintenance or lay out a picnic. The Range Bag also comes with a removable hook-field backed accessory panel. I used that mesh panel to stow PPE gear like my Barz goggle sunglasses, earplugs, and other assorted goodies like Paracetamol and Ibuprofen. In the folds of the maintenance mat, I included wet-wipes, and a couple of nappies as well, for on-the-go emergencies, as well as acting as very effective blood-sponges. You know, in case of misadventures trying to get a taxi ...


The large end pocket, I filled with a super absorbent travel towel, two hospital grade sick-bags and my Multicam Headsox . My last international trip involved getting not one, but two lots of little-kid barf on me. Not this time matey! The internal material is also the high-visibility orange, but is off-set by the OD surface material, to make rummaging for items easy, without exposing yourself to unwanted attention by flashes of Blaze. The end pocket had a hook-and-loop patch for securing it, but stuffed full as it was, was not useable. However, the design of the bag kept it all snug and sound. I suspect you could keep a small to medium sized pistol in that pocket, without too much trouble.


The outward facing side panel is covered in a mixture of loop-filed at the top, and two rows of seven channel MOLLE, and inside has another mesh-lined pocket, along with six pistol magazine sized pouches. I stowed personal electronics cables and the like, as well as parkers, crayons (good for both occupying little people as well as waterproof communication and as both kindling and illumination purposes (they make pretty functional candles), as well as an asthma pump.  Again, the lockable double zippers allowed me to have a sense of security around both theft and also being reverse-pickpocketed with contraband materials. Indonesia has a death penalty for drug smuggling.

The front side panel is also fitted out with more MOLLE channels, but I didn't make any use of these. I can see any number of small pouches and carrier working well there though.

One thing I found was that it was very convenient to have the internal compartments, which allowed me to set very specific places for my load. Not misplacing travel documents, (or perhaps a backup pistol, if that's the way you pack)  is always a good thing. That said, the extra width of the Range Bag over the Multipurpose Bag meant that it wasn't as easy to rip back the top flap one handed, to get at the insides. the zippers were too fine, and pinched when I tried a few times. Slow and steady wins the race in this case.

It was also pretty comfortable to heft around, the internal padding not only kept my gear safe and secure, but also kept them from jabbing me in the hip and kidneys as I carried it all around.



I also liked that I could pull open the side panels to access the gear I had in there, on the fly, and that it acted as a mobile platform to work from.

Even with a pack on my back, the Range Bag on my hip was able to be swung around and rummaged through with no real problem, and its broad top even acted as an additional platform for carrying more things (or even little people as a bench-seat). The shoulder straps were both just wide enough to spread the load and not too big as to get in the way. The sliding shoulder padding I found was placed in an awkward place, due to the broad tri-glide adjuster, but I managed to feed it into the padding strap eventually. I didn't like the clip-attachment the shoulder strap had though. The broad Fastex buckle from the Multipurpose Bag would have been much better, and enable a one-handed quick-release, in the event I needed to drop and go. With the heavier load of the Range Bag, this would have been even more useful.



I made use of the fold-out mat a couple of times, mostly doing paperwork and the occasional fix-it session, the finish was good and gripping, and not tacky, which is a plus to my mind. I didn't loose and widgets, or little screws so I'll call it a useful addition.

The Range Bag ticked all the boxes for a carry-on bag, as well as a travel accessory. I don't like taking anything I can't carry or sling onto me. I like having my hands free for whatever might come my way, so the Range Bag was a logical step up for when I needed to carry a bit more, or if I needed to carry bulkier, heavier items than I might have otherwise done. Need to carry a bunch of lead to and from your favourite pew-pew place? I have no doubt that your personal needs would be met with this bag. Need to run up and down a hill? Get a ruck.