Review: Platatac - Bush Dax pants

I was very sorry to hear that some of my favorite pants, the Platatac Urban Dax (wearing them right now, in fact) didn't make it out of prototyping, and certainly not to market.

There are all kinds of business reasons for this kind of thing to happen, but in the end, I am just grateful that I got to grab a pair whilst they were available.  I saw some advertised on the Platatac eBay shop but not in my size,and I was worried that I might never get another pair like them.

I'd seen some of the Platatac TacDax in the "news" and when I pestered the guys about bringing back the Urban Dax, or if they had any laying about in the warehouse, they hooked me up with a set of their in-between line, the Bush Dax.

"Dax" (or dacks), for those of you who aren't aware are an Aussie colloquialism for pants, especially track suit pants. Rhyming slang ... I've never really gotten it, but, there you go.

The Bush Dax follow the same generous lines as the Urban Dax, with some interesting variations and different features.

First up, the material is slightly different, perhaps a combination of treatment and weight of fabric, but felt more like cotton duck than the Urban Dax. With the same generous crotch, with both reinforced seat and crotch, I have been perfectly confident squatting, throwing my leg over walls and generally scrambling about in them. I've torn the crotch out of so many lesser pants I cant begin to state how important that is to me.

Next up are the array of pockets available.

Like the Urban Dax, these have a variety of ambidextrous pockets, ten in total: Regular "jeans-style" pockets right where you expect them , and are nicely placed, and a good depth. I'm so glad I have pants with pockets and am allowed to use them ... The jeans-pockets don't have any internal pockets.

 Same goes for the backside pockets, hook-and-loop secured flaps cover up essentially a standard jeans-seat pocket.

The front and sides are where the magic starts. There are two small pockets on the front of each quad. These are billowed, and also feature hook-and-loop closures, and easily fit my iPhone in its Strike Industries BattleCase with quick-pull ring.

The sides of the ubiquitous cargo-pocket feature a mesh-lined side pocket, with a zipper closure, which in turn are deep enough to easily store my hefty HexBright Flex flashlight and keep it in place for when i need it, especially if I'm sitting.

You can also see that I have connected my lanyard to one of the integral accessory loops that are found at each of the 60mm belt loops, offering a solid place to anchor your gear without clogging up your belt and belt loops.

As with all the Platatac gear, and clothes, these are seriously well put together, double stitched on all the major load-bearing seams, and bartacked at the joints.



 Here is the most important feature, to my mind, and my principle test. The main cargo-pocket, with its twin spot hook-and-loop closures, and billowed sides, for high capacity storage, with happily fit my iPad.

Silly you might think, or at the best, totally POG of me, but given my day-to-day activity, having somewhere I can stash my iPad is quite a benefit.  It also gives a nice standard measure. So, with my excuses aside, I can run, climb, crawl around under things and then whip out my iPad to access whatever data or app i need ... great pocket. Again, it lacks any of the internal compartments that the Urban Dax had, but that simplicity probably saved the design from the cutting-room floor.

I have a lot of EDC gear, and the spacious pockets of the Bush Dax meant that I didn't have to worry about jamming it all into ta couple of pockets, but distribute it into workable zones.

The position and placement of the pockets was really comfortable, something is is occasionally missed (or perhaps, given my preying mantis proportions, I just don't fit where makes expect pockets to sit), but with the Bush Dax, I had nothing to complain about.

One thing I didn't may much attention to was the elastic drawstring blousing available in the ankles. (which are the saem as found in the ADF DPCU uniform, apparently). Good for keeping crap out of your legs, but for my needs, a bit too much, so i left them slack, and able to drape over my boots, to keep me looking a little bit civilized ..

Lastly, a really cool feature that I haven't had a lot of success with, are the knees.





Each knee has a hook-and-loop closing pouch at the base of the knee, which opens up to allow a knee-pad to be inserted, with a little effort, and placed one of my smaller pads in the pouch (I left one out to give an idea of scale, these are Team Wendy KEPS Sleak elbow pads.

I found that the opening was very narrow, even for a narrow pad like an elbow pad.
Perhaps there is a better way of doing it?

Anyone?

So, that aside, these are some great pants, not heavy, or stiff, but neither are they lightweight, and offered me versatility in my wardrobe, without sacrificing utility or hardiness.

Review: Hardcore Hardware Australia - LFK01

Every now and then my out-doorsy/quasi-military aesthetic meshes with that of my very stylish partner, Omega and there will be "oooh's" and "aaah's" over the same things. A good example of this would be my prototype Urban Dax pants, or the Nukotool TiGBi skull-keyring I acquired for her birthday last year.

In keeping with the close personal defense theme,  when popping in to Platatac to shoot the breeze one weekend, with Omega and Tactical Baby along for the ride, I casually pointed out the pointy-cabinet to her, and was thrilled when she singled out this beauty from Hardcore Hardware Australia, their LFK01I took note, and months later, presented this one to her.  

HHA are a local company, who state that their "primary function is to design, develop and construct mission specific tactical tools for Military, Law Enforcement, Fire, Search & Rescue personnel". 

My kind of makers!

The LFK01 is a wicked Recurve trailing point fixed blade, a format that especially appeals to Omega, and in this case, there is plenty of substance to it. Measuring 168mm in overall length, with 70mm of blade, this little piece is designed to fill the gap between a full sized fixed blade, and a folder.

Weighing in at 180g, this is a dense little knife, and a lot of that mass comes as a result of the bulk of the knife being 6mm D2 tool steel. D2 is a high chrome content steel, which HHA note is sometimes called "Semi-stainless", has excellent edge holding capabilities and extraordinary wear resistance. They heat treat the blades to bring the hardness to 56-60HRC, which is given a Teflon coating to reduce any corrosion that might occur, as well as reducing glare and the maintenance required for it. A thin coat of oil is all HHA recommend if it is stored or exposed to wet environments.

Here is a good shot of the blade, showing the thick body, with its broad, 44mm grind. This is a blade that is no nonsense, and will take all the punishment you could dish out. Its heft reminded me more of the KA-BAR Zombie Killer Tanto than any other blade in my own collection.

The spine of the blade features some subtle crenelations, giving ample purchase for a thumb-grip, without catching or digging either your hand, or on your gear, when worn.

Between these two pictures you can see the profile it gives in the hand, as well as the aggressive angle it sits in. This is a blade that will make a mark, and leave a lasting impression, without having to give itself away unnecessarily.

A Mil-C-5040H Type III paracord wrapping give very strong positive gripping, and adds shock-resistance (although with a knife this size, I cant imagine you would get much impact shock.

The cord is treated with a proprietary acrylic solution to keep it in place, tidy and clean, but apparently wont interfere with using the cord in a survival situation. Great logic guys! The pointed pommel can also be depended on to leave a lasting impression.

The very hungry edge is constrained in a two part carry system. A 100d Cordura outer which includes in the back a MOLLE attachment system, with one channel worth of press-stud fixing tab in place. The inner layer is a folded Kydex insert, and is designed to allow ambidextrous wear of the blade.

This is further facilitated by the central placement of press-stud retention webbing, which allows the blade to be seated left or right, facing up, or down. I fed some paracord through the provided eyelets, and with a cord-lock, quickly converted this into a neck-knife for Omega to wear out and about. Quite the talking point at some of the more exciting events we attend.

This is a beautiful, brutal piece, thoroughly efficient, uncompromisingly rugged, and everything I could hope for in a gift for a loved one.

Review: Platatac 5x12Ga shingle

Here is another accessory that I picked up for "the Great Tactical Corset Project" as I mentioned in a previous post, and as such, I have collected a few more pouches, specifically unusual ones, and in black, to help fit out my partners with kit, to see what fits, and how they would like to kit-up their rigs.

I wanted to give them a range of odd and unusual pouches and accessories, so they could see what was available, and tailor their loadout for hands-free goodness.

This is the Horizontal 5x 12Guage shotgun shell shingle, one such example, which I picked up at Platatac's miscellaneous pouch collection. (Do pop in to see the guys there, tell them your ideas, needs and what you are intending to be doing and they will sort you right out without giving you the hard-sell on things you don't want.)




 Made of the same 1000d Cordura that is synonymous with both MilSpec gear, and the Platatac range, this piece is no exception. The wide webbing that makes up the functional part of this shingle is no exception. It gave me no impression of being feebly stitched, nor stretching out of shape when stuffed with highlighters, markers or any other non-12Ga shell item that I have tried it with.

The back of the shingle features a single PALS strip, with a single MOLLE loop to feed it onto your gear. I thing a 2:1 loop with the built in PALS strip is totally a secure enough connection, especially given the relatively light load it would be expected to bear.








Here is a quick shot of the shingle with some things I had laying about loaded into it. Some markers, and a cylume stick. This should give you some idea of what kinds of used you can put it to, and an idea of scale. This is a really nice little piece, I've worn it on my belt to carry some light gear when out and about, and expect to will be put to good use on the Tactical Corsets.

Review: Platatac 3x 40mm Pouch

Here is a nice accessory pouch that I collected along the way, as part of a project to make my own DIY Tactical Corset. It appears that the original Maker is somewhat AWOL, so, I'm glad I decided to make some myself. Both my partners Omega and Anastasia love their corsets, so I didn't have to convince either of them much to assist (as long as I got my own materials, and didn't use THEIR nice corsets). What does this have to do with a 40mm grenade pouch you ask? Well, the girls needed pouches to fit their corsets, and I wanted to get them a range of sizes and shapes, but as you may have noticed, almost all my current suite of pouches are in khaki or Multicam. A trip to Platatac, and a rummage through their miscellaneous pouch drawers came up with some great finds. This triple pouch panel was one such piece. The corsets are still to come, but we've managed to put some of the pouches to good use already. 

Like Gunny Highways says:" Adapt, innovate, overcome". That's also our motto here at Apocalypse Equipped. Much like the twin 40mm pouches I covered a while back which I use to store gloves, surgical mask, antiseptic gel and spray, and a stuff-sack duffel-bag on my Young Guns battle-belt. Nothing goes to waste. Everything serves double duty. In this case, Two of the pouches are each filled with 8m fast-cord bundled paracord in safety-orange, one of my "always on hand" items when we go out clubbing...

One of the things you can see here is that as in the twin 40mm pouches, the flaps are adjustable to suite the length of the item stored (good for HEDP, ILLUM and most less than lethal rounds, pyrotechnics and Small Distraction Devices) as well as irregular sized alternate loads like I use them for. The higher you pull the flap, the hook-field becomes more or less apparent, to adjust to the size of the load being carried.

1000d Cordura and heavily stitched as with all the Platatac kit, these feature hook-and-loop only fixtures,and affix with the usual integral PALS/MOLLE strips I've come to expect from Platatac gear. The two channel/three loop horizontal rig gives a really sturdy attachment, and the MOLLE strips clearly show their reinforcing.

All in all, this was a great little accessory to add to my collection, I've put it to good use, and look forwards to being able to show off the Tactical Corsets I build for my partners, fitted out with pouches like these!