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!

Review: 3x30 M16 magazine pouch

Following on from my review of a "vintage" butt-pack I did a little while back, here is another piece of old kit that still serves really well. This is a 3x30 M16 magazine pouch, which I collected from a disposal store a few years ago. These are based on a Vietnam era pattern, and the ones I have are made of a woodland camouflage pattern nylon and it seems these had a NSN of 8465-00-001-6482. It is designed to hold three 30 round M16 magazines, and has two "wings", one on each side which after doing some research I see are for hanging grenades.

So, what can I tell you about them? They are constructed of a light nylon, with tape sewn around the edges to contain any fraying. The front and back panels also feature a stiff plastic plate, sewn onto the nylon, which gives the pouch some rigidity and presumably protected against the material  tearing and the strain put on it by the hard magazines.  Internally the pouches originally had two strips of nylon tape dividing the mouth of the pouch into three, one for each magazine.

The lid has a plastic clip, the teeth of which are pinched to release. As you can see, I stuffed this one open with a ubiquitous Nerf magazine which is a bit too long for the width of the pouch. but you get the idea. This is an ALICE pouch, and has two clips at the back for attachment. The grenade clips are press studs (although one of mine has torn through the nylon). I also cut one of the internal straps, so that I can fill this particular pouch with larger items, such as the electronics pouch for my Stargate laser tag kit.

These are cheap, light and fairly sturdy pouches. They are quite easy to come by and with a few modifications (cutting the internal straps) give quite a large storage capacity, as well as the two wing pouches on the sides, even if they are oddly shaped and open.

Review: Platatac twin 40mm pouches

I've had a lot of meetings and coding to be doing in the last few weeks, so have been neglectful of my blogging, let alone my preparedness. We've hit a bit of a rough patch financially, so have been living a bit more frugally than previously. This means less toys for me, but full bellies and happy house. One little extravagance I had was picking up these pouches.

These are designed to each carry a 40mm grenade launcher projectile, which as it happens, I don't have much need to do (desire, sure, but no need) but the design of the pouch suited itself to adaption to my other needs.


These are again the standard 1000d Cordura nylon construction, but there is some design variation between the two sets. The key similarities are that both sets feature independently openable compartments, which are closed by a tongue of hook-and-loop, on a belt of Cordura. This belt loops through the compartment allowing an adjustable length for the item to be stowed, by affixing the tongue of the pouch higher or lower on the body, which in turn. "tightens the belt". One of the two designs augments the hook-and-loop with a press stud on the tongue, and two points on the body to fix it to.

Both pouches have PALS/MOLLE loops built in, although the footprints are different between the two designs. The non-press-stud version also has a strap loop at the top, as an extra attachment option.



When I got these pouches, my plan was to empty out some of my other pouches, like the SR25 and FUP pouches that I put on my MAC armour carrier, and also affix to my packs. The reason being that small items stuffed into a larger pouch are difficult to locate and extract. Taking these items, like hand wash and pairs of examination gloves and bundling them into individual compartments makes them easier to find and use, without spilling your goodies to rummage at the bottom of a bigger pouch.

I like modularity, I like the options these pouches give me and I like the fit. I look forwards to affixing these to my kit and having more storage options available to me, grenades or not. :)