"General Quarters"/Emergency HD Rig

[Car Ramrod]

I have different bags set up, but do not have anything in the way of a "bump in the night" setup, which is what it sounds like the OP has.

I have my pistol, spare mag, and flashlight on my nightstand (ok, it's just an overturned clothes hamper, but it works..) and that's good enough for me?

 

[buckstopshere]

Sharing with sheeple _ good
But we are talking about FB. Not in person.
Just be careful who you "expose your preps" to.
FB can be the sheepskin the wolves wear.

Fair point but I'm a with FB. Can't you limit who sees your page to only your friends? Or is the whole thing a public forum for all to see?

I think I might be the only early 30s professional who doesn't have a FB account!

 

[Car Ramrod]

Fair point but I'm a with FB. Can't you limit who sees your page to only your friends? Or is the whole thing a public forum for all to see?

I think I might be the only early 30s professional who doesn't have a FB account!

It depends on what FB has done to completely change the way everything is set up that week.

 

[mammynun]

I decided not to even respond to the critics, although it was highly tempting to put something like "Remember: When your life is at stake and every second counts, the police are only minutes away!" and let it go at that. As Ron White so succinctly put it: "You can't fix 'stupid'.".

As buckstopshere mentioned about his friend's SIL, the majority of them would seem to be suffering from either a bad case of wishful thinking or an overdose of "progressive" Kool-Aid. I can only hope that at least some of them will do some asking around and experience a similar epiphany.

Meanwhile, I still would sure appreciate a lead on that LH chest rig!

You can build one here: skdtac.com

I started with this, Tactical Tailor MAV, 2 Piece, because I was willing to give up molle space for ease of use. Then I added a few of these; HSGI "TACO" Modular Single Rifle Magazine Pouch and they're ambidextrious. Theres plenty of water,medical, and general purpose pouches that can be added.

Just browse the sight, it's all good stuff... you can find lesser quality gear cheaper on other sites, but you can build your own to fit your needs.

 

[ghunter]

About the original post: Ditch the suspenders, and just stick with the gun belt with gear as needed. Snug the belt so it's fairly tight once on. Putting on suspenders will only slow you down, and the problem will be over long before the belt by itself becomes uncomfortable.

As to the paranoia question, I say that even paranoids have enemies.

 

[Lex Concord]

This... Nobody needs to know what your preps are. They soon may wish to take them.

Precisely...in fact, for the record, I don't have preps myself.

I'm just prep-curious.

 

[Claddagh]

It started out with just the pistol belt, a Bianchi military-style web holster, a double mag pouch and a small pouch/holster for my Streamlight. Then 'mission creep' began to set in as the idea evolved to try and anticipate and prepare for more situations than just responding to a home invasion/burglary.

I realized that having a rugged, multipurpose fixed-blade knife, a 'less lethal' defensive option or two, something handy to contain my cell phone and some sort of device for restraining a perp until the police arrived would be a good idea. That's when the GI surplus "H" suspenders came in.

It actually made the whole shebang both easier to slip into quickly, gave me more places to keep potentially vital tools close at hand for rapid deployment and takes a good deal of the now not-inconsiderable weight off of my arthritic back and hips. But...it IS a jury-rig and as such has its inherent drawbacks.

That's the main reason that I'm searching around for an affordable LH version of the 'all-in-one' vest-type outfit with an integral pistol/utility belt that I saw in a catalog. IMO, the way it's set-up and equipped OTB would make it a much more versatile and practical arrangement than what I've slapped together, plus offer some real added advantages such as pouches for two more pistol mags, four spare rifle mags, my Gerber Applegate "Combat" folding knife or a multi-tool, first aid/trauma supplies, etc., etc. all in a package that I can still slip on quickly and handle the added weight more easily.

While I'm well aware that one can't anticipate and prepare for every possible circumstance, I'd still like to be able to have a way to collect and stow the means to cover as many bases as I can into a single, 'quick deployment' package.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

I decided not to even respond to the critics, although it was highly tempting to put something like "Remember: When your life is at stake and every second counts, the police are only minutes away!" and let it go at that. As Ron White so succinctly put it: "You can't fix 'stupid'.".

As buckstopshere mentioned about his friend's SIL, the majority of them would seem to be suffering from either a bad case of wishful thinking or an overdose of "progressive" Kool-Aid. I can only hope that at least some of them will do some asking around and experience a similar epiphany.

Meanwhile, I still would sure appreciate a lead on that LH chest rig!

SpecOps has a molle-compatible vest fairly cheap. Just buy some ALICE-to-Molle adapters and mount your ambidextrous Bianci holster and pouches to the vest. I'm a LH also. I've got a SpecOps Vapor holster but they're pricey. You can find the Bianci military holsters at Gun Shows and online. A used one is relatively cheap and even a new one is cheaper than the SpecOps Vapor line (although they are pretty good holsters). Alternatively, look online for a military AIRSAVE survival vest. You'll need to do a little more work customizing it to your body, but it is molle-compatible as well.

 

[WETSU]

Okay, here is my take on a Battle Station set up. Its not for "bump in the night". Thats a G19 w/ light and a spouse w/ a J frame and a cell phone.

My roll out set up is my regular training/fighting gear and its for gooks in the wire events.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

This is my primary set up. I used to have armor and loadout all on one plate carrier, but recently separated the two to optimize how I train and to accomodate different missions, weather, environments etc.

Above is an Eagle soft/plate carrier w/ level III soft and level IV ceramic plates. The rig is an SOE AK/M4 carrier with H harness. It carries 8 AK mags, smoke, CS, a blow out kit, radio, admin stuff (maps, compass, strobe, pens/ sharpies, multitool etc). The rig also has room for extra medical gear, chemlights and flares. I like it a lot.

Now for general Battle Stations, I have my choice. The SOE and armor is still primary, but I keep an SOE PALs Micro rig loaded with 4AK mags, blowout kit, smoke and CS as a lighter set up to the primary. It can be worn over the Eagle carrier OR over level II concealable soft. I also have a custom built SOE Pico rig that carries 1 extra AK or M4 mag, blowout kit and a pocket CS. Very low pro, fits under clothing. Also in the pic: dedicated 3 mag AK rig for the AK74. Dedicated shoulder rig for the AR with 4 M4 mags, light and G17 mag. Lastly, to the L is my Jeep active shooter rig, integrated armor carrier and chest rig. It carries level II soft and level V steel plates (w/ spall guard), 2 AK mags, a G17 mag, pocket CS, Surefire light and a blowout kit. This is in my Jeep 24/7 with its companion piece.

I train regularly with all this gear, a lot. Year round.

I think I'm pretty well set for HD or battle stations.

 

[D.T.O.M.]

There is a differance between being prepared and being paranoid!
It is everyones own opinion on how prepared you wanna be.
But I think it is foolish to wait until something happens.
To start lookig for what you need.

 

[Claddagh]

But I think it is foolish to wait until something happens.
To start lookig for what you need.

That was my thinking, too. And it's where the serious 'mission creep' started to come into play.

When I was about 10 years old, we were living in a small town in SE Missouri called Flat River. There was a tornado. No warning sirens in those days, so our first inkling of what was happening was a sudden, dead, calm and then The Sound. You never forget that once you've heard it.

Despite my mother's frantic attempts to keep me from doing so, I ran out of our home's little half-basement to find our dog and bring her in. Foolish of me perhaps, but a kid's first dog...

Anyway, I had found her and was carrying her back towards shelter when I looked over to the west and saw the funnel. The roar was deafening and it looked as if it was headed smack down the middle of our street. I made it back into the basement through the outside door and we all huddled together in one corner, waiting.

The major "industry" in that area at the time was lead mining, and had been since the French first came there in the late 17th century. All of the mines had mountainous piles of waste matter and 'tailings' that were called "chat dumps" locally. Turned out that the funnel was somehow deflected by one of these and veered north, completely destroying the little village of Desloge about 3/4 of a mile over from us.

Ever since then, when the weather turns ugly I get real nervous.

What it boils down to is that I want to be able to have one set-up I can slip into fast, grab the stainless Mini 30 out of the closet next to it and be as close as I can practically expect to being adeqautely prepared to deal with as many 'worst case' scenarios as possible.

Presently, I'm waiting to hear back from Galati Int. about whether the LH version of a particular model of their 'tactical' (Jeez, but that adjective seems to have become the ubiquitous marketing term!) vest set-ups is still available.

 

[fenderpbass]

I think being prepared is the key. I agree with Glock22c, don't advertise on FB.

 

[Philabuster]

This could be a well spent $200...
https://www.uspalm.com/products/armor/armor/us-palm-defender-handgun.html

 

[Claddagh]

I heard back from Galati, the only place I could find that offered and "all-in-one" vest outfit at a price I can easily afford. While their stuff might not be "operator/professional" grade, niether am I. I've bought a couple of other items (eg: padded cordura rifle case for my Norinco Browning ATD copy) from them in the past and both the basic design and the quality of materials and workmanship have been quite good.

While I can't get a LH version in OD or Army digital, they do have one in black. It's mesh lined and adjustable for length and girth. There's a "universal" pistol holster on the rt. chest, three pistol mag pouches, four adjustable rifle mag pouches, two interior pockets for 'admin' items, radio/cell phone pouch, a pouch for my Streamlight, an attached web pistol belt with two additional pouches that will hold my multitool and folding knife, a shoulder/recoil rifle pad on the L and a grab handle on the back near the neck. At $89.95 plus S&H, that ain't too shabby, IMO.

While it looks to be pretty much what I need, we'll see how it actually does when it gets here. Gotta be at least a couple of steps up from what I have now, anyway.