Secondary weapon on vest?

[Ak44]

I wore a chest rig over my MTV when I was Overseas. That's one issue I did see with keeping my M9 on a chest rig or on my vest. Obviously there might be situations where you have to dump your chest rig or vest. But again be realistic with your setup, train hard and figure out what works for you. Obviously you can what if a scenario all to hell but keep it realistic and sometimes you have to choose lesser of the two evils.

[usmcvet]

Main problem...
What if you have to ditch your chest rig? End up in water (how many of you have tried swimming in your gear?), gets snagged exiting a vehicle, comes unsnapped during H2H (yes, murphy does show up when you rather he didn't), or something on it breaks....
a phrase comes to mind....don't keep all your eggs in one basket.

I agree. It is a good idea to have your draw remain consistant and there. Ay be a time where you ha e to dump your vest or where you're simoly caught with out it on. Lightfighter.net has some pretty good threads on 1st, 2nd and 3rd line gear.

[Ironman8]

You know, as a civilian, even though I do have my "1st", "2nd", and "3rd" line gear, I still cannot envision a circumstance where I would have to ditch anything but my "3rd" line

My thoughts:

Ditch 3rd line when engaged by an enemy to become more "streamlined" and lighter so that you can move and shoot better to neutralize the threat....but then I would fight tooth and nail to get back to my pack, if I could, since that is my "sustainment".

Ditching 2nd or 1st......still don't know when I'd do that...

[usmcvet]

Mr. MURPHY is a SOB! Just driving around I think about things. I have a window breaker/seat belt cutter and window punch in my truck. Can I reach them in a crash for self rescue? I have three kids and run what ifs through my head.

Car crash, car crash in a stream or other body of water. How do I get my kids then myself out of the car. Same thing at home. I have a fire extinguisher in my bedroom so i can get to my kids and get them out a eindow and they are just across the hall.

I do this at work too. How do I get out of my cruiser with a duty belt on. Well going out the windshield looks good in the movies but those things are way to strong. The belt might have to come off so I can get out the window. That is a crash where I'm not worried about loosing my gun or fighting bad guys. I would likely still have a backup guide. In my pants
pocket.

Your set up is probably fine. I was just tossing out my thoughts. I've also had times way back when where I dropped my helmet and flak jacket but still had my rifle and gas mask with me. I almost never had a pistol. But I even took my rifle with me when I made a head call a pistol would have been a nice option. Sounds like they're issued more than they used to be which is awesome!

[Ross]

In the Army I was a pilot and a commissioned officer, so I spent a great deal of time sitting down. In the cockpit, behind a desk, in a vehicle, etc. I quickly found the hip holster to suck beyond belief for me and quickly went to a shoulder holster.

They have drawbacks in the civillian world I live in now, and alot of training can't be done with them because of sweeping the muzzle, etc. but there's alot to be said about a set-up where even if you ditched youre LBE/vest/chest rig/warbelt/whatever you still had your weapon on you. You didn't even take it off when you took a dump.

I think putting it on your chest rig makes plenty of sense they way you have it set-up.

[SOW_0331]

I think the thing to keep in mind is that there is no such thing as a gear setup that will be fail-proof. We can game it all day, and come up with scenarios where your setup will not be optimal, regardless of what you decide.

I say this. Find what works for you, and keep your mind open. When the time comes, it will be FAR more beneficial to be someone who can adapt to situations, and keep cool under pressure, than to have x or y gear layout.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket-Sage advice, and for the most part, hard to disagree with. However, I have had to react to attacks on my pos, and when you go from asleep to grabbing your gear and heading for the berm, sometimes it's pretty damn groovy to only need to pick up one rig, instead of a rig, a belt, a leg panel, etc.

What if you have to ditch your gear?-True, it would suck to lose everything at once. But, how many times are you likely to ditch your gear? I never had to ditch my gear, rather, I went into every fight knowing my gear was how I liked it. Would I sacrifice my combat effectiveness with a tried and true (for me) gear layout for the off chance that I may have to ditch? Not likely. In fact, I would rather use my noodle to avoid things like crossing deep water, than sacrifice load out integrity

As many members here can attest, when in contact, Murphy will throw all kinds of shit your way, and there is no way your gear layout is going to be the right one every single time. Go with what works, what you are most comfortable with, and be ready to utilize your other assets.

[Surf]

My primary preference is a hip mounted weapon even with armor. I absolutely hate drop legs or subloads unless if the situation dictates a need for a subload, but the pistol is hip mounted, no drop legs for me. Not only is it better for movement, draw etc, it has done wonders for my back to get everything up on my hips and eliminating the thigh mounted stuff.

I so however have the ability to switch from a hip mount pistol to vest mount but this is very much to suit specific situations, such as rappelling or vehicle operations and a few other instances.

My set up. This is my general teaching set up which mirrors my armor placement.


Armor

[Mr. Goodtimes]

Thanks for the replies. Atleast for now, I'm going to keep it on my vest. When my RCS Phantom gets here I'll see about changing it but for now I'm going to leave it as is.

The chest rig shown above is my class rig as well as meltdown of society rig. If things really got that bad it would be nice to be able to have everything right where it needs to be. Nothing is on my legs or hip to get caught in a vehicle or make riding uncomfortable etc. I don't do HSLD ship boardings etc. so having to ditch this thing in water is of practically no concern.

[The_War_Wagon]

I found, with a single-point sling, rifle & pistol were doing un-natural acts together when the pistol was on the front of my vest. So back around to the strong side hip went the pistol. Problem solved.

[Cincinnatus]

Surf, you've got some great vids on your youtube channel. I especially like the drills.