Down Range Gear

Order 201109281442

The PALS Belt Platform is a short section of PALS (MOLLE) built on a solid backer designed for use on a belt and surfaced on both sides with nonslip material. It allows MOLLE (and compatible) pouch systems and accessory items to be properly woven onto a PALS grid allowing the user to take advantage of the full range of PALS compatible systems in a belt mounted role.

Usually built in a 2 column by 2 row grid, this piece was modified by customer request to accommodate 3 columns.

Some would say that Safariland 6004 tactical holsters define the product category. They are ubiquitous among serious, professional users.

The original Drop Rig Belt Hanger was a drop-in upgrade for the 6004 hip extender assembly. It improved the function of the holster by combining and integrating some of the most sought after features. The result was a new system with enhancements incorporated into a unique design:

• Single point, push button latch for quick disconnect.
• Sized to mount the holster for high ride.
• Rock solid attachment.
• Compatible with both MOLLE and conventional belt systems.
• Swiveling buckle hardware allowing for a naturally ergonomic, arcing range of motion.

The original design has been continually improved since it’s release and is now highly refined. The core features are still there, but fine tuned after a lot of experience.

To mark the pending re-release, what follows is a top down look at the improved system that has been renamed “Tactical Holster Platform -Safariland.”

The heart of the system, giving it the features that set it apart from all others currently on the market is the National Molding/ Duraflex Swivi-Lockster buckle. The Swivi-Lockster is a unique latch system that allows for a single point, quick disconnect and is designed to pivot in a 120 arcing range of motion. There’s no other piece of hardware on the market with these features. It keeps the holster securely connected but easy to remove and moves on the leg with the wearer’s natural range of motion.

The upper half of the Tactical Holster Platform is the belt hanger. It supports the “female” end of the Swivi-Lockster buckle. Spaced widely apart for stability are two Tactical Tailor MALICE Clips who’s locked ends make for natural, secure belt loops. Passing the MALICE Clips through a series of PALS (MOLLE compatible) rows of webbing allows them to be properly woven into a PALS grid. Because this is a load bearing component, construction is especially robust in this critical area.

The bottom half of the Tactical Holster Platform directly supports the holster.  It is a one-for-one, drop-in replacement for the existing OEM hip extender aligned with the Safariland three hole screw pattern. Like the part it replaces, it is supported on 2” scuba webbing but is not adjustable and only comes in one length: cut short to carry the holster as high as the hardware allows. At the top, a loop of 1.5” webbing attaches the Swivi-Lockster buckle and serves to secure the top portion of the shroud.

The best parts of the 6004 have been left alone. Parts that were merely functional have been upgraded to enhance performance of the system as a whole: quick detach, ergonomic range of motion, high ride, great belt and modular platform attachment options all in one well executed package. In this latest iteration, the Tactical Holster Platform has really hit it’s stride.

The Tactical Holster Platform will initially be available in coyote brown and black. And, for the first time, hardware will color match the material.

As good as it is, Tactical Holster Platform isn’t for everyone. The design excels with a very specific set of features for a narrow subset of professional users.

Down Range Gear’s Tactical Holster Platform integrates seamlessly with the Safariland tactical holster with a design that emphasizes function, adding versatility to the 6004 series tactical holsters.

The complete set of Tactical Holster Platform images is available on Down Range Gear’s Photobucket album.

The Modular Panel Insert is the base component for Down Range Gear’s EDC (every day carry) system. Designed primarily as a drop-in organizer for backpacks, they can be made to order to fit various bags and cases in either horizontal or vertical orientations. The design is very basic but executed with exacting attention to detail: a rectangular panel (height and width made to order for the customer) with a Velcro surface that is configured into a PALS (MOLLE compatible) grid. These panels are incredibly versatile and can support equipment in a number of different ways. The PALS/Velcro surface runs top to bottom, edge to edge with no wasted space.  The panel supports it’s weight with a removable, heavy duty, internal plastic frame sheet, allowing it to stand and maintain it’s shape. It’s simple but effective. Assembling each one to custom specifications is time consuming and labor intensive, thus expensive, but no corners are cut anywhere in fabrication.

The Modular Panel Insert can be enhanced with add-on features like the pull-out handle and custom designed, integral, elastic flat pockets. The pull out handle allows the user to extract the entire panel from the pack in order to quickly access the contents. Drop-in simplicity means that panels can be swapped between different packs or multiple panels can be configured for different purposes allowing the user to hot swap multiple load-outs for the same bag. Sewn-in, elastic flat pockets are lightweight, low profile and versatile organizers that can securely accommodate a variety of differently shaped and sized objects. They are a great alternative to add on pouch systems and can also be tailor made to fit the customer’s needs.

Although outwardly simple, the attention to detail and customization comes at a premium. That said, the panels can be a significant upgrade to a pack system configured for the EDC role and are solidly built to last.

Order 201109010000: make a Tactical Tailor Mini-MAV work with a Mayflower Research & Consulting harness, upgrade the rig with Down Range Gear’s Enhanced Strap Replacement, Waist Strap and Side Straps.

Mating the Mini-MAV to the Mayflower harness was primarily a matter of achieving buckle compatibility. Familiar territory for Down Range Gear.

The real performance upgrade was the Enhanced Strap Replacement package which brings features like ergonomic front pull to adjust and the benefits of constant elastic tension to the conventional harness setup. Superior comfort is a natural byproduct of a harness system with straps that have an elastic core, which stretches and moves dynamically with the wearer rather than resist movement. The system just works and it’s just better than anything else currently on the market.

Modern armor systems, whether comprehensive protective ensembles or high mobility plate carriers are heavy but inherently balanced and stable. This characteristic gives them structure to support a laden chest rig. Since armor is ubiquitous in military operations, there are a lot of advantages to running a chest rig directly attached without a harness.

We call this concept “Direct-To-Armor.” And you’re going to be seeing a whole lot more of it from Down Range Gear.

Chest rigs allow for the separation of load carriage from armor. There are many situations where armor is necessary but a fighting load is not. The chest rig also frees the user from layout and configuration limitations where the useful PALS (MOLLE) space is constrained by the size and shape of the armor system. Chest rigs keep the load in the user’s workspace.

A distinct advantage of the Direct-To-Armor approach is the quick disconnect feature. Configured properly, it functions and feels like a part of the armor system. On the surface, the two characteristics might seem contradictory, but Direct-To-Armor represents a new approach for users with a need to separate armor from load carriage yet run the two in an integrated manner.

After years of experience developing the Chest Rig/ Armor Interface Kit, which adapted third party, off the shelf chest rigs for armor attachment, the decision was made to take the lessons learned and build them into a chest rig from the ground up. Geared towards military users, the Raider Direct-To-Armor panel is the culmination of extensive experience in this area.

This latest iteration advances the design.

The Raider panel is designed to take maximum advantage of the armor system as a load bearing platform. It sacrifices standalone function to realize the benefits of armor integration, making the harness unnecessary.

The attachment system is what makes it all work. The Raider panel supports Direct-To-Armor with four balanced points of attachment designed to clip in quickly.

Vertical attachment supports the load; the Raider panel utilizes two 1” ITW Nexus GhillieTex side release buckles for this. Latch (male end) buckles are sewn into the chest rig at two points. The panel tapers down from the buckles, angling off to the sides distributing the load evenly across the top. They clip into ITW QASM (female) buckles anchored onto PALS loops using QASM Vertical Connectors. This allows the vertical attachment points on the armor system to be positioned and fitted to the end user.

Horizontal attachments stabilize the load, not taking on weight so much as balancing the panel out and pulling it flat. On the Raider panel, this is done with PALS Shock Cord Anchors. Widely spaced grommets position the cord to pull evenly on the top and bottom edges of the panel. Shock cord is the preferred method because the constant, elastic tension requires no manual adjustment and is properly balanced every time. The cord tethers either an ITW G-hook or ITW GTSR buckle to the panel. G-hooks attach directly onto PALS webbing loops and are held in place under tension without the need for a additional hardware. This means that when the chest rig is not attached, it leaves no footprint. The ITW GTSR latch (male) buckle requires a compatible QASM buckle but provides a level of clip-in ease that can only be had with a side release buckle. The low profile QASM must necessarily remain on the armor system even when the chest rig is removed. Each attachment method has advantages and disadvantages. The Raider Direct-To-Armor panel will ship with both buckle systems along with spare cord and hardware to give the end user choice, and peace of mind.

The size and shape of the Raider panel were given a great deal of consideration. The primary concern is PALS space for pouch attachment. It’s a matter of how much and in what configuration. 3 rows (height) are a basic, minimal standard for most ammunition and accessory pouches and provide the user with the most versatility. The columns (width) were determined by the need to fit a footprint of three magazine pouches with two accessory pouches on either side.

The angled sides and undercut center also make for easier access to internal storage. The entire internal volume of the Raider panel is accessible with three pockets arranged symmetrically and accessed from the top center, left and right of the panel. The angled sides improve access to the side pockets. The undercut center also makes it easy to index the middle space. The interior pockets are subdivided internally to help with organization. Finally, the back of the panel has three, open top, flat pockets who’s size and layout correspond to the internal volume but are easier to get to.

All seams are sewn twice, with additional passes for critical, high stress areas.

This version of the Raider panel utilized a single layer of 1000D Cordura fabric, splitting the difference between lightweight and overbuilt “bomb proof.” Despite the interest in 500 weight fabric construction, there remains a lot to be said for the abrasion resistance of sturdy, proven 1000D fabric, though lightweight 500D variants will be made available.

Down Range Gear is going to be conducting an operational pause for the month of September.

Production will resume early October.

Blog posts will continue in the interim.

Email will be monitored and answered promptly excepting a break in communications around the middle of the month.

Order 201108261321.

This job was familiar territory, an area in which Down Range Gear is associated: modify an off the shelf chest rig, adding Direct-To-Armor capability, retain standalone functionality and improve upon the basic components.

The chest rig was an Eagle Universal/ SKD Version. The customer wanted it modified to interface with a Mayflower Research and Consulting armor carrier. There is a large user base looking for ways to attach chest rigs to armor carriers not designed to go together. There’s more to it than adding straps and buckles in the right places. Additionally, the customer wanted to be able to continue using the chest rig as a standalone item with the original harness. These features aren’t mutually exclusive but imposing multiple requirements on a design that hasn’t been optimized for them inevitably leads to trade-offs.

In it’s original configuration, the chest rig had two 1.5” buckles along the top of the panel. These needed to be switched out for 1” buckles and moved closer to center to align with compatible buckles on the Mayflower armor carrier. The customer was also concerned about how the narrower set of the new buckles would work when worn with the harness. A narrower attachment point means that the shoulder straps of the harness  angle in differently. Multiple steps were necessary to satisfy all the requirements and make everything work together.

The original chest rig waist strap was a simple webbing and buckle combination run off the bottom corners of the panel. This is less than optimal in the Direct-To-Armor role because it leaves the top corners unsupported. The base chest rig is essentially a rectangle. Optimally, the sides need to pull evenly across the entire edge to properly balance the load. To address this concern, the edges of the panel were retrofitted with a 2” webbing tapered extension culminating in a 1” latch (male end) side release buckle. This entailed opening up the edges of the chest rig, dropping the new extension into the seam and sewing it up again. Care was taken to reinforce this critical stress point.

The Enhanced Strap Replacement, Waist Strap is a signature Down Range Gear design. It is a drop in replacement for conventional waist strap assemblies. The tubular webbing sheathed, shock cord core allows it to flex and maintains constant elastic tension. The webbing straps on either side are fed through ladderlocks, which are configured for an ergonomic, front pull to adjust. It’s a comfortable, user friendly, hard use upgrade that exceeds conventional strap systems.