Case in point. A young, resourceful neighborhood defense leader just out of the Marines with two tours of Iraq and one of Afghanistan under his belt was talking to a gun store owner in South Alabama recently and discovered that the dealer was stuck with a few dozen of these:
The MOLLE Entrenching Tool Carrier, Woodland.
Now he has determined that E-Tools are superfluous for his neighborhood defense mission, but he wanted his guys to have two canteens, two stainless steel cups and one stove of the type that nests on the bottom of the cup. From experience, he recognized that standard one quart canteen covers sometimes take a little work to get the canteen, cup and stove out of it, an awkward process when the canteen is behind you. There is also no more room in the standard canteen cover for fire starting materials, instant coffee packets, etc.
Previously, this young leader (and like most young leaders he didn't have a lot of resources to spread around) had picked up a couple of dozen 1 quart canteens at a flea market for a buck a piece. What he lacked was canteen covers.
"How much do you want for the E-Tool carriers?" he asked. The dealer replied that he could have them all for twenty bucks. Done. The young leader walked out of the store with 43 woodland E-Tool carriers for about fifty cents apiece.
They are tougher than the standard canteen cover, hold more stuff, and have the advantage of being dirt cheap.
Here's another pouch that you can find on the surplus market, often for cheap:
The R.A.C.K. AN/PRC-126 Radio Pocket.
Now, not many folks have an AN/PRC-126 radio that they need a pouch for. However, this particular pouch is just the right size and shape for a number of good uses. I know a fellow who picked up almost a hundred of these pouches in Woodland the other day for about $.70 each. I instantly recognized that they would make excellent pouches for Kalashnikov thirty-rounders. They also accommodate civilian pattern stainless steel sports bottles very nicely.
If you have any other pouch improvisations you would like to suggest, feel free to post them in the comments here.
9 comments:
I sometimes carry a ruger red hawk 44mag. A grenade pouch will hold 12 rounds in a speed loader very securely with quick access.
Would those radio pouches hold saiga-12 10-round stick mags?
If your friend wants to sell a pile of those radio pouches, Id like to reduce his pile size
The 2qt. flexible canteen pouch works great to hold the MD Arms or Pro-Mag Saiga drum magazines.
They come with ALICE clips and a shoulder strap.
If a person still likes the AR-type and 20-rounders for it in order to keep the rifle svelte and light: Then the older, cheap M1956 canteen carriers have a proven history of carrying about six mags per.
I do like the newer Molle GP/canteen pouches, they are handy on a vest for whatever. They are cheap enough, especially in Woodland or DCU. Highlights from DCU can be taken off, and the thing improved, with spray cans of a mustardy-sort of OD color, the sort of color that the Sovs used to used on their metal stuff.
Heck, the whole Molle II pack system as sold out of Missouri for $80 brand new in DCU, can be tuned up for USA environs, for the price of a rattle-can. Put it out on the lawn, then drift the paint in order to make DCU, into something else that looks as if it used to be something like DCU, but no longer is. Something that fits more country here.
PF
The old ALICE SAW pouch,designed to hold one 200 round drum for the M249 will hold seven 30 round AR/M16 mags.I also found that the MOLLE single pistol mag pouch made by Condor is perfect for holding folding knives.
"...he wanted his guys to have two canteens, two stainless steel cups and one stove of the type that nests on the bottom of the cup."
Two canteen cups? Interesting.
Numrich Arms sells repro 7 pocket 5.56 ammo bandoleers that are made from a thicker material than the originals. They will hold 7 twenty round M16 mags or 21 ten round 7.62x39 strippers. If you buy 25 or more they are a buck each.
I also use the 2 quart flexible canteen pouch. I sewed it halfway closed, then filled it halfway full of 12 guage rounds(mixed lot,solids, 00buck, etc.) then clip it shut. Easy access and they don't get lost or shaken out, like the belts do. When I sew it halfway shut, I start from the side furthest from the clip. The shoulder strap makes it a natural carry.
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