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Product Reveiw: Strikehard 6-magazine chest rig for SKS

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Project Appleseed:
I am now the proud owner of an SKS Magazine Chest Rig, in multi-cam, specifically designed to hold the 'duckbill' style magazines, capable of securing both the 20 & 30 round varieties.  This is a brand new product from Strikehard Gear. www.StrikeHardGear.com

Strikehard Gear first entered the chest-rig market with a product designed specifically for the AK-47 magazines.  Many of their competitors have made a 'one size fits most' product, which means that NO magazines fit into it perfectly.  StrikeHard Gear offers a no-compromise product, guaranteed to meet your needs.

This chest rig is one of the best designed pieces of gear that I've gotten my hands on, with standard features that some of the 'top tier' manufactures leave out of even their premium lineups. 

Each magazine pocket, of which there are 6, is sized perfectly; magazines can go in and out with ease, though there is enough resistance to ensure that the mags stay where you put them; there are also shock-cord keepers that can slip over the top of your magazines, ensuring that they will not fall out during rigorous exercises, such as what one might experience during a 3-gun match or other type of 'run and gun' encounter. 

Behind the magazine pockets, there are also three pockets with velcro-style hook and loop closure tops.  These pockets are perfectly sized for a two-way radio, maps, or even selected portions of an MRE. (I've found that you can put the main entree from an MRE, plus the heater, into the large middle pocket, the rest of the MRE into one of the smaller pockets, and my 2m radio fits into the other small pouch, with room to spare)

With this chest rig fully loaded, there is little to no pressure on your shoulders, owing to the width of the shoulder straps.  At 1-1/4" wide, these nylon web straps seem to disappear as soon as you don the rig.  I am advised that shoulder pads are available for those who can't seem to avoid packing 60lbs of gear into a chest rig.

Speaking of adding gear to this rig; the entire front panel of the chest rig is covered in MOLLE straps, allowing you to add accessories such as a pistol holster, first aid kit, pistol mag pouches, etc.

The overall construction of this unit is top notch.  Every seam is double stitched with nylon thread, thereby ensuring maximum strength and durability.  The magazine pocket has a few metal grommets at the bottom, providing necessary drain holes for those who would have cause to ford a river, or be out in the rain. 

With these being offered in Olive Drab (green), Coyote Brown, and Multi-Cam patterns, you will be able to select the appropriate color for your own environment. 

Up to this point, this has been a well deserved glowing review.  What follows is my own recommendations for improving what is already a fine product.

Waist band:  There is only one, and it is positioned at the bottom of the rig.  Cinching this up forces the top of the rig to pull away from your chest.  I believe that positioning the waist band at the middle of the rig would fix this; otherwise, place a second waist strap at the top of the rig.

Mag pouches:  As designed, these pouches hold an SKS duckbill magazine perfectly, allowing access to any one of the six magazines.  Well done, sir.  Of course, this design makes any other type of magazine fit loosely; I see no way around that.

Secondary pockets:  These pockets are, by design, very thin.  An extra 1/2" of material, sewn between the main rig, and the back of the pockets, would allow the pouch to expand a little, thereby increasing its enclosed-space carrying capacity.

MISC:  I would like to see some MOLLE loops added to the back of this chest rig, so that it might be attached to other MOLLE gear, such as my rifle case & shooting mat.  Easy enough to accomplish, I'd think.

Todd at Strikehard Gear intimated in THIS POST announcing these that they will likely retail between $75-80.  Yes, it seems expensive, but when you look at the mil-spec materials, and the attention to detail, it is well worth it.  You won't find another chest rig that so perfectly holds your SKS duckbill magazines.  Compared to similar products for the AR-15, from top-tier manufacturers, these are a steal, and the craftsmanship exhibited in all of the StrikeHard gear that I've gotten my hands on is second to none. 

In summation, this is already a good, serviceable product; with minor alterations (MOLLE loops on back, relocating waist band, and expanding secondary pockets) it will be a product that far surpasses what other manufacturers offer. 

Thumbs up, StrikeHard Gear!

StrikeHard:
I was wondering who won that. Thank you for posting a thoughtful review, I'll put your ideas in the thinkolater and we'll see what comes out. Enjoy your new rig and MRE's  :lol:

cvasqu03:
Well, after stumbling over Project Appleseed’s review, I realized that I’d purchased one of these at the special introductory price and had utterly neglected to post the promised review, for which I offer my sincere apologies to Todd at Strike Hard who in my opinion has come up with an awesome product.  Although I’m usually opposed to necroposting,  I’m placing my review here because I don’t think I can top PA’s review which I think people should read, so I figured I’d just bump it up.

The pouch I got was in Coyote brown just like the one he put in the picture and I have to say that it’s quite stunning to look at.  When I first got it I spent some time just looking it over.  The construction is absolutely solid and all the seams are perfectly placed.  It has all the little touches that you expect from a top notch manufacturer charging much more.

 Not having the initial picture at the time I was a bit confused about how to insert the mags but it’s actually quite easy. With the front of the pouch facing you, the duckbill goes toward the bottom with the “bill” part pointing to the right.  I’m not sure exactly how he did it, but he actually managed to make this work.  The mags stack in an overlapping pattern in such a way that the “bill” doesn’t get in the way while still allowing for the mags to be inserted and removed easily.  Despite this they are all held solidly in place when inserted.  The rig also has attached elastic straps to hold them in place.  Being used to heavy flaps with Velcro or snaps, at first I thought this system was a little flimsy but in use, these actually proved to be quite usable.  The key is the little tab that each elastic strap has.  It’s Y shaped so that it fits above the back corner of the mag and allows the elastic straps to wrap solidly around the magazine body.  The tab also has an extension which is easily used to pull the elastics off in order to remove the mag.  This is a very ingenious system that works perfectly. 

I was planning to use these with the original Cobray zytel 30rd mags so I was concerned that they might not fit.  These mags are just about the biggest most awkward ones you can get and I was worried they may prove too much for this rig.  As it turns out my fears were groundless as the rig easily accommodated all of them.  The only modification I had to make was to undo the knot on the straps of the pockets I was using and retie them further down.  Fortunately these elastics were cut with this in mind so the amount of elastic left below the existing knot leaves just enough to move the knot down to accommodate 30 rounders.  I have four of these zytel 30 rounders and two twenty rounders so I opted to use the four middle pockets for the larger mags and put each of the two twenty rounders on the outside pockets.  The end result is great and maintains the balance of the rig. 



As Project Appleseed mentioned, the extra storage options on this rig are great in case you want to use your SKS for competitions or if  you just want to keep all you SKS gear together.  The MOLLE straps are a particularly good touch.  It might be interesting to see some type of stripper clip pouch or mag holder attached to the front of this rig.

I have a few minor quibbles.  For instance, I found that it was nearly impossible to reinsert the mags once removed with the chest rig on.  Also, you really have to load the mags starting from the left and going right and remove them from right to left .  There’s really no much that can be done about this as it’s one of the compromises that had to be made to accommodate these unusual magazines, but it might be a problem for southpaws.   The only other complaint I have is that the waist strap was a bit tight.  In fact I had to position the buckles at their farthest possible point to get it to close and this was a little tight and left no slack on the strap.  This isn’t so much Strike Hard’s fault as mine as I’ve gotten kind of big around the waist these days and my gut’s been getting  in the way of a lot of things.   I’m half tempted to congratulate him for making it wide enough to actually fit around my gut and still close.  Still,  I’m sure some type of extension can easily be made with the appropriate set of buckles and strap. 

Overall, this is a great chest rig, well worth the price and surprisingly well thought out.  I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking for a way to store their SKS duckbill mags.

StrikeHard:
Thanks for the great write-up.
"I found that it was nearly impossible to reinsert the mags once removed with the chest rig on." - the beak of the duckbill creates many obstacles to overcome. This is one of them due to the curvature caused by the chest rig being worn and the duckbill mag being 5" of straight rigid material.
 
"Also, you really have to load the mags starting from the left and going right and remove them from right to left .  There’s really no much that can be done about this as it’s one of the compromises that had to be made to accommodate these unusual magazines, but it might be a problem for southpaws."  -Spot-on. There's a left handed version as well.

Thanks for posting the pic with to 30 round tallboys.

I'll send you a longer waist strap. Just PM me the length you need and your name/address.

Thanks again

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