Pouches, Which One is For You?

There are a lot of different pouches out there for your load out. Choosing the right pouches for you can increase efficiency on the battlefield. Different pouch designs have different purposes and, dependent on your play style, certain pouches will suit you better than others. Some are for direct access; some are for jumping out of an air plane / hardcore exercises. So the question remains, what pouches are for you?

Generally speaking, there are 2 type of pouches; open top pouches and regular pouches. Regular pouches have a flap, or retention device that will keep the magazine in the pouch. Those pouches will hold the magazines very securely; however it is a pain in the butt when trying to do a speed-reload. Open top magazine are great for day to day operation, and the open top design gives the operator fast access to the magazine when needed. However, the open top designs may not be suitable for you to jump out of the airplane.

In this article, I have 3 different pouches that are made by different companies. Although there are different pouch designs within the same company, I picked out the best: High Speed Gear (HSGI) Taco pouch, the Blue Force Gear Ten-Speed Pouch, and the Condor Outdoor standard magazine pouch. These pouches are all very good quality and will last a very long time.

First up is the Condor Outdoor Dual M4 magazine Pouch. These pouches are made with 600 Denier Nylon, it is very tough. The magazines are retained in the pouch by a flap that goes over the top of the magazine, and secured by Velcro. The Dual M4 Magazine pouch can hold up to 4 M4 / M16 magazines, which is a plus if you need a lot of ammo. However, in my opinion, I prefer open top design because I can get to my magazine faster when I need it.

Next up is the HSGI Taco pouches. The HSGI Taco pouches are very unique due to its design. It has nylon, plastic, and bungee cord to build this pouch. The plastic insert is to retain the magazine firmly and securely. The bungee cord is there to add additional tension if needed. However, due to the open top design, I wouldn’t recommend you jumping out of an airplane with those pouches. The magazine might fall out even though the retention on the TACO pouches is very secure. Other than jumping out of the airplane, the Taco pouches is perfect for you day to day operation, and of course Airsoft games.

Finally the Blue Force Gear Ten Speed Pouches. As much as I like the Taco Pouches, currently my favorite, the Blue Force Gear Ten Speed Pouch is also well designed. First it is very light weight. The blue force gear is by far the lightest of the 3 pouches. A double M4 pouch just weighed in at about 2 oz. Not to mention it has the lowest profile out of the 3 pouches, and the Ten Speed Series Pouches are the slimmest magazine pouches on the market right now.

So, which pouch is for you? Which pouch suits your needs? These are the questions that only you can answer. Try them out and see which one you like the best. The Condor Outdoor pouches can fit 4 Magazines into a Dual M4 pouch, however the flap is too much to work with when I need to do a speed reload. The Blue Force Gear Ten Speed Pouches are great, light weight and slim profile, but it is very hard to put magazines back into the pouch. The HSGI fit me the best: easy access, easy to put in, and the retention system is very good. However, the Malice clip system which the Taco pouches use is hard to work with. So try out the pouches before you purchase any one style. That is it for now, I am Andrew, stay safe, and get out and play airsoft.