Gear Tips Archives - Page 3 of 9

Back in Black | ASGI Bill’s Rig

August 13, 2014

Originally written by ASGI Bill

Recently I was in the market for a new plate carrier as my trusty Condor Quick Release Plate Carrier was slowly wearing out from 4 years of hard abuse. After talking to Bob about his setup (as well as trying on his plate carrier) I chose the Specter MPC plate carrier in black as I have always like black gear. I understand that is may not be as hip or cool as the newest camo (cough* multicam, cough*) or anything in tan, but I has always given me the PMC/Mercenary look I try to go for. Let me tell you, this plate carrier is well worth the price, and I plan to always buy American made plate carriers from now on, as it is built like a Mack truck and can take a beating.

If you have ever seen my loadout, I carry a lot of stuff, and I mean A LOT. On the front of my plate carrier I have 3 Tactical Tailor pouches, each holding two magazines a piece, and next to those, I have two High Speed Gear TACO pouches with pistol TACO’s attached. These are my “I need to reload 5 seconds ago” pouches. On my chest I have a Condor admin pouch where I proudly wear my Defenders of Liberty patch and Team Airsoft GI Patch. Besides patches, that is where I put my wallet, keys, and any random little items.

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New Mechanix Gloves in Multicam coming out soon!

June 5, 2014

20140604_135347-1 — The Multicam top in this picture is a very old and very faded piece of clothing from our studio so it doesn’t quite match the gloves because it’s been washed… a LOT.

Mechanix Gear is set to release 3 new sets of gloves before the end of June and I was lucky enough to get a set of them to try out just a few days ago… and I am one happy Bob 🙂

Mechanix Gear makes great products and this is no exception. They are comfortable, dexterous, and are affordable enough for my own airsoft-related purposes! Over my decade-and-a-half plus of playing airsoft I’ve had the chance to use a wide variety of gloves and in the past 5 years I’ve more or less settled on Mechanix Gear as my go-to gloves of choice. As such, it should be no surprise that I’m very happy with this product.

Furthermore, I literally JUST got my first set of Multicam BDUs (I’m know I’m way late on this train) and these gloves are going to work perfectly with my new kit, which is not pictured. Mechanix Gear will be coming out with three different version of their gloves: Original, FastFit, and M-Pact. The gloves in this photo are Mechanix Gear Original Multicam gloves and what I normally use are the Mechanix Gear M-Pact gloves which have more protection for the top of my hands. Mechanix FastFit gloves, which I have yet to play-test, have form-fitting stretch panels between your fingers to provide a snug fit and elastic cuffs for easy on and off flexibility between tasks.

looking at the camera at sc village — Me using a set of Mechanix Gear M-Pact 2012 gloves in Tan. Mechanix will be releasing a set of M-Pact gloves in Multicam as well!

Essentially, Mechanix Gear is releasing three different version of their multicam gloves before the end of June 2014 that cover the vast majority of airsoft uses, which is yet another reason to be excited! You will be finally be able to get Multicam gloves from Mechanix Gear and not only that but you will be able to get the version that suits your airsoft mission-specific needs!

Once again, I’m one happy Bob 🙂

-Bob Hildebrand

Manta Weapon Accessories

May 1, 2014

I have been using Manta weapon accessories as far back as two years ago when I acquired a Manta rail cover at Shot Show 2012. I had already been having issues mounting a few of my pressure switches so when I stopped by the Manta booth I was immediately interested. Since then, I have taken my Manta rail cover all over the United States, both to operations and recreational gameplay and I am happy to report that not only did it never fail me but that it utterly exceeded my expectations. Not only that but I have recently learned that Manta rail covers are being issued for use with the M27 IAR!

2354266 — Manta rail cover with pressure switch compartment

Manta weapon accessories work like any other commercially available rail covers do, they snap on over existing rails with one exception, they come with a compartment that can either hold a pressure switch or allow you to route cables connected to your accessories through them. This can take care of a lot of cables jumbling around on the outside of your gun without having to use electrical tape or zip ties. I actually used to wrap excess cables around my gun in order to keep them from flopping around which did work, most of the time, but it made my gun look absolutely hideous.

lm4 5 — My KWA LM4 PTS with a Manta rail cover mounted on the left side

I have even used my Manta rail cover to add a pressure switch to my Tokyo Marui AK. This was a last minute modification I used for Tim VS Bob 5 in order to add both a pressure switch as well as a flashlight and to be honest it worked out spectacularly. It may have looked a bit off but I thought it was completely in line with how my rebel forces operate. We don’t have to look good as long as we get the job done!

manta ak — My Tokyo Marui AK with Manta rail cover duct-tape-mounted on the top of the handguard

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My New Favorite Boots

April 16, 2014

Capture — My Personal set of Under Armour Tactical Valsetz Boots

I have been using boots purchased at Army/Navy Surplus stores for the majority of my airsoft career. About 6 years ago I purchased some boots online on the advice of my friend and fraternity brother Matt, only to be disappointed by their craftsmanship and lack of ventilation, considering they were desert boots. This led me to refuse to order boots online because I didn’t want to spend any more money on boots until I could try them first hand to make sure I wasn’t throwing money down a hole.

hsp — My UA Valsetz Boots at Hollywood Sports Park’s Combat Center

Little did I know, that I my girlfriend was planning on buying me something special for my birthday and asked me if there was one thing I could have for airsoft what would I buy? So, I told here “I haven’t had a comfortable set of boots in almost a decade, and that’s what I spend most of my time in, so it would have to be a new set of boots.” She asked if there were any specific ones I’d thought about and quite a number of my coworkers had just purchased Under Armour Tactical Valsetz boots from AirsoftGI.com and could not stop talking about them. These same folks would also wear them into work just about every day leading me to believe that they really were as comfy, lightweight, and breathable as everyone had claimed them to be.

rtc 1 — My UA Valsetz Boots at Bob’s Rebel Training Camp: Northern Resistance at Gamepod Combat Zone

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Gloves that Bob The Axe Man uses

April 11, 2014

Over my decade and a half of playing airsoft I have had the chance to try out many different pairs of gloves and as such I feel confident talking to all of you about what I use and why. Firstly, I actually have about three sets of gloves that I currently use right now and find myself switching to for different reasons. These gloves are the following: Mechanix MPACT 2012 gloves, Mechanix MPACT gloves, V-Tac Armored Half Finger gloves. Now, I generally have multiple versions of the same item in my armory because they fulfill different mission requirements. The Mechanix MPACT 2012 gloves are the main set I use for the vast majority of my operations. This is for a number of reasons, but mainly because they provide the best combination of dexterity and protection. They also look the coolest which is, if you know me, also a big factor in my decision making process.