Chest rig for a lady 3 gunner

A guy here locally rocks a MKA 1919 semiauto boxfed (the one that looks like an AR) and he does very well. In fact dominates since we don't have different classes in the couple I shoot at. My other buddy has the Grizzly box fed pump and it is a jamomatic. I think it is a matter of getting the right one, working the mags and practicing.

Agreed. Most are jamomatics. I tried for a couple years and gave up on the Norinco detachable mag shotgun. I like other Norinco products but that one is garbage. It's painful watching those at matches but some people do get the Valtro and others to work fine with a lot of work and luck.
 
Don't make it sound like i got rid of it because it didn't work. It worked 100%.
You know it was replaced with something more appropriate for US matches.

You're going farther back than I care to remember... Lol.
 
Well yeah I agree but that same guy will beat himself if he plans the stage with a 15 round mag instead of a 5 round mag if they are both reliable. At least most stages anyway.

I agree with you. It's not really fair to compare a guy with pinned 5 round Pmags who plans and thinks to some dummy who walks into a stage without a plan and happens to have a 15 round Beo mag. I know the point 667 is trying to make but I would suggest that a skilled competitor who has to make fewer mag changes will out perform a similarly skilled competitor who has to make mag changes 3X as often. Bottom line is what 667 said - whatever mags you run need to be 100% reliable and you need to know when to change them!

To the OP, I know chest rigs look all cool and chit but if you and your wife stick with 3 gun long enough, you'll ditch them for belts....in the future when you post a thread asking which belt to buy, I'm going to reply with a "told ya so" and a link to this thread ;)
 
..in the future when you post a thread asking which belt to buy, I'm going to reply with a "told ya so" and a link to this thread ;)

Gonna hold you to that :)

Yeah we will probably go cheap and chearful chest rigs for the fun factor. If we do get serious about it, you will very likely get to post that "I told ya so" ;)
 
All you need is a single AR mag pouch with a coupled LAR mag, and a shotgun shell caddy of some sort.

So long as you can get 8 shotgun shells on your existing IPSC belt, you're good to go.

The money you spend on the chest rig alone will buy you nice high quality shotgun shell caddies, which, dollars to donuts, are the best possible investment for 3Gun. That's what it all comes down to.

You already have the belt as I understand it? Spend the $100 on the right accessories for the belts, and you'll be laughing. Seriously. Pick up a blade tek AR mag pouch and something for the shotgun shells. APC, Carbon Arms, or Invictus practical, and you're off to the races. If you really want, you can get the blade tek double AR mag pouch which will hold two of your ideal AR magazines in the space of one.

That's all you need to get started. Already having the IPSC belt is like 60% of the way there.

You only use a chest rig these days if you're doing CQB. Mine just hangs on the wall these days as a testament to something I used to do. Now with the belt and tek loks, I can just add or delete stuff from my belt as I need it.

You come to the forum for advice. The advice here is use a belt, which she already has. She needs two accessories for her belt to be ready to go.

Chest rigs are a step in the wrong direction for three gun.
 
Seeing as this thread has gone to an equipment thread, has anyone tried the gunners solution shotshell holders.
 
I wouldn't as chest rigs are useless or a step I n the wrong direction. I have just found that as I evolve as a shooter my gear placement evolves too. I like a chest rig for my rifle mags. I find pulling the mag and having the mag well at a similar level is more effecient for me. They are however limited for other things or mounting other gear to.

To the OP, you can buy a condor chest rig for about 40 bucks at some of the airsoft places. My buddy has a condor plate carrier and it works well, let's face it we are not in combat we are in a competition.
 
let's face it we are not in combat we are in a competition.

Which is exactly why anyone with any experience will advise against wasting $ on a "chest rig".

As stated... Chest rigs are S-L-O-W, competitions are timed events... You want to be quick as possible.
Wether or not you're new at the game why would you use gear tgat right off the bat puts you at a (time) disadvantage?

In the end I guess it doesn't matter what anyone says. The shooter will make up his/her own mind and live/shoot with the consequences.
 
As stated... Chest rigs are S-L-O-W, competitions are timed events

I'm curious as to why that would be?

It seems to me that pulling a mag from the chest is less movement than pulling one from the waist.
Especially if rifle mags are around at the back of your belt, behind your pistol mags.

What makes a chest pull slower?
 
Just my observation over time.
I'd argue there's less time/movement involved in pulling a mag off your belt.
I think the problem lies in that many chest rigs have flaps/velcro/bungee cords to retain mags.
Shooters waste time struggling with these things just to get their mag out.
I'm sure there's a high speed- low drag shooter out there that can rock a chest rig quicker than a belter, but... I haven't seen him/her at a match ever.

Just go youtube.... Count how many 3 gunners are using chest rigs or ANY pseudo military gear.

Oh sure.. there are the trooper division shooters at the few matches that have a trooper division, but other than that... Go to any major 3gun match where there are prizes on the table and you won't see one chest rig.

But like I said. .. People can decide for themselves. 'Just giving my opinion.
 
Just my observation over time.
I'd argue there's less time/movement involved in pulling a mag off your belt.
I think the problem lies in that many chest rigs have flaps/velcro/bungee cords to retain mags.
Shooters waste time struggling with these things just to get their mag out.
I'm sure there's a high speed- low drag shooter out there that can rock a chest rig quicker than a belter, but... I haven't seen him/her at a match ever.

Just go youtube.... Count how many 3 gunners are using chest rigs or ANY pseudo military gear.

Oh sure.. there are the trooper division shooters at the few matches that have a trooper division, but other than that... Go to any major 3gun match where there are prizes on the table and you won't see one chest rig.

But like I said. .. People can decide for themselves. 'Just giving my opinion.

One of the top guys in an action shooting game (plus isn't too far off pace in a couple more) once told me "Get what the champions use and then train". Well, review this video and let me know how many of these guys are running chest rigs ;)
http://www.carbontv.com/videos/80eTY1cTqJYRvo3cTu_ZnKMyKJJ1Eh-v
 
When your arms are extended they usually fall free and end up at waist length. It swings naturally that way. So anything at your belt is easier to grab.

You can grab something from your chest area but it utilizes smaller muscles in your hand and is more awkward trying to pull something forcefully and under time pressure. It may utilize more fine motor skill than just grabbing something from your waist. You can just grab something with the claw of all of your fingers. Whereas from the chest you are just using your forefingers. There is not the same power. Your elbow is also a bit twisted.

Same reason why sword scabbards usually are at the waist. Why holsters are at the waist.
 
Like I said before now that I have shot for a while I want to migrate everything to a belt. The OP did state that he and his Mrs were looking for a cheap solution to try 3 gun and a chest rig would do that. Building a belt with nice mag pouches and such can be an expensive venture especially when outfitting with fast mags, tacos or similar magazine retention devices. I'd say start with one. Compete for a while. See how the local 3 gun club operates. Maybe you only need to have 3 rifle mags as that is all the range will allow a course of fire to be. Then plan a belt. Seeing what others run is like test driving without buying the car.


Just my 2 cents.
 
I'm a lady 3-gunner and prefer everything on my belt. Having to wear a vest all day in the hot sun when you aren't using plates seems silly. It's bad enough wearing a bra in the heat!! Some ladies are so tiny they may have a hard time getting everything on a belt, unfortunately that's not my problem :( I use a Bladetec holster, 2 AP custom double shot shell holders (hold ten 20 gauge each-time to update to quads), 3 double Bladetec AR mag pouches and my six Ghost 360 pouches for IPSC that are to hard to remove off my wide Safariland leather Sam Brown belt.

I leant my belt to a fellow with a beer belly and he was uncomfortable wearing a gear belt, especially going prone. Someone really boney might not dig landing prone hard with double pouches but I've not had difficulty.

I recommend everyone to go to a match and ask others if you can check out their kit. Most won't mind...
 
Well, we do have some older chest rigs and current IPSC belts. Perhaps take those out to a match and start scoping out people's gear. We have no shell carriers though, so it looks like that will need to be a purchase before going out to the matches. Some of the belt options do look great and will certainly be on the table once we can start spending some decent money on it. Finding those shell carriers seems to be a bit of a task though. There is space on our IPSC belts for those I am sure. Thanks for all the input so far guys and gals, much appreciated.
 
Well, we do have some older chest rigs and current IPSC belts. Perhaps take those out to a match and start scoping out people's gear. We have no shell carriers though, so it looks like that will need to be a purchase before going out to the matches. Some of the belt options do look great and will certainly be on the table once we can start spending some decent money on it. Finding those shell carriers seems to be a bit of a task though. There is space on our IPSC belts for those I am sure. Thanks for all the input so far guys and gals, much appreciated.

You can fill a dump pouch with shot shells for your reloads. It's not fast, but it works well enough.
 
Back
Top Bottom