As we all know, one of the oddities of the VZ platform is the funky mag size. AK pouches don't necessarily fit VZ mags, and AR mags obviously don't normally work.
So to build a good rig for defense or competition can be a bit tricky, I think. Here's what I've done:
I mainly use Tactical Tailor 7.62 NATO pouches. These take up a couple of Molle rows and work just like an AR shingle. They aren't as deep as AR pouches, though, and they have a retention elastic over the top which is in the way. They're slightly oversized for VZ mags, so obviously with the shallow pouch and slightly loose fit, you have a problem.
I nabbed this image from Dave's Surplus - hopefully they don't mind as that's where I get 99% of my nylon gear and maybe this will generate a bit more traffic for them anyway.
So what I do is take the elastic retainer off the pouch. It's just knotted on so this is easy.
Then I wrap it through the Molle webbing like so:
Now we're talking...the elastic makes for good retention on the VZ mags, especially with that big thick magwell area on them.
You can see here how the mag fits:
It's in there pretty good but doesn't require too much effort to put in. That's important to me because I actually run one pouch - this one - on a belt, and feed it with the chest rig, rather than load straight off the rig all the time. I do this because I saw some guys a lot better than me doing it this way, and I think it's probably a better method.
So here is my rig:
TT Two piece MAV, bought secondhand from somebody who took it to Afghanistan. Included real afghani dirt! There was a fine, chalky dust everywhere inside it when I first got it. It was in good shape though.
The other gear on there is as follows, left to right:
1) TT Triple AR pouch. Actually holds Israeli bandage and a CAT tourniquet. The idea there is that if I ever accidentally blow a hole in my leg, or somebody else at the range does, I can get the blood stopped. Or, in the extremely unlikely event that I'm using this rifle to defend myself, and it turns out that I'm not that good at it, I can fix the first one or two holes somebody puts in me.
2) TT Triple AR pouch with the flap cut off. This holds a couple more VZ mags. It's not my ideal solution as once one mag is out, retention is not that great on the second. But, I had it lying around and figured what the hell. It works fine for range duty, anyway.
3 & 4) TT 7.62 pouches, as explained. On top: TAG Enhanced double pistol mag pouches. Hold two of my G20 mags each. My thinking here is that in the even more unlikely event that I am shooting out of necessity, and something goes wrong, I have a secondary gun to transition to. And with the 5 round limit on VZ mags, the pistol might turn out to be pretty useful. I can clear a malfunction pretty fast on the VZ but if things are weird and I can't, I can draw the G20. Not that if I ever needed a gun to save my life, I would have this thing on. However, I recently bought a full-length mirror and although I haven't tested it yet, I bet this will work awesomely for posing in front of it with.
5) Maxpedition Roly Poly dump pouch. In the real world, this would be for partial mags. In Canada, with the 5 round limit, I don't even know what a partial would be. Two rounds? Come to think of it, with 5 round mags this is probably useless.
I forgot to take pics of my belt. But it's a simple rig: 1 VZ mag, 2 Glock mags, 1 holster.
The idea with the two rigs is that if you have to dump your chest rig, or you just don't have it on, because you're walking around on a military base that is surrounded by people who want to kill you, as so many of us are in our day to day lives, you're still armed and have some spare ammo. I guess for me it has no particular use. When I actually use the belt, I'm at the range running my Glock and I keep 4 G20 mags and no rifle mags at all. In the event of major ugly violent disaster, I guess I'd go back to the battle setup. That would give me a theoretical:
60 rounds of rifle ammo on the belt and gun
45 rounds of pistol ammo on the belt and gun
another 120 rounds of rifle ammo on the chest rig
another 60 rounds of pistol ammo on the chest rig
So that's the SHTF setup, assuming the S H T F shortly after the laws go back to normal. And that's my VZ rig and how I came up with pouches that work well for the VZ. One nice thing - this is all made-in-the-first-world (well, except the dump pouch), quality, lifetime warranty gear.
So to build a good rig for defense or competition can be a bit tricky, I think. Here's what I've done:
I mainly use Tactical Tailor 7.62 NATO pouches. These take up a couple of Molle rows and work just like an AR shingle. They aren't as deep as AR pouches, though, and they have a retention elastic over the top which is in the way. They're slightly oversized for VZ mags, so obviously with the shallow pouch and slightly loose fit, you have a problem.
I nabbed this image from Dave's Surplus - hopefully they don't mind as that's where I get 99% of my nylon gear and maybe this will generate a bit more traffic for them anyway.
So what I do is take the elastic retainer off the pouch. It's just knotted on so this is easy.
Then I wrap it through the Molle webbing like so:
Now we're talking...the elastic makes for good retention on the VZ mags, especially with that big thick magwell area on them.
You can see here how the mag fits:
It's in there pretty good but doesn't require too much effort to put in. That's important to me because I actually run one pouch - this one - on a belt, and feed it with the chest rig, rather than load straight off the rig all the time. I do this because I saw some guys a lot better than me doing it this way, and I think it's probably a better method.
So here is my rig:
TT Two piece MAV, bought secondhand from somebody who took it to Afghanistan. Included real afghani dirt! There was a fine, chalky dust everywhere inside it when I first got it. It was in good shape though.
The other gear on there is as follows, left to right:
1) TT Triple AR pouch. Actually holds Israeli bandage and a CAT tourniquet. The idea there is that if I ever accidentally blow a hole in my leg, or somebody else at the range does, I can get the blood stopped. Or, in the extremely unlikely event that I'm using this rifle to defend myself, and it turns out that I'm not that good at it, I can fix the first one or two holes somebody puts in me.
2) TT Triple AR pouch with the flap cut off. This holds a couple more VZ mags. It's not my ideal solution as once one mag is out, retention is not that great on the second. But, I had it lying around and figured what the hell. It works fine for range duty, anyway.
3 & 4) TT 7.62 pouches, as explained. On top: TAG Enhanced double pistol mag pouches. Hold two of my G20 mags each. My thinking here is that in the even more unlikely event that I am shooting out of necessity, and something goes wrong, I have a secondary gun to transition to. And with the 5 round limit on VZ mags, the pistol might turn out to be pretty useful. I can clear a malfunction pretty fast on the VZ but if things are weird and I can't, I can draw the G20. Not that if I ever needed a gun to save my life, I would have this thing on. However, I recently bought a full-length mirror and although I haven't tested it yet, I bet this will work awesomely for posing in front of it with.
5) Maxpedition Roly Poly dump pouch. In the real world, this would be for partial mags. In Canada, with the 5 round limit, I don't even know what a partial would be. Two rounds? Come to think of it, with 5 round mags this is probably useless.
I forgot to take pics of my belt. But it's a simple rig: 1 VZ mag, 2 Glock mags, 1 holster.
The idea with the two rigs is that if you have to dump your chest rig, or you just don't have it on, because you're walking around on a military base that is surrounded by people who want to kill you, as so many of us are in our day to day lives, you're still armed and have some spare ammo. I guess for me it has no particular use. When I actually use the belt, I'm at the range running my Glock and I keep 4 G20 mags and no rifle mags at all. In the event of major ugly violent disaster, I guess I'd go back to the battle setup. That would give me a theoretical:
60 rounds of rifle ammo on the belt and gun
45 rounds of pistol ammo on the belt and gun
another 120 rounds of rifle ammo on the chest rig
another 60 rounds of pistol ammo on the chest rig
So that's the SHTF setup, assuming the S H T F shortly after the laws go back to normal. And that's my VZ rig and how I came up with pouches that work well for the VZ. One nice thing - this is all made-in-the-first-world (well, except the dump pouch), quality, lifetime warranty gear.
