Contractor-ish Budget Loadout

[Travis]

Hey all you geardo's, I need a little advice.

I'm going to invest in some gear soon. I want it to be woodland-themed, as that's the cheapest stuff out there to my knowledge. I'm, as always, on a shoestring budget. I also want it to be easy to duplicate, as a few buddies of mine may want to team up with me. (That needs explanation. Not a "team" per se, because we're noobs and we need to learn the ropes still. But we all want to play together as a team, and be able to easily distinguish who is "us" and who is "them". No worries about another newb team running the ranks, chill out. )

Here's what I'm thinking. I'd like to keep the whole loadout under $100-120. Woodland BDU pants for sure. The contractor theme I think would go better with a black shirt (long or short sleeve) and a woodland OE-Tech chest rig or UTG vest. One of my buddies suggested a Woodland jacket and black c-rig or vest, and that's starting to grow on me too. Then we could either go woodland or black boonie or hat. Black boots, gloves, etc etc. What do you guys think of that? Should I theme it more towards using OD stuff? That blends in with a lot more than just woodland. And black stuff sticks out like heck. Should it be all-woodland?


It's all just in the bouncing-idea-off-wall stage right now. Nothing's final until it's paid for.

-Travis

EDIT- Should I really go for the MOLLE stuff? Which is better. Running the cheap non-MOLLE equipment until I have the cash for MOLLE stuff, or just waiting a while and getting the MOLLE PC and pouches right off the bat? MOLLE rigs are cool. But the UTG vest or an OE Tech chest rig with a drop leg would get the job done.

[Psychosis]

A tan or black MOLLE PC would be best for a contractor loadout. A black polo and khaki pants would be alright, though a lot of people run as contractors already.

[Travis]

That's what I was afraid of. I think the contractor look is now about as popular as any other.

Think I should just go with full woodland?

-Travis

[Melson]

No. Buy Tiger Stripe or something. My Suggestion to you is watch Blood Diamond as it is impossible to find any pictures of that movie online, but that would be for a look that could be somewhat practical in Michigan.

Here is a Youtube video that might help you, looks like some Tiger Stripe pants, and some sort of chest rig, I'll let the experts clarify what they are wearing, but its difficult for me to find pictures from the movie.

Here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDv15w0N6Pc

[theactionman]

That's not tiger stripe. It's DPM.

Anyway full Woodland wouldn't be a bad choice. It blends great and is allowed at 100% of Ops.

[Knief]

There are a few shots of the guys you're talking about in Blood Diamond here:

www.imfdb.org/index.php?title=Blood_Diamond

But nothing too great.

I'd go with full woodland myself, too. You'll always be able to wear it, it works pretty well in Michigan, and you can get it cheap as fuck. Plus, just about any color gear except light khaki looks good with it (I'd still avoid black for exactly the reason you've said).

As for how to go with your load bearing equipment, I always regretted not getting a MOLLE rig when I first started. It's really great to be able to customize your loadout to fit your needs. You can carry everything you want to carry and get rid of extra pouches that you have no use for or replace them with something better.

[Thor]

Apr 9, 2009 17:19:02 GMT -5 Knief said:

I'd go with full woodland myself, too. You'll always be able to wear it, it works pretty well in Michigan, and you can get it cheap as fuck. Plus, just about any color gear except light khaki looks good with it (I'd still avoid black for exactly the reason you've said).

I disagree Knief. I've yet to see a solid color rig that didn't look good with woodland. OD, Coyote, Tan, Black, they can all make for a good looking loadout.

And Travis, if you go with say Condor brand gear, you should be able to get some decent MOLLE rigs and pouches for not too much. It may not be super high speed or the topmost quality, but it's more than adequate for airsoft.

[Gentner]

You might want to look into one of these:

www.skdtac.com/product_p/eag.567.htm

The chest rig is designed by Eagle Industries and will run you around 85 shipped from SKD Tac. They come in all the colors available on the market and they are great rigs. Now this will take a huge chunk out of your wallet, but the quality you get from Eagle Industries is amazing. Even though your loosing the ability to fully customize the rig, you can still carry everything you need from 8+ rifle mags (Pending if you purchase additional mag pouches later on down the line) to pistol mags and or assorted tools. Pantac also offers a similar rig for about 65 shipped as well if you dont quite feel like dishing out the 85 for the SKD Version. I would reccomend the Eagle Industies rig over anything else within your price range as again, the quality of the Chest Rig is among the best on the market.

Pantac
www.airsoftsmith.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=31_77&products_id=1148

This style of chest rig is pretty versatile so if you decide to go Contractor or Full Camo it would still look pretty cool.

If thats not your thing and youd like a full Molle PC, Pantac also offers an MBSS Replica. The MBSS is used by Marine Force Recon and the US Navy SEALs and you can also find Black Hawk Versions of it being used with the Blackwater Contractors who were apart of the Bremer Detail back in 04.

Pantac MBSS
www.airsoftsmith.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=31_77&products_id=1083

This will run you 65 without shipping and with 2 Double Mag Pouches will run you about 110 shipped from Airsoft Smith. It still may seem like a lot to pay for gear, but the overall quality of Pantacs gear is worth it in the long run.

[Melson]

Apr 9, 2009 16:46:22 GMT -5 theactionman said:

That's not tiger stripe. It's DPM.

Couldn't tell it because it was so blurry, thanks though.

I would think if he is trying to go with woodland it just wouldn't look like that of a contractor, he would be dipping into the water of SF more so but hey that would be the budget loadout he might be looking for I suppose.

[Travis]

Gentner,

All I have to say is, I wish I had that kind of money. I have nothing else to say. I'm looking at some of the Condor equipment and I think that's about the best I can afford right now. The Eagle stuff looks amazing though. Just don't have a wallet that big.

I'm looking at Condor's MCR1 rig, and their triple mag pouch (Does the $15 set hold SIX mags, or THREE? It looks like six), UTG double pistol mag pouch (Will these handle my M9 doublestack mags?), VooDoo Tactical Modular holster (This one looks a little scary, I think I might just go drop leg there), and a UTG radio pouch.

This stuff, is expensive. I CAN'T spend over $100 for this stuff. The plate carrier is scary cheap, $30 at combat sport supply. Makes me wonder a little. I think I might just have to start covering all of the classifieds and find a used rig.

-Travis

[Gunny87]

Yeah $100-$120 for a full load out won't be easy but it is do-able.

I'd say skip the contractor look and just go with a full load of Woodland BDU's. You can get it so cheap now. You can get full Woodland BDU's for about $40.

You can check the classifieds and ebay because I've seen stuff up there but I haven't seen any woodland, mostly multicam and ACU from what I've seen recently.

[Яoman]

You just need to bargain hunt. Its really not that hard.

Your not gunna look "Fly" like all the Geardo's and military enthusiasts out there right now, but you can have something that functions and does so cheaply.

Check out sites like CheaperThanDirt.com, airsoft websites, ect.

Look for "Chest Rigs" or "Load Bearing Rigs".

Hell if you really cant afford the rigs and pouches get a ghetto Cross-Draw rig.

[Knief]

You could always go ALICE. You'll hate it, but it's fun and it's dirt cheap.