Disclaimer - This isn't intended to a step-by-step/how-to guide on setting your own rig up the same way. Nor am I a paintball god dictating that if you don't follow my example you will burn in dead-box hell for many seasons. Nor do I claim to be the first or only person to come up with some of these ideas.Nor is this intended as bragging of my skill for I know there are those far better than I. Just trying to give people ideas for their own setups. Thank goodness rig setups for pistols are such a personal thing... so much fun trial and error.
I've loved playing dual pistol the past couple years. But it does have a serious drawback over the simplicity of single pistol. No free hand to catch an ejected magazine and reload. I often have to set down one of the pistols to reload. I'm hoping this season with my new rig setup, I'll won't need two hands for a reload
nearly as often. Another bonus of the new setup is nothing is actually attached to my pants belt, I can easily take off all the gear and relax for a game or two in the worst of the summer heat.
(Plus, no more running to bunker someone to loose my pants halfway there due to a full dump pouch pulling at just the wrong moment. <DOH!>)
Onto the details:
12 Mags in eight M4 pouches on shoulder supported, vest like, Chest rig, attached to molle belt. Center 4 mag pouches with 2 mags each, outer 4 with one mag each. For first strike only, I've got 7 first strike mags, with the center two M4 pouches doubled up and the outer M4 pouches for 10 round tubes filled with 12 FSR each. The rig is the result of some good deals on used gear at the army surplus store and some time sitting at a sewing machine, knowing that if I screwed something up, I wouldn't ruin something expensive shiny and new. Most components of the rig were originally ACU. I dyed it brown, giving it an almost dark brown digital camo look. Not necessarily going to always play with 12 mags, but for larger games I have the option. Technically, I could double up on the 4 outer pouches making it 16 total, but that jutted out a bit too much and interfered with the "no look, one handed" use of the dump pouches. Doubling up on the outermost pouch also makes the holster draw more difficult.
2 Pistols in Full Clip holsters on old leather belt. Modified to sit at a forward angle. Angle allows an easy holstering/drawing for either my short, light and shiny x.0s or my sighted and Flasc "mock suppressed" 9.1/8.1 combo. Isn't intended to be a holster angle/setup for running/diving/sliding at a full tilt while the pistols are holstered. This is more for between games walking to/from the fields. Waiting in the deadbox, ect, ect.
If I'm running, I'm expecting both pistols to be in hand. You'll also notice that the mag wells sit almost vertically ... more on that later.
No Look Mag ejection directly into 2 Dump pouches. Modified to stay open just enough for the mags to eject right into them one handed. But not too much so that mags
easily fall back out. Previously, I would just eject to the ground when using duals, then collect after the game. Ejecting straight to the ground is
very satisfying, but that only works well for small quick games at my trusted field. I need the dump pouches for the larger/longer scenario games. (Or ejecting FS mags... I don't like ejecting those to the ground since I spend almost twice as much per mag on them.)
The unexpected star of the show...
No Look, One handed, Reloads. Thanks to the orientation of the holsters, the mag well is nearly vertical. I'll be able to reload the pistols independently of each other while keeping a bead on potential targets. In truth this was not the original intention of reorganizing the rig for this season. This was an amazing side effect that came out of lots of trial and error finding a holster config that worked well for all of my pistol setups.
I haven't had a chance to play with it in this config yet. But I have put it through more then a few paces in my treadmill test (jogging 1.5 miles with it fully loaded) and it stays put and remains comfortable. I've also practiced with a few hundred no look reloads and holstering/drawing over the last two weeks. The new one handed no look reload process is not quite reflex yet, nor as fast as reloading a single pistol setup using two hands. But I already feel it's much quicker and has significant benefits then my previous "methods" of reloading with dual pistols. I say "methods" loosely because most of the time it involved setting one of the pistols into the dirt to have both hands free. With dedicated practice I'm hoping this will become a reflex like action. Effectively removing my last drawback of using dual pistols.
Update - I originally put this thread together about a week ago for the Tiberius official forums... Since that time I decided to post it here as well. As a bonus I can also add how the drills/training with it has been going. I have to say I'm very happy with the setup and can hardly wait to get into a few games with it. I've been doing dozens of drills daily with both sets of pistols. I do it with one hand while holding aim with a pistol in the other hand. Forcing myself to get by both with one hand, and and also with a split concentration from holding aim. It's helped... I've become quicker and more confident. I'm hoping that once the season really gets rolling the process will be more of a reflex. The point so far where the most time is lost is getting a new mag from the pouch.
- Eject to dump pouch
- Holster
- Grab Mag from pouch
- Load mag into holstered pistol
- Draw loaded pistol
Not shown -
Pursuit pod on belt when not using first strikes. Elastic straps for 12 grams on left wrist/arm for scenarios.
To Do List - Acquire/Add small water bottle pouch or H2O system for long scenario games. Add Utility/ID pouch for Phone/Cash/Displaying scenario credentials.
Temptation - Also get a small/light
MCR3 chest rig from GMAN1 for shorter games. Set it up with four black M4 pouches I've got laying around for a max of 6-8 mags.
Current Dual Pistol Rig setup for the '12 season.
