In Defence of Nerf Holsters

There's an adage in some parts of the Humans versus Zombies community that you will die with your primary in your hands. I respectfully disagree. I will die with my jammed or empty primary slung from my shoulder and an empty or jammed sidearm firmly in my grip. Why? Because I've worked with my team over the last 6 months to make the best damn tactical gear we can and the MkII and MkIII holsters are the pinnacle of that work.

Masterkeys are often a solution to not being able to carry a second blaster for what ever reason. I don't like the idea that gluing/bolting/otherwise affixing another blaster to your blaster is the way to go for a number of reasons. First, I'd like to be able to use my blasters in any way I see fit. If I need my Strongarm for going to lectures then I don't want to have to buy another one because my main one is on the bottom of a Retaliator barrel. Second, if your primary is pointing one way, with a Masterkey, so is your secondary. I have seen so many of our holster users break out of corners because they were able to quick draw from our MkII holster, down the incoming threat and move. Two targets at once, maximum flexibility and maximum survivability.

The other problem with Masterkeys is modding skill. It takes time to learn how to make them. With a holster, I can teach its use in 2 minutes. Granted it takes time to be fully proficient mine but that's practice and it applies to any gear you carry. An improperly done Masterkey can be deadly to the player or, worse, unsafe to those in the game.

The MkII and MkIII holsters are our best selling products. At LARP events and other times when we get together with UK Nerfers, we're known as the guys with the holsters. It irks me a little (we do other stuff too!) but if that's what we're known for because we do it best then I'm happy with it. When they're in use, they're popular and effective. I've seen many a player saved by timely deployment of his/her properly carried side arm.

We will continue to make them as long as people continue to need them. A holster is for life, not just for looking good and it will save your backside plenty of times. :)

- Mike, BSUK MD

NOTE: Remember, I'm writing this as a MD for a company that makes these, bear in mind my bias but also remember that I've given 6 months of my life to it and I wouldn't do that without reason. :)

Green Cloaks: After Action Report - Part II - Tactical Gear Reflections

As mentioned in my previous post, we spent the last weekend in June in Pembury with the Green Cloaks Sci-Fi LARP system. This post is about how those experiences will affect Blastersmiths development pipeline and how our kit holds up in combat.

Being outdoors was a huge change and not just for the effect on blaster range. I found myself crawling through bushes, lying prone and firing down a hill and generally getting dirty and muddy - things I'd never do as a BUZAN player. My left hand holster is currently a mess having gotten incredibly muddy and dirty to the point where we might have to consider putting it through the washing machine (a 30 degree wash is fine, for reference). This is an important realisation, BUZAN needs quick access to darts but if you're running for a whole day then some compromise solution might be in order. While I still maintain flaps are going to get you killed (and they did get a player killed at least once) I think a zip type solution to switch between combat readiness and not would be a good idea. I also think some kind of blank spacer to save me having to constantly throw away the first dart in my magazine.

Our current kit held up very well. The MkII and MkIII drop-leg holsters performed admirably alongside some of the other kit we saw around. It was a lovely feeling to stand atop a hill with lines of players filing past struggling to tell if our holsters were in use or not; they're designed to be low impact and the fact the manufacturers struggle to spot them at a distance I think proves we met that criterion!

The prototype chest rig I deployed held together fine, too - there are some bugs that need fixing with its construction but generally, the idea is sound. The Camel Back was an absolute life-saver. Everytime I was told to 'Hydrate or die' all I had to do was reach for my catch tube. It also had the fantastic effect of being a huge heat sink keeping me cool under all that gear. It's certainly a winner and the design will be taken forward.

Another point relating to kit is that the bruises on the back of my right leg are only just fading. Normally, I use a 2 point combat sling to hold my blaster out of the way. Only problem is that it will bang against the back of your leg while on long marches. A three point sling or a QR sling would have been a much better idea and would have saved the pain. After being asked for one several times, such variants are our top priority.

Other kit changes include our approach to our rig systems. Our tactical chest rig as it stands is fine for HvZ but I don't honestly think it can continue to as it is. To that end, we've revised our approach to include two different tiers. Tier 1 will consist of lightweight shoulder rigs, pancake holsters, belt systems and the like while Tier 2 will consist of full vest kits. We've got some sewing pattern-fu in the works and so we'll be able to offer differing sizes. Our commitment to the MOLLE adaptability system remains solid, our company motto is 'Take your blaster' - while the full meaning of that is yet to become apparent to the public, making your kit your own is a key part to success in any system, be it LARP, HvZ or NIC wars.

The form that the end of the current chest rig system and the introduction of the new systems is currently unclear. We have some chest rig parts in stock and will likely make those up to order but produce no more once those parts are used. The deployment of the new tier systems will be coincide with our new website that's coming at the beginning of August. Our new products will be combat tested around the place, both indoors and outdoors.

If there's one thing I could take away from this last weekend it would be that we're doing the right thing. Seeing people struggle in the field with poorly adapted equipment was a nightmare for me and it's spurred me on to get us moving. The lack of MOLLE mounted vests was disappointing and the fact people were electing for ill-fitting Viper and Webtex rigs makes for a strong case for selling starter kits and packs for people looking for an adaptable load out. Eventually, it's just a case of getting people to know who we are and why we do what we do. :)

There's a very strong possibility we'll be back in Pembury in August to fight alongside the Green Cloaks once more (it would be a certainty but I've not discussed it with the guys yet). I'd like to reiterate my earlier sentiments and thank Enys, Hollie, Woj and everyone else for a fantastic weekend. We learned so very much and we hope we can repay you by either fighting alongside or being the faceless mooks you wage war through in the coming months. :)

-Mike, BSUK MD

Green Cloaks: After Action Report - Part I - Differences between indoor HvZ and LARP

NOTE: This is one of two posts by our MD on our weekend with the Green Cloaks LARP system in Pembury, Kent. This first deals with the difference in experience that LARP offers to a HvZ veteran while the second deals with the lessons learned about our kit and our future development directions.

Here goes....

It's been nearly a week since we got back from Pembury in Kent after a great weekend with the lovely folks at the Green Cloaks. I've had plenty of time to think about things and I thought I'd share some thoughts. It was the company's first ever trader event and our team's first time in any kind of LARP system. I've written out my thoughts on the differences between the BUZAN Humans versus Zombies indoor variant and my experiences alongside these chaps.

I played a monster trooper on the Sunday and participated in the event's climax as a One Bakkar ranger while Steve took up arms with the player base as a trooper with the 23rd Heavy Infantry regiment on the Saturday and turned traitor with me on the Sunday.

The first thing I noticed was the shallowness of the learning curve. I hail from BUZAN, an indoor melee free Humans Versus Zombies variant. There, it's shoot or die. The human faction are invariably overrun and it's a case of yelling "By the manner of our deaths shall ye know us!" 25ft is considered out of range and your kill zone is between 6ft and 10ft. It's frenetic and brutal, a closely fought live or be turned system and it looks poorly on humans who fail to learn quickly. BUZAN members rapidly learn their blasters, rapidly learn situational awareness or they get really, really good at being a zombie.

Green Cloaks was refreshingly different. While BUZAN relies on a "here's a blaster, those zombies are going to kill you, survive as long as you can" there's a greater sense of community beyond the raw martial camaraderie seen at BUZAN. Our heroics are short lived because all human survivors are inevitably overrun but with GC, and I figure other LARP systems, there are the stories around the camp-fire that are told for years to come by characters that endure. There's a depth and richness that comes from a plot that has clearly been lovingly worked out by an experienced team. The charm of BUZAN is that it reflects the lack of context that comes as a civilisation comes crashing down. For the miserly sum of £20 (and I'm being serious when I say that - for what you get it's nothing) you can turn up and jump into a full experience.or you can even play a monster free of charge.

The difference in learning curves made itself apparent in some aspects of gameplay. The fact monsters were able to creep into camp and raise hell was something that would never happen at BUZAN but then we're a highly strung lot who routinely check one another for bites. A BUZAN player is never far from a fully loaded rifle, even in the off periods and the number of unloaded, unattended blasters lying around was a bit of a shock to us! To the credit of the player base, they shaped up very well toward Sunday and they acquitted themselves very well in the final battle. The density of game play was less intense so players learned much more slowly but the system was a lot less brutal and friendlier in some ways than BUZAN.

The other great thing about GC was the space. Oh the space. I mentioned earlier that 25ft for BUZAN is considered out of range. My Stampede is used to firing at 15-20ft with the best accuracy my aiming skill can manage. In the final battle as we held up the player base with a single sniper, with just a light breeze, that was woefully ineffective. Steve's Longstrike did a little better but the maxim about upgraded Elite blasters being the best for outdoor fire fights rings true. The other advantage of space is that, provided you can move and fire, you can remove yourself from a threat almost indefinitely (or until you trip over something, as I did at least once!). That shift gives you a lot more time to deal with threats and your decision cycle becomes a lot less compacted. In some ways, that makes the system more newbie friendly and ensures the shallower learning curve. Not sure which I'd prefer but for someone who's not a total masochist, I figure the GC model is a little preferable.

The number of hits a player will take before going down is another big change. My Stampede ECS, Katarina, is a fine tuned zombie slaying machine. In my first encounter as a monster (when I found myself with the diplomacy skills of a dead ferret and got my entire squad killed) she worked wonderfully as the charge came down the hill, my combat reflexes and 2 years of combat drills kicked in. I tracked and hit targets with typical BUZAN efficiency but because her ROF is muzzled, I was overcome. These players took 3 shots to kill, not my customary one. It set me thinking about all sorts of burst fire and rate of fire modifications. My blasters would need completely rebalancing for this sort of scenario, a 9 darts a second rate of fire would actually be reasonably provided I was able to match it with a solid 100ft range on the flat. That way I can lay down enough suppressing fire to overcome a charging player in some form of armour in the time it takes him to enter my blaster's range and close the distance to close combat. It was a shocking realisation for me as an experienced armourer but it makes sense that there are horses for courses. Full automatic fire at close range does actually have a role to play, just one outside of HvZ.

I didn't play as a character so I don't have much to say on the wider role-play side of things. Monster role play came slowly to me but it's not something I've ever done before. It was fun to do and I got to be a lot more tactical than I'd normally get in a BUZAN session. The monster refs were a great bunch and really got creative with things. The tactics were mostly down to the extra space and the different nature of the enemy. Even in BUZAN HvH games, we've only got a space of around half a football pitch which limits tactical capability somewhat. Acting as a ranger, crawling through bushes and hedgerows, allowed me to apply a little more flair than I normally would have done.

I'm not the sort of person that's ever taken to role-play. I've tried three different table top systems and not really engaged. Most of my personal gaming taste lies with Real Time Strategy but I think I'm finding myself warming to future-LARP. I'm not sure I could ever play a character but certainly playing as a monster in a number of different ranged combat configurations is a possibility and I find myself thinking up NPCs and support characters for the player base in my off-time. It's a dangerous bug and I think I may have been bitten. :D

In short, BUZAN is brilliant if you've had a crap week at work and need to blow off steam (and probably why it's so successful with students) but GC and Nerf LARP is more about the immersion and the escapism. It's more of a holiday than physical therapy!  Cheapest camping holiday you'll ever get, too, and there's a brilliant group of people around to keep you entertained during the day (and into the night!). Green Cloaks truly is a grass roots system and welcomes newbies with open arms.

I think that's everything I wanted to say on the matter. I'd like to end by thanking the Green Cloaks team, Enys, Hollie, Woj and all the rest, for a wonderful weekend. You guys were all fantastic and thank you for putting up with us. We're looking forward to returning and waging war against or alongside you fine chaps and chapesses. And remember, never be afraid to bum rush a lone sniper.



If you've got any questions then drop me an email at mike [at] blastersmiths.co.uk and I'd be happy to chat. If you've got custom requests, if your regiment or detachment would like bulk discount then get in touch. We're here to help and push the UK Nerf community, whatever its gametype, forward to greater and better things.

The MkIII clip-fed holster story

I think the MkIII drop-leg holster is one of the longest running sagas in BSUK's short history, even more so than the MkV tactical chest rig. It's been a long time coming but the one hand draw, one hand re-holster clip-fed holster is something of a holy grail of Nerfing equipment so it's worth it. Besides, we're a dedicated bunch here at BSUK and we like to get things right.

We released the MkII drop-leg holster in March and it has been our best selling product since. Indeed, it is one we are very proud of. However, Retaliators and Stryfes are incredibly popular among our base HvZ group and the community at large so we felt the need to accommodate them as fast as possible. It wasn't long before the clip-fed variants were up for development.

It all started not long after the MkII release with this:

That's a modified MkII with a plastic centre release buckle on the upper strap. It originated after weeks of me and Steve banging our heads against the wall. There are versions of holster prior to this but they will not be spoken of for the they are abominations. The variant above came from Steve's simple remark over IRC "We need to find a way to break that top strap" So I did. Plastic centre release buckles were my initial answer. It works fine but the reholstering is a little fussy and those plastic buckles didn't last more than 2 sessions before beginning to fail. Single hand resetting was also a problem because getting the two parts to meet wasn't intuitive nor was it easy under fire.

We began looking for alternatives. The very-quick draw action of the MkII was something we'd have like to keep so we tried magnetic handbag clasps (pictured opposite). These were fine for smaller blasters but the Stryfe and Rough Cut were too much for the magnets when rolling around the floor. The final straw for these was a catastrophic failure during combat testing when a Retaliator was dropped from the holster and spun across the floor leaving our test subject to be gribbled by zombies. Frankly, the paperwork was a nightmare! :D We had to find something else that would work and all our testing concluded that a breakable top strap in this fashion would compromise the holster's retention and so we had to opt for something a little more solid.

To the left can be seen the second-from-last prototype for this holster. You can clearly see the retention pop-snap. That strap length is variable and can go over the top of the pistol grip to avoid the Stryfe powering on automatically. This pop-snap can be swept aside with the thumb and the blaster drawn in the same action. This holster still suffers from 2 critical problems, however. First, the 12.5mm pop snap will not remain in place under serious stress - we lost at least another 2 test subjects to zombies before we worked that out. Second, the reholstering action left a great deal to be desired. For a number of reasons the holster would deform, argue and generally scream when trying to put anything back in it. It's important to remember that, at this stage, the holster is still a MkII with a breakable top strap.

We fixed the first problem using these:

These are 15mm heavy duty pop-snaps. These prototyping variants are brass effect but we've ordered nickel for the final variant (because shiny!). They hold the blaster in place very securely but require the addition of a 'grab strap' for easier release and to overcome the stronger grip. The removes the 'snap-draw' capability offered by the MkII but we feel the MkIII fills a slightly different combat niche and so it wasn't a big loss.

We then turned to address the reholstering problem. One of the major problems we noticed with reholstering the MkII was the fragility of the aperture - it would deform too easily and make reholstering awkward. We elected to put some closed cell foam around the top to make it a little stiffer and to force it open. This helped but it wasn't enough and it took a long time with a lot of shouting at the holster as we tried to work out a way of getting it to work. It was during this we took some time off and developed the rifle scabbards and Alpha Trooper drop-leg holsters. The retention stuff we had worked out with the MkIII holster allowed us to very quickly develop a holster that would securely take the Alpha Trooper and allow it to be readily accessible in combat. The rifle scabbards also benefited the MkIII development insofar as we now had a better idea about centres of gravity and mass and their relationship to holsters.

The BSUK drop-leg family (all prototypes)!

We eventually came back to the MkIII to try to get it into production. Steve suggested moving the lower retention strap down and using it to holder the blaster against gravity rather than the internal securing strap we'd been relying on thus far. We made the alterations but now noticed a slippage problem - the 25mm belt loops we'd been relying on were no longer sufficient to carry the blaster in its new configuration. The holster would move around during reholstering resulting in it sitting on the front of the thigh and generally getting in the way. It was here we decided to drop Rough Cut compatibility in favour of developing a separate holster. Fortunately, the new Alpha Trooper drop-leg holster is Rough Cut compatible in both the straight and cross-draw positions.

50mm side release buckles are normally reserved for our tactical belts and such. I decided to try it on a whim and hey presto! It worked! Between that and moving the straps, it looked like we had a working holster on our hands. It worked in our localised testing so we took it to a BUZAN session to test it out under combat conditions.





Both the left and right leg variants have been proven to work fine under combat stress. There were two defining moments for the MkIII holster in that last testing session. A king of the hill game saw myself armed with a Strongarm and a Stryfe in the holster. Hunkered down behind a table, I was able to reload the Strongarm, roll to drop two shots onto a rush from the opposing team before rolling back to reload and shoot, from the floor lying on my back, upwards as another player tried sweeping over the table. During all this the Stryfe remained secure and steady at my side in case I emptied my Strongarm. However, possibly the greatest moment was when a test subject was trapped during a dark round in a safe zone with a jammed Longstrike and a Retaliator side-arm. The Retaliator was drawn from the MkIII, the contents of the two blasters' clips were combed for darts that didn't suck and combined into one good clip. Cue a break out and epic victory for the humans in that round! It was then we decided it was ready for deployment and so the end of the long road of bringing it to market comes into sight.

The final MkIII prototype shown with belt loop, holstering a Stryfe.

The MkIII represents a long path of development that goes back to the earliest days of Blastersmiths UK. It's an item that represents a lot of trials and tribulations on our part but we got there to deliver another good quality product which we hope will serve the community well for long while. The holster itself will be available to order on 24th May 2013 or you can register your interest early and get a shorter lead time by clicking this link.

Now the fun (sort of) bit is over. We've done the development, we have a product now we have to clear the legal and logistical hurdles of bringing a product to market. Frankly, compared to the reholstering issues we faced during development, they're small fry. :D

On a personal note, I'd like to thank the Warhouse (you know who you are), the BSUK team (because you're all awesome),Tim and Matt from BUZAN who acted as our test subjects and the BUZAN committee for putting up with us bitching and moaning as our prototypes fail mid-game. Thank you everyone, you've been awesome.

Remember, 24th May 1200BST they can be ordered fresh from our store with a 2-3 week lead time (seriously, our production team are mostly students with finals to sit).

-Mike, MD, BSUK Ltd

Dead Man's Flaps and Combat Efficacy

NOTE: This is a long and rambling one but I get asked about this stuff a lot so I thought I'd answer it all here. I'm a Humans vs Zombies player first and foremost so much of this stuff is taken from that angle but is very applicable to a number of other games.

How not to play Humans vs Zombies

Designing for Nerf is weird, I've said it time and time again when posting here and around the company's general social media bubble. Unlike the military spec stuff around, most Nerf wars are fought in parks over the course of a single day. The hardest use most of our equipment will see is a week long Humans versus Zombies game once a term but even then players will return to base to rest and refuel. It's extremely unlikely (and outside of our design scope) that people will be camping up trees for days playing Nerf games. If you are in the latter category, let me know - I just want to know.

I've been asked a couple of times, why no flaps? Our pouches have that funny shock cord and toggle thing going on while our rig and holsters are totally absent of them, relying instead on MOLLE and friction respectively. It used to be that infantrymen would refer to the flap on their holster as a 'dead man's flap' because it would get you killed in the time you took to get around it and draw your weapon. Quick draw is essential for BUZAN players and given they're a reasonably average Nerfing group, I'd wager it's important for everyone else too. Even the MkIII only has a small fixed retaining strap after we literally exhausted every other option (I'm not joking, you guys only saw the mag locks and the plastic buckles, our better ideas!). Why? Because I want to get to my blaster as fast as damn possible, I've just realised my Stampede has just jammed and I've got less than a second to get this shot off before I get turned. Fumbling with a flap in that situation? No thanks.

MilSpec M4 Multicam pouch, damn flaps!

There are other reasons why flaps are unnecessary. Drawing a clip isn't as life or undeath (geddit?) as a side-arm but it's annoying to have to fiddle with things when you're trying to concentrate on the horde that's charging you. Besides, many of the flap designs are there to keep dust, grit and other crap out of magazines that, in a fire-arm, would probably take your head off if the round were to get stuck in the chamber. The worst you'll get with Nerf is a scratched up brass breech that you'll need to clean up and service. Any one who has a one knows this and ought to be sensible enough to maintain their kit correctly. Cost is another factor that puts flaps out of the equation: it costs a lot less for a 45cm length of shock cord, a golf toggle and a pair of 25mm webbing squares than it would for either a side release buckle or velcro followed by the extra binding, Cordura and such that a flap would need. We have a very strict pricing policy here to cater to our market so if we can make it cheaper without compromising quality, we will. Flaps are a nuisance and get in the way when things get heated.

Combat Efficacy (or how your Longshot might not be as badass as you might think)

That brings me onto the second part of what is now looking like an essay: Combat Efficacy (CE). This is a nebulous term I made up sometime in the early days of BUZAN's armoury team. It is a rough metric of how something will perform under the stress of combat. A blaster is a tool to help you play the game, you need the right tool for the job but you also need to know how to use it. A lot of this might seem obvious for experienced players but I'm still going to get this off my chest because it's important.

Where's your singled Titan now?

For example, a Brass Breech Longshot with a stefan accepting breech, 24kg firing spring and 150ft+ range is all well and nice but its CE is bugger all when you're playing Humans vs Zombies. That slow rate of fire (RoF) is going to get you killed and you'd be better off wrapping the LS in some LARP safe foam and clubbing the zombies to death. A well balanced Stampede on the other hand is much more effective. The full auto feature shouldn't be used in of itself but using it semi-automatically can remove the distraction of needing to re-prime between shots and allows you to concentrate on threat assessment. Even outside of HvZ, rate of fire and ease of use need to be considered probably more than range. It's a personal beef of mine that large portions of the NIC (Nerf Internet Community) see range as the hollowed factor  often at the expense of everything else. The nature of foam darts is that they are reasonably easy to dodge at range so while you can lob a dart at me from across a field, I'm still going to saunter away if I see it coming.

It's important to note that CE is a broader thing that just how good an individual player is with something. For example, a Raider is a brilliant anti-horde blaster because of that slam-fire and drum magazine. It has a brilliant CE rating in that regard but a left handed user is going to struggle because of the asymmetric design. DDespite being highly efficacious in the given situation, it isn't for that player.

Finally, let's bring this back to what BSUK does best: tactical gear. Combat efficacy of flaps is minimal, they get in the way and serve no purpose for Nerfers. Secure yet accessible clip holders, are essential as are accessible side-arms and the like.

I've rambled on enough now, if you're still reading, thank you. At the end of the day, it's all about compromise and play-testing to work out what fits for our market - that philosophy has served us well so far, long may it continue! Now where's my Stampede? I've got zombies to hunt.

- Mike, BSUK MD

POST SCRIPT: I've just remembered my Stampede has a drive train fault and currently doesn't function. Consequently, I am just about to be overwhelmed, send help - or LARP safe foam, whichever. :D

MkII Tactical Vest Development - Design to prototype beginnings

We've taken a commission from someone to develop a full tactical vest for military style LARP characters. This is a custom item that won't ever enter full production so we've obtained permission to blog about its development. I thought it'd offer a nice insight into one method of development. This way is much looser and less combat focused than our usual method but it's still fun to write about an item from beginning to end.

The brief we received was reasonably broad and is paraphrased as follows:

• Military style vest replete with PALS webbing and stuff
• No cost limit, just build something amazing
• Must include all amenities for a day in the field including water and food storage
• Character will take the same attitude to camouflage as Warhammer 40K Space Marines
• Red and Black or White and Blue colour schemes

From that reasonably broad brief, we developed a specification:

• Use a military pattern MOLLE system plate carrier as the departure point and build from there
• Include hydration pouch pocket with appropriate tube fixings and access points
• Inside pocket for secure storage for keys and the like
• ALL of the MOLLE webbing
• Morale pouch attachments points on the front only
• Tactical belt attachment in the same way as our production MkV tactical rig
• Lightweight breathable mesh and foam to be used on the back plate if possible
• Front zip for easy doffing and donning
• Rank slide attachment points
• Easy to disassemble and clean parts separately whilst being completely adjustable to fit the client
• Thick padded front plates to provide a physical representation of Osprey style body armour
• Use red and black colouring because we have all of the black Cordura fabric floating around
• Medical pouch to include quick access glove pouch and space for basic first aid kit
• Catering pouch to include cutlery pouch and space for rat packs
• Production clip holders made in custom cloth with custom edging

Some not-final scribbles

We didn't have a military style plate carrier to hand so we had to improvise. Using waistcoat patterns found on-line, the Nerf tactical vest and some scribbles on a piece of paper we drew up our own pattern. We had to take measurements from the client to give us a broad outlook on how big the vest needed to be but with that we were able to proceed.

Wild scribblings on some fabric

This is my personal favourite stage of any development project. We take some cheap calico fabric and cut out a very rough version of the item. This one, as you can see opposite hasn't even been hemmed or sewn beyond the very rudimentary lines to give it a rough shape. Black marker pen is then used to mark out the layout of key features on the final vest itself. That's what's so fun about it, you can stick it on someone and draw on the fabric, adding things in and crossing stuff out. This item is very feature heavy in line the client's brief with lots of expansion and storage space hence a lot of black about. The 'SRB' text stands for 'side release buckle' which will allow the product to be readily adjusted and disassembled for cleaning and maintenance. It also makes the production team happy because the three components (two front plates and one back plate) can be worked on separately. The double width Velcro MOLLE serves two purposes. First it allows for the fixation of Velcro backed morale pouches. Second it's wide enough that it will serve as a loop to feed slings through and prevent neck chafing and other things. Not sure if it will work yet but it's a prototype for a reason! :)

In case you're still wondering, MOLLE is this stuff. I think I elaborated on it in a previous post but it's a webbing format that allows modularity and customisation in our, and a lot of other companies', products. Nearly all of our kit is MOLLE compatible in one way or another and it seemed logical to continue with this theme in our custom work. There is a huge amount of space for locating pouches and such on this design with including plenty of space for morale patches and ID stuff. There is only one fixed pouch on this one and that's for an ID pouch with optional cover flap.

The construction of this vest will differ from our current production items. Many of them are built inside-out and then turned about to give rolled seam and softer edge than would normally be expected. In this instance, all the extra pouches and additions would favour a different method. The attitude to camouflage item of the original brief came into play here so we elected to edge the vest with bright red textured binding tape in the style of a lot of DPM pouches and stuff. What we'll do this time around, rather than turning things, is put together all the layers to form a sandwich and then sew them together in one big run. If successful, this could become a mainstream construction method as we develop the 'look and feel' of our products in the coming months.

Any seaming or sealing method like this is needed for two reasons. One, to stop fabric fraying. The ballistic nylon we use isn't prone to it but in the field it might well get tattier quicker so it needs doing. The other advantage is that it covers a great many sins when cutting the fabric by hand. Cordura is a nightmare to work with (not as bad as calico but that's for a different reason) at the cutting stage because it can be so inflexible. There is a third reason (one I discovered when discussing this with my Production Director) suggesting not needing seams is likely to induce some kind of panic attack in your haberdashery trained staff followed swiftly by a thick ear and a telling off! :)

Rough Cordura prototype

Still, the third stage is the prototype: opposite is a pinned together shell of the three body components to give a general idea of what we're looking for. Remember, this is only a prototype and it's pinned not strapped together as it will be in the final version. The pin in the middle is knocking the whole thing out of shape making the final shape difficult to see from just a simple photo. It's why we do this, having things in your hands you can work with is much easier than having to do it all in your head. You can see the beginnings of chalk drawings as we thrash out the layout of all the layers, more have been added since this photo was taken and they will allow us to add bits and pieces as they are made. It's all a long, step by step process to get to the end result. No different from anything else we've put out on the market really.

I'll continue to update the blog with how this commission progresses over the next few weeks. The item itself won't enter production but the opportunity to reflect on three solid months of development work with such freedom is guaranteed to yield results as methods and ideas are exchanged between the two separate development threads. This sort of custom work will be one of two engines of growth for our product portfolio over the next few months. I'll blog about the other one when BUZAN starts up again.

Tactical Rig: It's been a long road...

So we've got a release date for the MkV tactical rig. I wanted to put this out here because someone is going to ask why we're launching with a MkV and not the logical MkI. Well, here we go.

MkI - Vest
The MkI was essentially the current Hasbro owned Nerf tactical vest with MOLLE webbing on it. The problem with that is the difference in body shape between men and women makes a vest next to unusable for women. We were faced with a choice between building two separate rigs or building something that fitted everyone. We chose the latter. There's no sense only designing for 50% of the population when a few simple changes will open it up to the other 50%.

MkII - Yoke
The MkII was essentially a yoke system with a belly rig. It was thrown out because there wasn't enough space for it to carry awesome stuff.

MkIII - Tactical Rig Micro

MkIV sample rig

The MkIII was the hybrid tactical rig. It's a cross between a vest, and a yoke. It has a back plate and plenty of space to get stuff attached to it but there was a SNAFU with the anthropometric data and it would have only fitted 2 year-olds.



MkIV - Tactical Rig Proper
The MkIV saw the addition of a belt to maintain shape, expand capacity and increase integration with our broader tactical gear range. It also saw a redesign of the straps and D-rings.

MkV - Release Edition
The MkV is the edition you will see out in the field. It has had nearly 2 months of solid development work and field testing. It has a wide range of compatible accessories and has a number of changes over the MkIV. Following community feed back, the back plate has been stiffened with an extra layer of Cordura Nylon fabric to allow for extra weight to be fixed to the it. We added built-in pouches to the belly rig to remove the need to buy extra stuff to make the rig useful: it adds a nice platform beyond storing stuff in your cargo trousers while you're saving for the next item in your collection.

So there you go, the full development pathway of the BSUK Tactical Rig. I'm reasonably nervous about letting this baby onto the market especially when there are so many other good offerings from military companies but we're the only people within our market segment at this price point, I believe. It's sort of like letting a child leave home, you're worried what everyone will think but in the end it'll turn out to be fine. Hopefully.

The MkV is available for order on 10th April 2013 at www.blastersmiths.co.uk.