This is pretty timely for me, as I'm about to take a carbine class from Steve Moses. I think he used to do instruction out there. I'm trying to decide if a couple of kydex belt holders for the AR mags, a Hellcat, or a full-up vest (MESA) is the way to go for the class. I'm leaning towards the Hellcat, since 2 AR mags and 3 pistol mags make for a lot of bat-gear on just a belt. The vest might be overkill, but it has a hydro carrier.
For the class I took, the chest-rig was overkill. I went out of my way to have my mags and gear in good working order before the class began so that I could get in the maximum amount of shooting. Unfortunately, you can only move at the pace of the slowest and least-equipped class member most of the time. Having 19 loaded mags with 9 on you (+2 pistol mags) does little good if everyone else can only carry four mags. It does insure you won't be the guy holding everyone else up though.
I liked the chest rig a lot and it would be my top choice out of the other rigs I saw in that class (and in fact, several people in the class were in the shop buying MOLLE-based rigs by the end of the class); but it wasn't necessary for the class. I think a Hellcat would be a decent rig if you like the internal mag pouches. I would definitely recommend a collared shirt (keeps the straps off your neck) and I would recommend using the hydro carrier if for no other reason than to balance out the weight. My back started to get pretty sore from having about 20lbs of chest rig hanging up front and high off the belt.
You can get by without the Hellcat if the budget doesn't allow it; but it is a nice and useful piece of gear that leaves plenty of room to expand and mod in the future. As for the MESA vest, it will certainly get the job done. I haven't used the MESA but based on my chest rig experience I would guess it would get a little hotter. That is mainly a personal preference thing though. The chest rig did build up heat between the torso and the nylon; but I had it rigged fairly snug (snug enough that I used the interior of the chest rig as extra stuff space for empty mags after the SAW pouch filled up on one drill).
I couldn't find the BT holster on their website.
It is their
Tactical Chest Rig. Unless you want to mount crossdraw on a Hellcat bib, I wouldn't bother with the Bladetech product. The Blackhawk SERPA stuff mounts better and has more options at a cheaper price (though the Bladetech holster is a bit nicer). I only went with Bladetech because they would do a Hi-Power holster for me when nobody else would.
Needless to say, I was a bit surprised to read that the Slip2000 "burnt up" during a ~400rd count. With that being said, did you relube periodically throughout the rest of the course? For example, between ~400rd intervals?
Well to be absolutely precise, it was clear by 400rds that there was not enough lube on the bolt carrier to allow it to function correctly. Just cycling the action by hand, you could feel the difference. I'm not 100% on what the cause of that was; but the same rifle had gone 800rds with no problems using Breakfree CLP.
I did relube periodically throughout the rest of the course - once during the second day after the problem initially appeared and a quick shot to the bolt carrier rails and bolt right before a heavy firing drill on the third day. Since I only went about 900rds for all three days, that and the cleaning at the end of the second day was enough to keep it running using SLIP 2000 Gun Lubricant.
The SLIP 2000 Gun Lube did make cleaning easy at the end of the day; but 400rds is way to early to choke up in my view. I'm going to try applying it a little heavier than I do Breakfree and see if that changes anything.
