Plate Carrier Setup Guide - From Slick to Fully Loaded

A lot of people go all wrong about building a plate carrier. They look online, they see you know celebrities like Garan Tam or just different special forces operators and think to themselves, yeah I'm just gonna do this, I'm just gonna copy this guy's setup, this is not the way to do it. So today we're gonna be talking about the sort of theory of plate carriers, everything you need to know about the plate carrier and you're afraid to ask. So I'm Bart and this is Plano. Today as I just said we're talking plate carriers. So we've got three different plates with me today and some more stuff. So we have a slick plate carrier which you know just sort of holds plates, it's very low profile. We have a light plate carrier, the JPC is sort of the golden standard, still a golden standard of the lighter plate carrier. And we have a structural plate carrier, meaning it's designed to be a little bit more stiff and carry weight better. This is the replica of the Crye Precision AVS by Emerson Gear. So let's start with slick plate carriers. So slick plate carriers evolved from body armor as a solution to carry plates and not much else. A lot of people get slick plate carriers wrong. They get themselves a slick and then they start attaching things to it. So it's no longer a slick plate carrier, just sort of a parody of a light plate carrier like the JPC. So what do I mean by this? When you get yourself a slick plate carrier you basically tell me that you want to carry armor under the load-bearing equipment that you already have, either a belt kit or a chest rig. If you want to just wear a plate carrier, either get a different plate carrier, or there's one thing you can do in combination with the low-profile rubber band celled cummerbands that the slicks usually come with nowadays. You can use a placard, meaning basically a small velcro-backed chest rig that you put under your cummerbands to extend the combat load on your slick. It still remains there in lower profile than it would with other pouches around it, and it allows you to get those extra mags. So yeah, that particular rig is made in Poland by my friends over in Rarotactical, and yeah, I actually kind of like it. I'm gonna be using it tomorrow to pretend war with my friends. And the placard is actually, well, it's from a chest rig that I really like, from proper grid. So after we got that done, let's move to light plate carriers like this JPC. So if you want to do something light, but more packable, you're probably gonna need a light chest rig. The JPC by Crye Precision became sort of a golden standard over the years. So yeah, we have one of those today. It's not a real JPC. I don't think there was even a JPC-2 in AR-1 ever done. It's a copy by Kutak Gear. So not much theory here, except for how to actually build it. So you want to have your three magazines, or four, if you have a placard that can hold four, like this one from proper grid. Up front, flat, on your right hand, you don't really want to do anything. I mean, you can, but I'm not really a fan of it. Then I have a general purpose pouch that I keep empty, depending on what I need to put in. It's gonna be night vision, more ammo, grenades, etc, etc. I like to keep the right side quite empty, so there is nothing obstructing my reach to the sidearm on my belt. So on the back, I've got some stuff. I have two flashbang pouches, so flashbang that I use for CQB, and one larger general purpose pouch, which I usually just use to carry gas in, or water. So, moving to the other side, I have my radio pouch out of the back. I would lead the PTT through the back, through the shoulder, up to the front. Then I have my IFAK with everything that you might need as a pretend war medic. And finally, on the left, I have a double AR pouch that I usually use for smoke grenades, and to store a pretend war training tourniquet. So, that's my JTC setup, and that sort of should give you the general rules of how to do it. So, mags up front, anything that you won't be reaching yourself, and you can have someone to pass it to you. Up on the back, something universal on one of the sides, and keep that side lighter, so if you're using a sidearm on your belt, you can easily reach down to it, and nothing to draw. And then on your left, then, you know, radio, medical, more mags, smokes, etc. So, let's move to something heavier, and I'm gonna talk about the structural plate carriers in this particular case, the AVS. So, the structural plate carrier, the whole idea is that it is quite rigid, so it holds its weight, and as you see, it's not very floppy. So, this is that heavy. So, the king is one, and its name is Pry Precision AVS, at least on the sort of wider market. L4 Performance recently released their own version of this plate carrier, it's also about, it costs about one kidney worth of money. So, this is a replica of Pry Precision AVS by Emerson Gear, it's actually very solid. So, you have your harness in the back, it goes behind the plate to stabilize the plate, and then you use the velcro outside of the harness to just strap it up front. You don't really need an additional cummerbund, of course, you can still use it, but after some time, I just decided that I can mount the pouch directly to the harness. So, what we have here is, again, mags up front, some stuff on your left, a spare mag, and a bag full of grenades in this case, actually. Yeah, it's full of grenades, yeah. A radio, mounted on a wing, so it sits between the harness and the outside velcro that serves as the cummerbund, a water bottle, and on my right hand, I have a spud with another two mags, and an empty General Purpose pouch, because you know why. I keep the back clean for working with a backpack, and, well, not owning a back panel, but I prefer a small assault back anyway. So, this plate is absolutely amazing. As you can see, I have it set up for the SCAR-H, because the placards, the one that I used earlier for the AR mags, is the same, but here I have an insert for four AR mags, and here I have an insert for three 308 mags, and a small admin as well. So, I'm not going to tell you what plate carrier to buy, you can obviously do whatever, you can also just not use a plate carrier and just buy a chest rig, or a belt kit, or carry mags in a Tesco bag, or just in your pocket. All is fine, but if you decide to get a plate carrier, a couple things. Don't copy other people's setups. It's supposed to carry plates, ammo, radio, and stuff that you need to do your job in the pretend war, which is close with and destroy the enemy, because we're all LARPing as infantrymen, and that's the infantry's job. So, yeah, that's gonna be it for today. As always, thank you for watching. There is more content coming. We're gonna be going more in-depth with each of those rigs. I'm gonna tell you more about my setups and why behind them, and we're also gonna be talking about chest rigs in the near future as well. So, yeah, great doing this, have a great day, and thank you!