Plate Carrier for a shorter guy?

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Plate Carrier for a shorter guy?

Postby turtle21 » Sat Apr 16, 2016 8:08 pm

I see a lot of post on amazon but they a lot of the reviews say they run big. I'm just starting to get into airsoft so i would like to hold of on the really pricy plate carriers as in the plate carrier thread..
Im 5'6" 140 pounds

So if anyone has a suggestion please let me know!

Some vests I was looking at:
http://www.amazon.com/WASING-WS-TV-T001 ... tical+vest ( Seems to fit small people, but never heard of this company.)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0037MOFTU/ref ... UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/Evike-Matrix-Spec ... RWA6ATZKG9

Thanks for your time!
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Re: Plate Carrier for a shorter guy?

Postby McNair » Sat Apr 16, 2016 9:53 pm

RRVs are more of like a chest rig, so height is easily adjustable.

Check out the replica JPCs as they're pretty small in general.
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Re: Plate Carrier for a shorter guy?

Postby Jewish Ninja » Sun Apr 17, 2016 11:02 pm

A full carrier like the first one you linked is going to be a lot larger than you really want. I personally would suggest a chest rig. Plate carriers are overkill for airsoft, so unless you're wanting to do more MILSIM stuff, a chest rig is a great choice. It's smaller size will let you move easier, but will still carry everything you need. RRVs (like you linked) are excellent chest rigs, BUT they are on the larger side of things. I've had several, and they will wrap around your torso, almost all the way around. Prebuilt chest rigs, like this one http://www.airsoftoutletnw.com/condor-r ... -7261.html are a great starting point. Cuts down on the amount of pouches you need to buy. The overall size of it should fit your frame better as well.


If you for sure want a plate carrier, than as McNair said, a clone JPC is a great choice. They are silly small but still let you carry a lot of stuff. However, they aren't designed to carry a lot of stuff, so they are not the more comfortable carrier you can buy. You also need to keep in mind that you'll need to buy/make dummy plates for a plate carrier. Since they are designed to carry plates, having something in place of real ones will help with the fit, form and function of the plate carrier.

Another plate carrier option is the Condor compact plate carrier
http://www.lapolicegear.com/tg-cpc-compact-carrier.html
It's another smaller carrier that would fit your size just fine.
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Re: Plate Carrier for a shorter guy?

Postby Steve » Sat Apr 23, 2016 7:32 pm

I'm a fairly slender guy (size small-long uniforms). I've noticed that, on average, chest rigs tend to be adjustable small enough to fit, if just barely. A lot of the armor carriers and plate carriers tend to be sized for guys a bit bulkier than I am.

Generally, if it's a plate carrier with a cummerbund, I can usually make it fit reasonably well as long as I'm willing to ditch the cummerbund.

I would highly recommend heading into your local shop, either Airsoft Outlet NW or Thunderkiss and try a couple on to see which ones are good fits.

Also, there are preconfigured rigs and molle rigs. The advantage of the molle rigs is that you can configure the carrier for exactly the things you want to carry. The disadvantage is that you generally buy each pouch separately, and that can add up pretty quick.

Preconfigured rigs have a lot less flexibility, but you buy it once and you are done.

And +1 to lapolicegear.com. Really good prices, fast shipping. Ordered a bunch from them over the years. As often as not, I've picked up real-steel gear for less than I'd have paid for an airsoft version.
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Re: Plate Carrier for a shorter guy?

Postby Jerm_G » Sun Apr 24, 2016 6:36 am

Steve, you need to look at plate carriers in Size small (SAPI plate size). For a straight chest rig the T.T. Mini-MAV is a good minimalist rig. You need to decide what you need quick access to, what you don't need, or if you are setting up an "impressionist" kit. I think I did some stickies a while ago on the topic.

Generally speaking the rule of buy once, cry once applies to airsoft as much as a cars. Get cheap crap, and you will keep buying cheap crap. SKDtac.com, OPtactical, and a few others have good deals form time to time. Bookoo (closed on sun) is like Craigslist for military bases and you can find kick a$$ kit there too for a steal if you know what to look for.
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Re: Plate Carrier for a shorter guy?

Postby Jewish Ninja » Sun Apr 24, 2016 1:30 pm

Jerm_G wrote:Steve, you need to look at plate carriers in Size small (SAPI plate size). For a straight chest rig the T.T. Mini-MAV is a good minimalist rig. You need to decide what you need quick access to, what you don't need, or if you are setting up an "impressionist" kit. I think I did some stickies a while ago on the topic.

Generally speaking the rule of buy once, cry once applies to airsoft as much as a cars. Get cheap crap, and you will keep buying cheap crap. SKDtac.com, OPtactical, and a few others have good deals form time to time. Bookoo (closed on sun) is like Craigslist for military bases and you can find kick a$$ kit there too for a steal if you know what to look for.


Buying real gear is the right way to do it, but for players just starting off, it's an expense they don't need right off the bat.
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Re: Plate Carrier for a shorter guy?

Postby Steve » Sun Apr 24, 2016 10:39 pm

Jerm_G wrote:Steve, you need to look at plate carriers in Size small (SAPI plate size). For a straight chest rig the T.T. Mini-MAV is a good minimalist rig. You need to decide what you need quick access to, what you don't need, or if you are setting up an "impressionist" kit. I think I did some stickies a while ago on the topic.

Generally speaking the rule of buy once, cry once applies to airsoft as much as a cars. Get cheap crap, and you will keep buying cheap crap. SKDtac.com, OPtactical, and a few others have good deals form time to time. Bookoo (closed on sun) is like Craigslist for military bases and you can find kick a$$ kit there too for a steal if you know what to look for.


Sadly, my plate sets are medium and large.

5.11 Tactical used to make an amazing MOLLE chest rig. It was basically their mesh leg rig with chest straps. Fairly small, remarkably light and amazingly breathable.

The best "middle ground" I can think of for most new players between cost and functionality is one of the prebuilt Blackhawk! cross-draw pistol vests. It's pretty cheap, does most of the stuff you want it to do, and is pretty darn rugged. The problem is that they don't cinch down a ton. I can wear one, but I'm at the very edge of the size range.

I've had decent luck with the Condor modular plate carriers for Airsoft use. That is to say, I jacked up the first one I got. The second one got fake plates instead of steel (my chiropractor chewed my a$$ for carrying the unnecessary weight with bad shoulders and back) and it's held up just fine.

For somebody just getting into the game, low-cost isn't necessarily terrible (as long as the quality is decent). It takes a good bit of time and effort to figure out what actually works. Getting "good enough" until you figure out what "good" is means that you have spare gear to loan to friends. That and, as my garage can attest, even when you know what right looks like, you still end up with a metric ass-ton of random tac gear eventually. I keep telling the missus that my retirement plan is to start a surplus shop using my garage as inventory. That, and having a library is remarkably useful when guys are trying to figure out what will or won't work before buying it in this weeks' camo pattern.
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Re: Plate Carrier for a shorter guy?

Postby Jerm_G » Wed Apr 27, 2016 12:41 am

Sorry Steve, that was directed at the OP. Little sleep when posting is no good. If you search craigslist or bookoo.com near .mil bases issued plate carriers can be found for as little as $40.00. Ebay can have good results as well. Just have to dig.
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Re: Plate Carrier for a shorter guy?

Postby book42 » Wed Apr 27, 2016 10:28 am

My two cents.

This is what I run, and I do love it. http://www.evike.com/products/42186/ It fits snug, and I like the internal mag pouches. It may be a little high for you in price range.

Also, remember (and if this has already been said, then I'm being redundant) plate carriers fit so much nicer- go figure- with plates in them. Or in my case, fake plates. http://www.evike.com/search/?search_in_ ... es&x=0&y=0

Honestly, I think I ran around for a year or two wearing plate carriers without plates until I finally bought one that had plates. Makes a huge difference in fit and feel.

Regards,

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