In 1983, the first well-known modern chest rig was made somewhere most people wouldn't expect — South Africa. Developed during a time of canvas and metal fittings the SADF's "Pattern 83" brought new materials like Cordura, Velcro, nylon webbing, and plastic buckles to the forefront of military kit. It went on to inspire chest rig designs for generations to come... Including our own.
In 2021, we took it upon ourselves to do a major redesign inspired by the original to give it the upgrade it deserved, which we then dubbed the "Pattern 84" chest rig. Since it's introduction we've used our rig extensively in order to figure out what design improvements we would like to implement. Most importantly, this iteration focused on customer feedback first.
Multi-Platform
P84 features heavily reinforced magazine pouches with elastic retention, overbuilt closures, and ample drainage.
Fully compatible with magazines from nearly every semi-automatic rifle in common use — no inserts or addons needed.
Versatile Pouches
General purpose pouches with large hook and loop contact areas allow both small and oversized items to be safely secured — everything from radios, IFAK items, and GPS devices, to smokes and can even fit additional magazines in a pinch.
Both sides of the rig feature small utility pouches, perfect for multitools, compact folding knives, and double-stack 9mm pistol mags.
Neat & Tidy
Native compatibility with coms and hydration allows for smart, clean routing of your cords and tubes.
Our implementation is simple and unobtrusive. It's there when you need it and out of the way when you don't.
Bombproof Construction
Heavy bartacks, reinforced closures, and slick Cordura nylon keep your equipment secure even in the most adverse conditions.
Every hook-and-loop contact area is overbuilt, and all load bearing areas are reinforced with machine sewn bartack stiches. P84 is roll, slide, and drag-proof.
Mission Configurable
The rig comes complete and fully featured out of the box. But if you need to attach extra equipment, you have plenty of options.
Pattern 84 features laser-cut MOLLE webbing on each wing. These low-weight, low bulk laminate panels lay flat when not in use and prevent snagging on slings, straps or equipment.
The rig is also fully 'dangler' compatible thanks to a hook and loop pocket underneath the magazine cells.
P84 2.0 differences
We got overwhelming feedback from our customers to opt for a much more modular solution when it came to the harness. We designed an ergonomically-shaped H-Harness from the ground up, but you can use any harness you want. In moving the clips closer together for harness compatibility, it also holds the front of the rig flatter against your chest in comparison to P84.
Another point of customer feedback was the desire to remove the dividers in the pouch for magazines. In our testing, we found out they did more harm than good, so we've removed them and dialed in the elastic retention to perform just like P84 1.0's cells without the snags. P83's shape was large enough to allow errors during manufacturing, but even with modern tech we used its footprint as the basis for P84. For 2.0, We decreased the overall height dimension of the chest rig without compromising on the size of any of the pouches or useable MOLLE Space.
The main mag cell flaps now feature an angle-cut at the bottom to reduce snag hazard and frankly just look a whole lot cooler. We ditched the "Pen Flare" pouch taken from P83 and mirrored the multitool pouch to the other side for much more utility & extra storage.
Specs
- 1000D Cordura NIR Compliant Cordura Nylon Construction
- Heavily reinforced stitching
- Custom-run mesh backing for breathability
- Drainage ports in all pouches
- "Dangler" Pouch Compatible
- Back map/field note pocket
- Accepts an enormous variety of rifle magazines without special inserts or adjustable shock cords. 100% AK, AR-15, AR-10, SCAR compatible
- NEW: Ergonomically designed, ride-height-adjustable, "H" Harness with rear Velcro field included, rig accepts most aftermarket H-harnesses on the market.
- NEW: Removed magazine pouch divider to allow for easier re-indexing of all magazines
- NEW: Slimmer profile for even higher mobility
- NEW: Magazine flap angles to reduce snag hazard and improve looks, easy to grab with gloves thanks to flap-tip inserts
