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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
If you're using a popular, semi automatic magazine-fed rifle, odds are P84 fits at least 6 of your mags. Want to know for sure? We've tested dozens of different platforms and detailed our results below.
You can help expand this 'verified compatible' list by submitting your results to help@kommandostore.com
In most cases we reccomend the standard 2 magazines per cell for a total of 6 mags. This will work with nearly all metal and polymer 'AR-15 type' mags on the market. However you can chose to 'overload' each mag cell with 3 standard capacity metal STANAGs for a total of 9 magazines.
Note: When overloading, we recommend inserting magazines in a front-to-back order, Not all polymer mags are 'overload' compatible.
AR-Adjacent platforms with similar magazines such as the 30/35 rd. 5.56 Galil, HK93, G36, and others will fit at least 6 mags, but due to the contours of some of the magazines, you might find trouble stacking more than 2 in a pouch.
Longer magazines like the 40 Round Magpul PMAG and the propprietary Steyr AUG 42-Rounders will fit with a total of 6 mags in the rig. If you're crazy and use the Surefire 60-round 'quad stack', we tested that too. each mag cell can fit 1x 60 rounder plus 1 standard capacity STANAG.
Each mag cell holds 2 magazines comfortably. Standard Capacity AKM, AK101, and AK-74 Magazines will fit just fine. Plastic, metal, and Bakelite all work, and P84 2.0 makes it much easier to re-index these mags than 1.0.
We also tested 40rd 7.62 and 45rd 5.45 RPK mags. While they physically fit inside the pouches, 7.62x39 40 rounders can't take advantage of the flap closure. Retention is acceptable thanks to the elastic, but it certainly isn't a "jumpable" configuration.
It's much the same story for 5.45 45 rounders — they fit side by side better than the x39 mags, but still can't take advantage of the flap closure.
P84 accommodates straight walled 20 round .308 mags for the AR-10, MR308, FN FAL, and SCAR-17 without issue. The rig will comfortably fit the standard 2 per cell for a total of 6 mags. For the HK G3, due to the contours of the magazine, we don't recommend double-stacking.
We've tested the much less common SCAR & FAL 30-round magazines, and they also fit without issue, even with baseplates attached.
Magazines such as those found in HK MP5s, B&T GHM/APC/TP Platforms, CZ Scorpions, Grand Power Stribogs, UZIs, Colt AR-9s, and Glock 'stick' type mags will fit, but with a catch: They must be placed side by side in order to maintain retention.
The best way to run PCC magazines for maximum retention is to place 4 in each main mag cell.
Results may vary with magazine extensions and different types of base plates. Compact pistol magazines, such as those used by the Glock 19, may be too short to use effectively in P84's main pouches, but will fit in the multitool pouches if you want to carry them on your rig.
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 then 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 it's 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.
The process of modernizing a design like this is a balancing act. Change too little and there’s no benefit to the end user. Change too much and you might ruin what made the original good.
In our view, almost everything about the P83 rig was done right the first time. The philosophy of the SADF is clear, and we agree with their conclusions. We were careful not to reinvent the wheel with P84 — instead we focused on improving what was already there, and putting our customers first when considering any changes.
P84 2.0's Upgraded H-Harness represents a big leap in comfort. In addition to back adjustability it can also be adjusted for ride height, and it's back angles and curves conform to your body better than many 90-degree "H" Designs on the market.
The result is slim, comfortable, and very hard wearing — no aftermarket padding needed.
The rig's wide profile sits tight and secure against your body's center of gravity and minimizes where the 1" webbing digs in under load.
Custom mesh on the back of the rig mimics the original P83 SADF-spec material. You'll find the back of the rig is much more comfortable against your body, reducing abrasion 'hot spots' on your gear.
This semi-rigid structure helps make P84 breathable and load bearing without adding excess weight .
The mesh also aids in drainage, allowing the rear admin pocket and other areas of the rig to shed water.
Like the original, P84's specially designed magazine cells accommodate almost all semi-auto rifle mags. No inserts or extra gimmicks needed.
We've certified many different types of magazines, but the sky is the limit — in a pinch, even pistol caliber carbine mags will run in our rig.
We kept the rear-facing admin pouch from Pattern 83 — because as the saying goes "if it ain't broke don't fix it."
This flapped sleeve is accessible while wearing the rig, making it perfect for notebooks & pens, IDs, maps, and other documents.
It's also perfect size for chest seals and other lay-flat medical equipment.
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Rated 5 out of 5
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Too awesome.
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Rated 5 out of 5
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It's clear right away that this redesign was well worth it. The change to the H harness is wonderful and I find it far more comfortable than the original cross straps. The rig accommodates a wide variety of magazines and getting rid of the dividers is a huge improvement from the original. The rig itself isn't very large but it manages to have all the space you need and easily allows for a belt setup and won't interfere with it.
Overall I think it's a great multi caliber rig that I'll definitely recommend to others
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Rated 5 out of 5
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No bs gp/pen/other shit pouches that i really dont need. I wish the 2 GP pouches were a bit bigger for a canteen but it works well for radios, ifak, other small shit you wanna throw in. mag pouches are a fucking beaut, love em.
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Rated 5 out of 5
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This is a chest rig. It holds things close to the chest. It's good at holding beers, or magazines. Great job.
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Rated 5 out of 5
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Overall, very solid rig. I am however not a fan of how much I had to adjust it to fit me (I’m built like a twink). If your chest size is >36 this should fit you fine
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Rated 5 out of 5
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