Jim March Senior Member

Join Date: February 14, 1999 Location: Pittsburg, CA, USA Posts: 7,413

The evolution of a handgun-oriented gear carrier - the "plate 'o stuff"



At the time I was carrying my beloved SA wheelgun plus a "belt slide" 12rd bullet holder.



Well the damn checkout thingie wasn't working. It was failing to scan some stuff. I tried a few times, asked the human what was up with that thing, and he said with a grin "just shoot it".



"No, I carry but that's not what it's for..."



"I know man, I'm just joking but we hate those things and I saw your ammo."



My jacket had ridden up over my ammo as I bent over to get into the cart.



Well this being Arizona it was no big deal, and that clerk wasn't freaked or anything, but it was still troubling.



What I needed was a way to get the ammo up higher, so that if my jacket rode up, the ammo wouldn't be seen.



At around that same time the local Tandy Leather had some scrap "Latigo", massively thick "plates" of leather. And thus was born the "Plate 'O Stuff", Mk1:











It was made out of pieces of a cheap leather "belt slide" ammo carrier that I didn't like, plus that Latigo plate, plus holders I made for some other stuff.



It worked OK but there were two problems: it was too "tall and thin" plus the ammo carriers were a bad joke - I wanted to be able to pull out six rounds at once on a speed strip but the belt loops really weren't optimized for that. What may not be obvious is that the "tall and thin" layout may work great while standing, but when you sit it leans backwards and makes an odd "poke" at your jacket...quite annoying.



So I rebuilt it on a different plate as the "Mk2":







This one had a wider, lower stance for less "flopover effect", and the ammo carriers are much better. Each is a kydex strip somewhat molded to the bullets and then sewn down to the back-plate with heavy thread. The shells go between the threads. It's hard to see but there are also small kydex "wedges" on top of each speed strip that helps hold each strip down. Access to each strip (top first of course) is very fast and effective.



I later scored a good used Swiss Army Knife that I liked a lot, and a much better, longer CR123-powered flashlight, so it was time to do the "Mk3", shown here:







This longer, lower "D-shape" runs around my right hip and strongly resists "flopover". The same ammo carrier kydex strips from the Mk2 plate are recycled but now they're stacked such that the top carrier is the block for the bottom carrier, and in this pic you can see both the small kydex "wedges" sewn to the back-plate just above the top ammo carrier. Each kydex strip (and the wedges) are made out of thick .125" grade kydex. The wedges have a "knife edge" ground into the face pointing at the speed strips, forming a "speed bump" that the carriers don't want to jump over unless pulled - but they do come out very easily.



Oh, and the flashlight in this position can actually be left on if you're walking in the dark and want both hands free.



The "D" shape is lop-sided - lower in the rear than the front. That's deliberate - it eliminated the last vestiges of "poke out in the rear when I sit" issues.



At the backside you'll see I didn't care how the stitching looked:







I also added a small, thin leather pouch to hold a couple of extra CR123 batteries plus some extra paracord stuffed in both to secure the batteries and for "whatever needs some paracord"...last week it was to help hold up my buddy's brake carriers while we dropped the tranny on his Kia and changed the clutch.



You can also see a weird trick I used on the holster to get the gun to hug my body closer.



Anyways. Here's the thing. I don't think there's any commercial value to the "plate o' stuff" concept. You can learn from my developments and take it whereever you want. It does have some neat advantages: it get spare ammo up high for the reasons stated (mags, speed strips, speed loaders, whatever) and gives a bunch of places below that to attach whatever you want. There's literally no limit to what you could do with this: grab some leather, cut it into a "D" shape like this to fit your bod, sew on attachments for whatever stuff you have. If you don't have thick leather, no sweat, sew two sheets of thinner leather together.



It could be "daily carry stuff" like I do, or specialty stuff just for range trips or specific activities.



It's...yeah, it's weird, it gets funny looks sometimes, but it works and it might work for somebody else . A couple of years ago I was in a grocery store checking my own stuff at one of those "robo-clerk" stations. You know the type: you scan your stuff, bag it, one human hired by the store monitors four of these "self serve" checkouts.At the time I was carrying my beloved SA wheelgun plus a "belt slide" 12rd bullet holder.Well the damn checkout thingie wasn't working. It was failing to scan some stuff. I tried a few times, asked the human what was up with that thing, and he said with a grin "just shoot it"."No, I carry but that's not what it's for...""I know man, I'm just joking but we hate those things and I saw your ammo."My jacket had ridden up over my ammo as I bent over to get into the cart.Well this being Arizona it was no big deal, and that clerk wasn't freaked or anything, but it was still troubling.What I needed was a way to get the ammo up higher, so that if my jacket rode up, the ammo wouldn't be seen.At around that same time the local Tandy Leather had some scrap "Latigo", massively thick "plates" of leather. And thus was born the "Plate 'O Stuff", Mk1:It was made out of pieces of a cheap leather "belt slide" ammo carrier that I didn't like, plus that Latigo plate, plus holders I made for some other stuff.It worked OK but there were two problems: it was too "tall and thin" plus the ammo carriers were a bad joke - I wanted to be able to pull out six rounds at once on a speed strip but the belt loops really weren't optimized for that. What may not be obvious is that the "tall and thin" layout may work great while standing, but when you sit it leans backwards and makes an odd "poke" at your jacket...quite annoying.So I rebuilt it on a different plate as the "Mk2":This one had a wider, lower stance for less "flopover effect", and the ammo carriers are much better. Each is a kydex strip somewhat molded to the bullets and then sewn down to the back-plate with heavy thread. The shells go between the threads. It's hard to see but there are also small kydex "wedges" on top of each speed strip that helps hold each strip down. Access to each strip (top first of course) is very fast and effective.I later scored a good used Swiss Army Knife that I liked a lot, and a much better, longer CR123-powered flashlight, so it was time to do the "Mk3", shown here:This longer, lower "D-shape" runs around my right hip and strongly resists "flopover". The same ammo carrier kydex strips from the Mk2 plate are recycled but now they're stacked such that the top carrier is the block for the bottom carrier, and in this pic you can see both the small kydex "wedges" sewn to the back-plate just above the top ammo carrier. Each kydex strip (and the wedges) are made out of thick .125" grade kydex. The wedges have a "knife edge" ground into the face pointing at the speed strips, forming a "speed bump" that the carriers don't want to jump over unless pulled - but they do come out very easily.Oh, and the flashlight in this position can actually be left on if you're walking in the dark and want both hands free.The "D" shape is lop-sided - lower in the rear than the front. That's deliberate - it eliminated the last vestiges of "poke out in the rear when I sit" issues.At the backside you'll see I didn't care how the stitching looked:I also added a small, thin leather pouch to hold a couple of extra CR123 batteries plus some extra paracord stuffed in both to secure the batteries and for "whatever needs some paracord"...last week it was to help hold up my buddy's brake carriers while we dropped the tranny on his Kia and changed the clutch.You can also see a weird trick I used on the holster to get the gun to hug my body closer.Anyways. Here's the thing. I don't think there's any commercial value to the "plate o' stuff" concept. You can learn from my developments and take it whereever you want. It does have some neat advantages: it get spare ammo up high for the reasons stated (mags, speed strips, speed loaders, whatever) and gives a bunch of places below that to attach whatever you want. There's literally no limit to what you could do with this: grab some leather, cut it into a "D" shape like this to fit your bod, sew on attachments for whatever stuff you have. If you don't have thick leather, no sweat, sew two sheets of thinner leather together.It could be "daily carry stuff" like I do, or specialty stuff just for range trips or specific activities.It's...yeah, it's weird, it gets funny looks sometimes, but it works and it might work for somebody else __________________

Jim March