Chest rigs don’t always have to be big, to be practicable. In the last time, the trend went towards more minimal and multifunctional gear. Haley Strategic set the path with their D3CR. Helikon-Tex now follows with their Training Mini Rig and we took a look at it.
First impressions: On the front, you can find four small pistol, four large magazines, and two multifunctional pouches. Horizontal webbing on the shoulder straps lets you manage your PTT wiring and hydration tubes. A note on the side, the rig reviewed is in the color Adaptive Green.
On the back, nothing unusual goes on. Efficient H strap with a large loop Velcro surface, which lets you place patches on it. An adjustable waist belt ensures proper fitting.
All straps have a Fastex buckle. Easy and smooth to open and close.
The waist belt can also be fully removed. The buckle has a small gap for the webbing to go through.
On the other side of the waist belt, there’s a G-Hook. They have the tendency to come loose when not under stress, so they put a Cordura sleeve over it to prevent that.
The main magazine pouches are open on the top and take all kind of typical 5,56mm magazines. Even AK magazines fit. The pull tabs are rubberized for better grip. If you’re not a fan of that, you can also fit HSP MP2 inserts in it.
The chest rig is much more versatile then it might look. The magazine pouches in the middle are inserts secured with Velcro. Therefore, they can be fully removed or replaced.
If you want to use it as a pouch for your cards, you can do so. Secure it with the Velcro closure or a small zipper insert, like we did in the picture with one from TMC. That could be useful for a more civil use in an orientation run or just use it as a survival kit.
The pistol pouches take all kinds of pistol magazines. Multitools, flashlights and similar objects also fit in it. The top cover of the pouches can be adjusted or removed, thanks to Velcro.
Coming to the multifunctional pouches – the top one has a zip that covers nearly ¾ and the inside features a handy organization. Two sliding pockets, five elastic webbing loops, and a zippered mesh pocket.
On the bottom side of the upper pouch, you can find three MOLLE loops. A tourniquet could be placed there. On the side, there are two paracord loops to secure other stuff. (The patch displayed is from Patchzone.at)
The second multifunctional pouch has the size of a typical horizontal utility pouch like you would know them from the FSBE2 kit. On the inside, you can find two strips of loop velcro with the width of 5cm (2inch) and a small loop on the top. Hence you can customize it to your preference. We choose to stick a V-Lite in it as a display.
Should you not want that extra storage, you can remove the pouch. It is secured with MOLLE, so you can also mount other MOLLE pouches.
A big advantage of the Fastex clips is, that you can mount it directly to a vest that features a similar system. A downside of the Mini Rig is, that it doesn’t have Velcro on the back, that would ensure a secure fit, so you would need to use the waist belt for that option. Or you can sew some Velcro on it by yourself. We used the Rigit Kit from Mission Spec to secure the rig on the vest with the Fastex buckles.
This only works if the buckles are compatible, or you have some adapters at hand. Therefore, we decided to test some we had lying around and they all fit, like the ones used on the HSP Flatpack.
Conclusion: A small chest rig that plays a big role. Due to the modular design, it can be customized and adapted to personal requirements. It has the label “Training Rig” but we think it’s more than that. A rig that can even be used for missions and is just a solid piece of gear in a perfect configuration.
Available at Helikon-Tex in many colors starting at 85 Euros. – https://www.helikon-tex.com/en_eur/kk-tmr-cd-training-mini-rig-tmr-cordura.html