I love it when I can come on here and praise a product and a company. Nothing makes me happier than giving my glowing recommendation to a well crafted product. That’s not always the case though, and I will and have happily ripped products a new one when they sucked. Today is a case of the latter. A few months ago I bought a Blackhawk mag carrier. The voice in the back of my head that warns me not to buy shit whispered to me, Dont get it. I ignored that voice and bought it regardless and have since been simmering is my hatred for this product. Yesterday while at the range with some friends James from Skills and gear showed me a sweet inside the waist kydex carrier he recently got (Here). Which just set me off ranting about how much I hate the blackhawk one. Did I mention I hate this thing? Let me count the ways in which this pill of crap sucks.
Adjustable: Means Fits Nothing
I knew better. It’s Blackhawk after all. The only other piece of gear I own from Blackhawk is a shitty holster, which If my friend Justin even heard me call a holster would fly off the handle. They make junk that’s only suited for airsoft players and barely at that. Hell I even like Condor better…Anyway after looking all around a Gun Shop trying to find a Kydex mag carrier I settled on this adjustable one for my glock 19. I was weary at the fact it was an adjustable carrier that stated it would hold any double stack magazine. When I hear the words adjustable what I really hear is “Doesn’t really hold anything well”, and thats the truth. The carrier has one screw in the center to adjust the tightness on it. I found it pretty much went from either too tight and the magazines would pop up out the carrier or too loose and would easily fall out. It lacked the nice firm hold you get from molded Kydex. I was never able to find a perfect adjustment where I could hold the carrier upside down and shake it without the magazines flying out. Well call it a failure on that test.
Direction
Not that my magazines fir in the carrier very well either way you face them but they stay in better facing opposite directions. It was like the carrier was designed for them to face away from each other. Which seems crazy to me. When I’m reaching for a spare mag I don’t want to think about which way its facing. I want to grab it and be able to put it in without an though. For me the best way is for them both to be with the numbered holes facing forward. If I turn one around it falls out even easier. In fact it wont even go all the way down, like its hitting somethings and springs back up.
Clip or Thread the Belt
Out of the box it has a crappy plastic belt clip on it. The clip is worthless and putting it on your belt is the biggest pain in the ass. Such a pain that I would never bother wearing it which defeats the point of carrying spare mags if you don’t carry them. On the other hand if you remove the clip and thread your belt through it works pretty well. I was able to fit, although just barely, the carrier through my SOE Cobra Riggers Belt. When you thread it through the belt it rides high and is easily concealable. That is maybe the only good thing about this carrier. I personally like to use clips instead of threading things through my belt. I would much rather see a good strong metal clip in the back.
Don’t Buy This
Normally I include Amazon links to the products I review. It helps me when you buy stuff and it’s good to see the stuff and compare it. I will not be including a link to this. Do not buy it. I can not un-endorse this product enough. Whatever I paid for it was too much. When I get a new one I might just take this out and shoot it. Then burn it and make abstract art from it so it can do some good. If anything learn from me and DO NOT BUY THIS.
What do you use for carrying spare magazines? Do you carry spares? Let me know in the comments!
Today’s article brought to you by the great folks over at Survivalgearbags.com home to all your Bug out bag and tactical needs. Help support Survivalpunk by supporting the great folks at Survival Gear bags.
When out on the shooting range, (or just out in my back 40)I like to plink with a Ruger 10/22
It’s a great little shooter and have had it for many years. The small rotary magazine (10 rounds) is quite handy. I use a ballistic nylon, ‘revolver speed loader’ to perfectly carry 2 extra rotary Ruger magazines with me. I thread my belt through it and I always have 2 extra 10 round rotary Mags. My pistol mags (.45 auto)ride in a old Bianchi leather flap style. Since I don’t shoot pistol competition anymore, this arrangement suits me well enough. Nutin’ fancy, but it works for me.
TinMan
For what it’s worth, facing the mags opposing like that is a BAD idea. It’s an old military tradition (no idea how it got started) but think about this; you’re in a gunfight, empty one mag, grab your next mag, then have to swap ANOTHER magazine. Obviously things are hot! Do you think you have enough practice to pay attention to the direction the mag is facing? Do you even want to have to think about it? When I served, we faced all our mags in one direction so that in the heat of the moment, or in total darkness, mag changes were quick and efficient.
My .02 from a USMC grunt.
Bummer about the bad mags. I got one that looks similar but does not suck. It is from 5.11 tactical(5.11 Tactical 59168 Polymer Pistol Double Magazine Pouch For Glock 21 30 Black). Was only about $35 from somebody on e-bay. I’ve had great luck with it. I used it for 2 days solid at Front Sight without failure, and tripped and fell once without magazines flying out, which was why I bought this one.
I have used it a couple of times since going to the range for practice and have not had problem one. I spent maybe 5 minutes adjusting it when I first got it and biggest complaint was the way the belt adjuster works, but I haven’t had to mess with it since.
A honest, tell it like it is, man. Gotta love that!