I recently got hold of a British army ammunition grab bag in MTP (8465-99-213-3719. DC4/4026) from my local car boot sale and having looked on line for reviews of it and finding very little I thought I would have a go at doing one for you good fellows.
These bags seem to have had a rapid development and I have noticed several different designs hence me giving the stock number of my version. The latest version is the best but you would need to buy that on line and it costs a hefty £66+ at the moment. that version is available at RVOps should you want to take a peek though.
http://www.rvops.co.uk/Catalogue/Load-Carrying/Bergens/View-All/Grab-Bag-Combat-Utility-Bag
The good news is if you don't mind going for an earlier model in Desert Cam you can pick them up on ebay for between £10.00 and £20.00 which is terrific value for money for what is a very well made bag. I was extraordinarily lucky to get mine from my local boot sale for £4.50.
Now to the bag itself just using a simple ruler I got a rough dimension size of 13" x 10" x 3" Three inches might sound quite narrow but it is quite flexible and you can get a fair old bit of kit in it.
It has three main outer pockets with very long strips of velcro which allow plenty of room for taller and shorter items to be stored securely in them. As you can see the pouches will stretch various kinds of bottle. The wider they are of course the tighter the fit (elastic straps on the pouch grip the contents). The standard schools type bottle bought from the supermarket was the most perfect fit and is ideal for drinking on the run. The other two bottles although fitting well enough would be irritating to pull out single handed and thus don't feel quite so naturally at home.
The main compartment has a lining that is very much like the inside of a wash bag and I assume it is mildly water resistant (the bag itself seems to be 1000d Cordura). It has room enough for plenty of food if used as a bread bag or day to day items if used for lightweight bushcrafting or even as a city day bag.
The bag also has three other smaller pouches attached. The larger of which has a lot of potential for storing fire lighting kit and such like. For the sake of the photos I have just slung in my sunglasses which fit with plenty of room to spare. The other two small pouches which are for grenades originally are smaller and are more limiting in use. Off the top of my head I could only think to sling in an apple in each but realistically you could shove anything in them from a bandanna to a small bag of bits and pieces.
The straps for the bag are supremely comfortable. They are 2" wide and inclue a padded shoulder rest. Another feature I also really appreciate is the length of the strap. As a bigger bloke I am often caught out with shoulder bags that only seem long enough to allow a bag to sit right under my armpit. These straps are so long the bag sits comfortably exactly where I want it to. One odd thing though is that they are secured by plastic rings to the D rings on the bag which seems really odd to me. I doubt if I shall bother to change them but some kind of carabiner would have made more sense to me.
One last feature worth noting is the rather nifty little elasticated slit at the top of the bag. If you fold bag a small velcroed section on the lid a quick access point is revealed no doubt designed for the quick access of ammo clips. For my point of view though this has two main uses. firstly people only get to see inside my bag if I want them to which is useful if I have any expensive techy kit in the bag that thieves might like the look of and secondly if I am using it as a cool bag when storing food and drink it helps stop the cool air escaping.
In conclusion this is a well made bag that has many practical uses for bush craft, camping and as a general day bag. If you can get hold of one for under £20.00 then I would give it a 9/10 as a rating. The only thing that stops if from getting the full 10 is that the latest model has a zipped compartment added to it and seems to have ditched the two grenade pouches for a larger smoke grenade pouch. That for me sounds like a 10/10 bag.
I hope this review has been of some interest and hopefully of some use to you.
These bags seem to have had a rapid development and I have noticed several different designs hence me giving the stock number of my version. The latest version is the best but you would need to buy that on line and it costs a hefty £66+ at the moment. that version is available at RVOps should you want to take a peek though.
http://www.rvops.co.uk/Catalogue/Load-Carrying/Bergens/View-All/Grab-Bag-Combat-Utility-Bag
The good news is if you don't mind going for an earlier model in Desert Cam you can pick them up on ebay for between £10.00 and £20.00 which is terrific value for money for what is a very well made bag. I was extraordinarily lucky to get mine from my local boot sale for £4.50.
Now to the bag itself just using a simple ruler I got a rough dimension size of 13" x 10" x 3" Three inches might sound quite narrow but it is quite flexible and you can get a fair old bit of kit in it.
It has three main outer pockets with very long strips of velcro which allow plenty of room for taller and shorter items to be stored securely in them. As you can see the pouches will stretch various kinds of bottle. The wider they are of course the tighter the fit (elastic straps on the pouch grip the contents). The standard schools type bottle bought from the supermarket was the most perfect fit and is ideal for drinking on the run. The other two bottles although fitting well enough would be irritating to pull out single handed and thus don't feel quite so naturally at home.
The main compartment has a lining that is very much like the inside of a wash bag and I assume it is mildly water resistant (the bag itself seems to be 1000d Cordura). It has room enough for plenty of food if used as a bread bag or day to day items if used for lightweight bushcrafting or even as a city day bag.
The bag also has three other smaller pouches attached. The larger of which has a lot of potential for storing fire lighting kit and such like. For the sake of the photos I have just slung in my sunglasses which fit with plenty of room to spare. The other two small pouches which are for grenades originally are smaller and are more limiting in use. Off the top of my head I could only think to sling in an apple in each but realistically you could shove anything in them from a bandanna to a small bag of bits and pieces.
The straps for the bag are supremely comfortable. They are 2" wide and inclue a padded shoulder rest. Another feature I also really appreciate is the length of the strap. As a bigger bloke I am often caught out with shoulder bags that only seem long enough to allow a bag to sit right under my armpit. These straps are so long the bag sits comfortably exactly where I want it to. One odd thing though is that they are secured by plastic rings to the D rings on the bag which seems really odd to me. I doubt if I shall bother to change them but some kind of carabiner would have made more sense to me.
One last feature worth noting is the rather nifty little elasticated slit at the top of the bag. If you fold bag a small velcroed section on the lid a quick access point is revealed no doubt designed for the quick access of ammo clips. For my point of view though this has two main uses. firstly people only get to see inside my bag if I want them to which is useful if I have any expensive techy kit in the bag that thieves might like the look of and secondly if I am using it as a cool bag when storing food and drink it helps stop the cool air escaping.
In conclusion this is a well made bag that has many practical uses for bush craft, camping and as a general day bag. If you can get hold of one for under £20.00 then I would give it a 9/10 as a rating. The only thing that stops if from getting the full 10 is that the latest model has a zipped compartment added to it and seems to have ditched the two grenade pouches for a larger smoke grenade pouch. That for me sounds like a 10/10 bag.
I hope this review has been of some interest and hopefully of some use to you.
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