Shotgun velcro sidesaddles?

[Papa Zero Three]

Originally Posted by galen.edwards

What is the proper way to deploy those pull out trays? I have heard of people tying the bottom loop to 550 cord and then running a stopper knot through the drain hole in the bottom of the pouch. It seems like it would work, but wouldn't they flop around and turn around on you? As far as the Micro Rig, I have thought about getting that since we are supposed to be in ASVs and I am a big guy to start off with, even when I am working out as much as I am supposed to. I want to keep my kit as small as possible. If the front is on velcro and the back one flips out onto the velcro, couldn't you use the rig in conjunction with a velcro sidesaddle platform? It seems that the front tray is attached just by velcro and then has a dummy cord type thing on the bottom, is that correct? Would that mean that it would also work as a sidesaddle, or I am stretching too much there?

You are correct, they come with a built in tether so that you don't loose or have to store an empty shell tray when you replace it with one from inside the magazine pouch. You also have the option of running them untethered to the magazine pouch so that you can pull them out on the fly and attach them directly to the weapon. In my opinion this is the ideal set up as it takes up very little space to store 24 shells and if you ever need to run M4 magazines, all you have to do is remove the shell trays from the pouch and insert your M4 magazines. You can even run M4 mags in the pouch with a shell tray velcro'd to the outside of the pouch if you're running a M4 and a breaching shotgun or even a full size shotgun as a secondary. It's a very efficient and quickly accessible way to carry rounds for both weapon systems.

[Odin21]

Since the last time I posted, I have bought a Mossberg 500 at a gunshow to practice with. I just got in a set of 4 SO Tech velcro sidesaddles that I am going to try out for a while. At first glance they appear well made, the elastic is so small and tight I originally thought it was a mistake and they shipped me a 20ga tray. I replaced my TacStar sidesaddle on my 870 with it because I was dropping shells and the saddle was already missing screws and I had only run a few hundred rounds through it. I tried everything that I could to get the saddle to fall off without me pulling it off to no avail. I scraped it on doors, on my vest, used it as a barricade support, etc and it didn't come off unless I grabbed the 550 cord and peeled it off. If anyone has any ideas of stuff for me to do in an attempt to induce a malfunction let me know.

I am going to try the SO Tech ones for a while, but I am thinking I may also pick up some of the Esstac ones to try as well. The only thing that I do not like about the SO Tech ones is that the 550 pull is mounted on the side, so that it either dangles down near the trigger guard or sticks up in your face depending on how you have the saddle fixed to your receiver. If there is any interest, I can take and post some pictures. I hope to run some rounds through it and some reloads here in the next few weeks. I post whatever the results are. Thank you all again for your time and assistance.