Author: Douglas Chevalier
10 Nov 2012-Semper Fi
Recently I had the opportunity to review a product that has been long overdue. As true with all 3-Gunners, we are always looking for the best and most ingenious innovations in order to improve our “game” Although 3-Gun is a competitive sport, and like every competitive sport, the idea is to win, with most 3 gunners, the competition is mostly with “self”. Over the years the 3-Gun nation has been on the corner of innovation when it comes to tactics, accessories, theories, and yes, gear. With every 3-Gun participant, there is a process of constant evolving, and self improvement. This comes with both skill as well as the tools in which we use. Several years ago, I was introduced to a SAIGA-12 Shotgun, and I, as well as the three gun nation has never been the same. The days of Benelli and the Winchester SXT, the Remington 1100 were the preferred tools of the game, but when SAIGA came on to the scene, the game changed. It changed so much so that it was immediately realized that a new category needed to be created to accommodate the fast shooting and even faster reloading scatter monster. Although the SAIGA in all of its wiz bang glory, still required one thing……accessories that work, and that are actually functional. The SAIGA, for those of you who are not entirely familiar, is basically an AK-47 on steroids, with an additional shot of HGH just to make it smile. A SAIGA -12 is an AK-47 type semi automatic, magazine fed shotgun, and what a shotgun it is. It allows the user to rapidly blast down range and reload in the same amount of time as one would with their magazine fed rifle. With this in mind, one of the things that has been preached in the many realms of weaponsdom, is muscle memory and consistent weapon manipulation. This is where HSGI comes in.
HSGI is in my opinion, is one of the great innovators of weapons gear, bags, belts and magazine pouches. Their line of TACO modular pouches is nothing short of innovation at its best. An idea so profound in the world of weapons retention, that when you look at the TACO pouches, you think to yourself, the ingeniousness and the innovation, is in the simplicity of the very functional design. HSGI created a series of magazine pouches that are made for truly customized retention. They utilize kydex, ballistic Cordura and shock-cord, in their construction. The pouch remains silent while retaining and extracting the mag, and allows the user to customize the desired retention for their magazines, all while maintaining an open top for rapid deployment. Many magazine pouches require a cover for retention, and many other manufacturers that claim to be innovative will stuff their mag pouches with a foam insert to simply take up space and retain the magazine with pressure. The problem with that, is eventually overtime, the inserts that are used will become flat, and lose their retention properties, and the pouch is limited to one type of magazine. The HSGI TACO mag pouches will never lose their retention properties. If for whatever reason, the retention needs adjusting, simply tighten the shock cord, that’s it. In addition to ensuring your pouches will last forever and never lose their usability because of lost retention, the HSGI TACO pouches are also truly “modular” (mod_u_lar; a self-contained unit or item, that can be combined, interchanged or arranged to accommodate different uses or multiple purposes.) You have a TACO magazine pouch that you are using for your AR magazine, got and AK?, good, loosen up the shock cord and voila! You now have an AK Magazine pouch. Again, truly modular, and innovation at its best.
While competing in 3-Gun, my SAIGA-12 shotgun is very fast, very accurate, and due to the lack of a proper magazine pouch, not very reloadable. Again, with necessity comes innovation. SAIGA-12 shooters know exactly what I am going to say. Shooting the SAIGA-12 is a joy, running and gunning with it, is a pleasure with the added adrenaline, loading it is easy as pie, finding a place to store three mags during a match stage…….aggravating. I have seen people use everything for dump pouches, to messenger bags, pants pockets, all without the ability to keep them truly retained, or easily accessible for quick extraction and reloading. Along comes HSGI. After procuring an HSGI Sure Grip Padded belt, and a couple of pistol and rifle TACO magazine pouches to replace my old gear belt, I looked at the TACO mag pouches and reveled in its simplicity, and immediately looked over at my SAIGA-12 and said, “this will work” I quickly unraveled the shock cord, and opened up the mag pouch to accommodate my SAIGA-12 magazine.
When I saw that the magazine actually fit, I was the king reutilization, until I attempted to put the pair through the paces. The issue that I encountered was that the SAIGA magazine was just too long and the pouch was not deep enough to efficiently carry the magazine. The opened up TACO magazine pouch accommodated the SAIGA magazine, and the retention was great, however due to the length of the SAIGA magazine, the mag would flop around while moving, or lean out while moving slow, getting caught on doors, props and targets that you are trying to pass by them. The day after the match I contacted HSGI and inquired as to if they would be interested in making a TACO mag pouch for the SAIGA 12 magazine. They notified me that they were working on something, but it was not in production. I finally saw a picture of a SAIGA mag pouch on HSGI’s Facebook page and I immediately went to the phone to call for a T&E pouch. (four to be exact).
First of all placing an HSGI on a molle belt with MALICE clips is no easy task, but once attached, that pouch is not going to go anywhere! I run an HSGI Sure Grip Padded Belt that has a stiff insert to ensure all of your items stay close, and prevents anything from shifting around. Once I place the HSGI SAIGA magazine pouch on the belt and inserted a fully loaded shotgun magazine, the feeling of utter awe and relief was astounding. The magazine stayed upright, and did not flop outwards. Once I adjusted the retention, (did I mention that you can do that with the HSGI pouches?) I know that I had something special, practical and that would work exactly as designed and intended, but the real test would be running it in a 3-Gun match. Upon arriving at the match, and being supremely confident that I had what I considered one of the holy grails of SAIGA shotgun accessories, the questions started, “Hey, where did you get that?” “I have never seen one of those before, where did you get it?”, “That looks like it is going to work great!” After the obligatory explanations of the pouches, and the shock cord retention concept, it was time to get down to business.
While shooting the first shotgun stage, I was amazed at how this SAIGA TACO magazine pouch was able to retain this heavy magazine close to my body while running from one end of the shotgun stage to the other. In addition, when it came time to reload, it was fast, it was efficient, and it was the same exact muscle memory that is used to extract my rifle magazine. There was no fumbling in a dump pouch praying that I didn’t lose a magazine on the way, there was no awkward pocket extraction, only a fast and fluid magazine change. I heard the proverbial angels above. Finally a SAIGA Shotgun accessory that works! Finally a shotgun magazine pouch that out performs anything that is out there, SGI has just upped the game in the 3-Gun world. While I was accessing my recent stage and marveling at how much faster I shot it with the HSGI SAIGA Mag pouch, I started to contemplate the next stage which was primarily rifle. Unless I am shooting prone, I run C-Products 40 round magazines so as to reduce the need to reload.
As I downloaded my shotgun magazines from the shotgun stage, I had another epiphany, the deeper shotgun mag pouch should accommodate my longer C-Products 40 round magazines. Sure enough, perfect fit. Again, it allowed the magazine to sit deep enough to stay flat against the belt and not flop outwards, as it does sometimes in the standard shorter AR mag pouch. Again, the term "mod_u_lar” came to mind. I am sure that it would also work with a 60 round magazine, (that is if you can get them to work reliably)In the end, HSGI manufactured a simple and ingenious item that exceeds its designated purpose, performs as intended and is truly modular. The cut and quality of the products that HSGI has produced is nothing short of superior. I know that as a 3-Gun shooter that runs a SAIGA, all SAIGA shooters would be ill prepared for any match or scenario without the HSGI SAIGA Mag pouches. Innovation and quality, that’s what we demand, and that is what HSGI has delivered. 3-Gun will never be the same. It has been said by some of the best that it is the mindset that gets us through the day and keeps us alive, and not necessarily the tools in which we use, I am here to say, that the ability to have confidence in the tools in which we use, and that exceed our needs, only helps us concentrate on the winning mindset. HSGI has done that. If you have never heard of HSGI, or considered their products, you need to. You will be promised a quality product, with innovative designs, and have the confidence to concentrate on your winning mindset.
Please contact HSGI directly to order your SAIGA Mag pouches.
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