Video Transcript
If you are looking for a way to throw three magazines on your chest using Kydex retention the Esstac Kywi placard is a very good option. So they have a product like this on their site, but a while ago, a few years ago, we asked them if they would make a version for us that had little chest rig loops here on the side for those of you that want to either suspend ITW GrimLoc, little buckles and things or drop a Sharpie in there, or even attach SwiftClip split bar buckles on here and create this into a little micro chest rig, which I don't necessarily recommend with this product, but it is something that you can do.
And what you have is adjustable one wrap material right here that you can use for setting the ride height of this particular placard on your plate carrier based on your plate carrier make and model and just how low or high you want this to be running on your plate carrier. Now I will say while each of these comes with two SwiftClip buckles, I don't necessarily recommend it being used in this configuration. It was originally designed to be a super slim magazine solution where your plate carrier cummerbund actually drops on top of this. So it's a very easy and fast on off procedure for your plate carrier. And it also keeps the magazines and everything really slick to the body. So what I like to do is to actually remove these and then tuck the one wrap away. If you do plan on using this like a placard, I do recommend that you actually undo the buckle.
We're actually going to slip this one wrap behind the Esstac on the inside of the placard for added security. The best way to do this is to remove the Esstac completely. Just going to pull it all the way out. It slops, you know, it can fit through the bottom just fine. I'm going to take my buckle, set it to the height I want, drop the one wrap on the inside of the pouch because there's Velcro hook loop down there. And then drop my insert back in. There's only one side on the inside of the placard that has Velcro. So you don't have to worry about the top side while you're doing this. Just push the hook side away from the entire placard. Drop it in. Let go.
It's adhered. And now what you have is the buckle is protected from the backside so that you're not going to have any issues as far as peeling this up and the one wrap getting caught separate from the entire placard. And it's also just more secure. But like I said, I like to use these without and it's going to look something like this right here. I've tucked the one wrap behind. I can coil it up here at the bottom or I can chop it off whatever I want. And now this serves as a placard. I can just throw on the front of any of my plate carriers. Cummerbund just runs on top and I'm set and I'm good to go. Now the retention on both of these products, both the 7.62 and the 5.56 are very tight. Even if you don't have a cummerbund running across the top, which also increases retention, there is a lot of retention just like with all Esstac products. One thing I have done to all of my placards typically that I have used is actually gone and modified.
And I have these marked with paint markers so I know that these were all modified. I actually went and loosened up the inserts. Now the downside to this procedure and what happens is generally Esstac, the way they are shaped, they are bending outwards. And so that creates this nice funnel at the top of the mag pouch that's easy to re-index a magazine into. If you go and you heat up the center of the Esstac where all the retention is, going to see a lot of that goes away and then it's not going to be forcing itself out at the top and so it's a little bit harder to re-index into. But what it does give you is a little bit less retention, it's a little bit faster to get the magazine out, you're not going to pull your plate carrier up into your chin. So that is something to consider if you are deciding to run your plate carrier cummerbund on top, which is going to increase retention on the two side pouches especially, or if you just want the retention to be a little bit looser so you can reload faster. I will say if you use a metal body magazine, typically the retention is going to be less than polymer.
Although in this case it is still very tight with one of those magazines. Now here's an example load out I have of a plate carrier that I have set up for sort of some DMR long range stuff. I've got radio for whatever comm stuff that I'm doing, Kestrel, Rangefinder, my notebooks, quarterback board, a bag for shooting off of, I can throw this on and have a little bit of everything if I'm on the range getting some precision reps in with a DMR type rifle. I have no magazines on the front because I might be shooting prone and doing stuff, but then if I decide you know what, I want to plus up, I want to have some mags, maybe shooting a specific kind of drill or maybe it's two reload, two reload, two something like that where I'm just working through the motions of my equipment. All I have to do is open up the cover bond, take my placard with magazines, in this case PMAG 20 drop that on the front, I can go ahead and Velcro one side. This is what it's going to look like.
The cummerbund is wrapping nicely on the front of the plate carrier so I don't have magazines tipping outwards. It's super stable to the body if I'm shooting from weird positions. When I do need to retrieve a magazine, it's going to pop right out, although in this case, I have not adjusted the retention on these. It is going to be fairly tight, although actually not too bad with these mags. I will say the 7.62 Placard has less retention than the 5.56, but it's still a little more than I would normally like. So this is where I would take a hairdryer, run over the centers, loosen them up, throw a mag in, make sure it's not collapsing on itself, let it cool, and then I'm good to go. But the magazines are there. I don't have any pull tabs or flaps to deal with.
I can ditch the plate carrier without needing to flip this, do anything crazy. It's just very easy to put on and take off and adjust on the fly as well. Not having to play with the placard every time I want to maybe loosen it because I just finished a drill and I'm breathing heavy. I can just do this and then when I'm ready, I can tighten it. It's just very fast and efficient without having to flip around with a placard and it's very convenient. Another product that this is compatible with is the Sticky GP pouch, which is still the same size just due to the dimensions of it to fit perfectly on the front of either of these placards. So one thing I can do now is I throw this on. I've got it. If I want even more security of my equipment where nothing's going to fall apart, I can take this guy, slap it on the front. That cummerbund's going nowhere. This placard's going nowhere. And now I have a place to stick notebooks, data, whatever I want and I can always remove that. Get out of the plate carrier and I'm set.
If you have any other questions about this particular product and its compatibility with other products on the market, go ahead and email us at [email protected].