Airsoft Action - March 2020

KIT & GEAR
NUPROL OPEN MAG POUCHES
A TALE
OF TWO
POUCHES
WITH OPTIONS IN THE RANGE FOR BOTH M4 AND PISTOL, STEVE T SERVES UP A TWO-FOR-ONE
SPECIAL OFFER OF NUPROL’S TASTY LOOKING TACO-STYLE OPEN MAG POUCHES
It was the best of times, it was the worst
of times.” I doubt Charles Dickens was
thinking of Nuprol’s Open Mag Pouches
when he spoke of hope and despair in the
opening to A Tale of Two Cities, but he
may as well have been.
SIMILARITIES
The frames to either side and molle
mounting points are all made of a tough
polymer, while the main panels are a
high-quality rubber compound. The
overall effect is something of a halfway
house between soft fabric pouches and
rigid shells, which should offer the best
of both worlds. While the overall pocket
simply can’t fold, flap or roll down
making it easier for a mag to slip out,
the construction remains flexible enough
to mould to the mag - especially under
pressure - rather than forming a solid chute
for a mag to slide out of like a kid hopped
up on candyfloss at the funfair.
With both retention style pouches
intended to be universal across rifle and
pistol magazines, they’re Molle compatible
and tighten with bungee cord to either
side that squeezes the mag in place. The
fit is adjustable for your mag by pulling the
cord at the bottom, where you’ll also find
drainage grommets. You can also slacken
the cord to release the tension for a larger
mag or freer draw.
Both are available in Black , Olive Drab,
Tan and Grey.
DIFFERENCES
But as in any family, the DNA is just
different enough
that these two are
not identical twins.
The M4 pouch
costs £12.00, is
height adjustable
and also features
mounting points
to the fore, so you
can stack either
further M4 or
pistol magazines
on top. While the
pistol pouch is
£2.00 cheaper and
can be angled fore
and aft to match
the arc of your
arm, you can’t
stack them.
The key
difference is the
way the pouches
mount to your Molle platform. The M4
pouch is fixed to its frame with up to five
screws. Two polymer arms thrust down
through the Molle with enough flex for the
under-over manoeuvre providing added
security, with the only disappointment
being the end tabs that close ever-soslightly
less firmly than we’d like.
The pistol pouch’s mounting system
uses fewer screws/bolts that all too easily
pull the nuts back through the polymer
belt mount either as you tighten it - or
upon impact. After fitting, one pouch even
came off the belt in my hand before I even
made it out of the safe zone...
IN OPERATION
The main benefit of a retention pouch
is that there’s no need for those pesky
bungees over the access hole, which can
only slow down reloads. Even if some
protuberance doesn’t foul on the line on
the way out, I found I still needed to look
down more than I wanted to see what
was going on in my rig, rather than in the
game.
I was pleasantly surprised how my
reloads were instantly smoother and faster
using the Open Pouches. Swapping mags
mid-game takes a fraction of the time and
might just prevent the tide turning when
every second counts.
In terms of security, I’m by no means a
dynamic player, running all over the field
and sliding feet first into cover, but I have
yet to lose a magazine from these pouches
and feel confident they would stand up
to those tests too. As long as your pistol
pouch doesn’t rip free, that is…
M4 pouch recommended, pistol best
avoided. AA
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