@camocorvette, I've been saving worn pants with blown out crotches for
just this project for a handful of years now. In addition to your use, I think having two of these would cover the round count of most 1-day PRS-ish matches: I hate loading magazines out in the blowing dust, and the cost to buy a bunch of extra mags would be nicely offset by sewing up some bandoliers to organize them instead of buying something ready made. Thank you for the kick in the... pants to actually start this project. I've got teeny tiny little legs, they literally do not make Carhartts short enough for me, and I've been meaning to learn how to sew so that I can hem my own trousers like an adult. This project was going to be my chance to sew up some denim that doesn't have to LOOK good but needs to be rock solid, and get some practice in before I start hemming pants I need to wear to work.
Anyway, on to the nuts and bolts -
AICS magazines DO vary slightly between OEMs, but all I have on hand right now are Magpul 10 rounders. Further complicating my measurements, I only have one old Vietnam-era-ish bandolier to measure and only Magpul 20 Round 5.56 NATO STANAG magazines to measure fit. We'll just admit this is FAR from perfect and work with what's in stock for now:
Magpul 20rd 5.56 vs Magpul Short Action AICS Dimensions:
After working this out, I decided that I would just add 3/4" to the length measurement (as everything else was already REALLY close) to whatever the old bandolier had for cell width and make a first draft.
So, here's what I had in stock for a Vietnam-era-ish M16 Bandolier:
Of note - the Vietnam-era-ish 5.56 NATO Bandolier is a 7 cell, and I made my Draft 1 Short Action AICS Bandolier as a 6 cell. Reason here is that adding 0.75" to the 3.75" gives me a nice even 4.5" cell width for the AICS one, and my aforementioned teeny tiny legs only left room for 6 haha. It also came out VERY close to the total finished length of the 5.56 version, and I thought that was neat. It also would hold three boxes evenly, for whatever that's worth. The strap is just an offcut, no rhyme or reason there, and will be about 4" shorter than the 5.56 version. If I had thought further ahead, I could have EASILY gotten a 31" length somewhere. Oh well, I still have the other leg and a pile of other intact pants for next time. Here's where I left things:
That's where we're at for now. I've gone out and purhcased a Singer 6600C "heavy duty" sewing machine that should sew this up no problem. Will update the thread when I've got Draft 1 all sewn up.
By the way,
@camocorvette, PM me your address and I'll mail this to ya, free of charge, if you'd be willing to test it out and post your feedback. Bonus nachos if you have a dog's lunch of different makes and models of magazines to test for fit/ease of insertion/extraction. I'm nobody, have a normal job, just doing this for fun and to learn a life skill that I needed to know anyway, yesterday. I'd be happy if folks want to take this design and run with it, make modifications, make a commercial product, whatever you'd like - this is posted under a "Make Cool Shit And Post It On The Internet" license haha.
Thanks all. Forums rock. Thanks to the folks who run this one, it's appreciated. Image hosting ain't cheap.
