Time to review the TMC High Hang Mag panel & pouches, replica of Costa Ludus Costa leg rig.
The original
Costa Leg Rig is a leg panel with fixed pouches featuring two Double Decker TACOs and one pistol mag TACO (between Double Decker TACOs) under this we have Costa Ludus logo, Chris Costa’s company who’s designer of this item. The panel is manufactured by high Speed Gear Inc and is actually sold for 139$ in Multicam and Smoke green.
Review
I’ll skip unboxing as there is no box. It comes on a plastic bag with TMC tag. As said, TMC renamed it to “high hang mag panel & pouches”.
As I advanced on March order post, the interesting thing of TACOs is that almost all mags fit on them due to their design: they use flexible plastic structure and elastic cord.
On these pictures we have a Thunder B shell (first photo of the post), STANAG and PMAGs, MK23 and P226 mags. Secondary mag pouch also accept omnitools or flashlights.
The panel has a symmetrical design, therefore it’s totally ambidextrous.
Differences with the original
TMC rig has some differences with the original. First look reveals lack of Costa Ludus logo and putting our honds on it we’ll see the panel and pouches are Molle. One point to the replica.
This allow us to change the order of TACOs, use them on our molle gear or put different pouches on the panel.
I won’t recommend using TACOs on non-molle 1st lines as they will bounce and move around your belt.
TACOs are strongly attached to the rig except the secondary mag one, mainly because it only owns one molle strap.
Costa leg rig has two vertical straps which goes to the belt and one horizontal strap which goes around our leg. They all three own fast extraction buckles.
Usability
Once we have Costa leg rig equiped the only thing left is learning to use it. Taking mags out is fairly easy, just get your hand on them and pull out. hard part is putting them back. Here’s a picture and explanation of how I do it:
With mag inclined make pressure on plastic tabs to separate them and get the mag a bit inside the pouch, then rotate it til gets vertical and slide it right inside the pouch.
And now comes most important question: will mags keep inside? I’ve put the mags I own on the panel and shook it both upwards and upside down and this is what I saw:
Obviously the heavier mags are, the easier the will fall.
Plastic mags seems to hold on a bit more time until they fall, maybe because of friction.
Bigger mags are more constrained and so they will stay in place better.
Secondary mags (GBB) will fall without effort, I won’t use them on these TACOs. On the other hand, PMAGs (plastic and really lightweight) work great and takes some effort to make them fall.
I also tried jumping, runnign and crawling while wearing it. Pistol mags fell immediately when you run. Pistol TACOs bounce a lot because they are attached to primary mag TACOs only by bungee cord.
Carrying only rifle mags, they didn’t fell out.
And last, as panel accommodates up in your legs it makes mags easily reachable and is very comfortable even when we are sitted.
Conclusion
Here comes the harder part. We have to note that this product is focused on civilian market, specially for trainning courses. Pros are its comfort, accesibility, being molle and (in my case) that primary mags don’t fall out. Cons are that pistol tacos are almost disposable so we lose more than half of its capacity.
Despite of it all, I like the panel and for just 34$ I think it worths a try.
You can get it on:
Shooter CBGear TMC High Hang Costa Leg Rig: 34$
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[kofi]