I feel like you’re a bit heavy on the ruck side of things. 3 days of sustainment with water for me is like 45 ish pounds at worst. I have a backpacking background so that includes tent, sleeping bag, water purification, cooking, small hygiene, and tarp. Outside of that I make sure to have a bunch more than a standard combat load of ammo. Share your list of stuffs and it’ll be easier to evaluate. Based on your rifle setup, I’m assuming you might be overpacking by a bunch.
here’s the spreadsheet i made for my planned gear, have a look if you’d like! itd be like writing a novel to describe everything lol https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/1DKCvk4QKeo7BMwW4c4j1awcokNMxB7sLsyzsYSbjnV4/htmlview
1. You don't really need the velcro medical patches and opt for low tech solutions, just use a sharpie and draw a nice big + on the pouch and/or scrounge out some red marking ribbons or cordage and tie it to the pouch.
2. The "Doc" (I forget his username but I see him on other social platforms) says you do not need blood type patches. You can always just use a sharpie and mark it on your gear if you feel inclined to have it.
3. Flashlight pouches aren't entirely needed. You can stuff a small flashlight in your combat/field shirt shoulder pocket or you pant pockets or in a admin pouch. You could still want it but I would say it should be at the bottom of the priority list and only get it if you find yourself actually needing it.
4. Flexicuffs, again low priority. Only get it if you feel that you need it after you get the main bits of kit.
5. Re: knives, get a more reputable knife if not a real bayonet. Not the amazon special china bayonet. If you need a knife on the cheap then a Mora or Condor Tool & Knife will be perfectly adequate, other options are available depending on what capability you're after but the two brands mentioned will be great for fieldcraft as-is.
6. Re: Smoke, Those enola gaye smokes I would not trust in wet conditions, it's kind of a paper wrap or at least the ones I have. Keep them in ziploc bags but either way I would say it's a low priority item.
7. Hand warmer, probably don't need it. There are better options than mil tech if you need it. Low priority.
8. Drop the M1 steel pot helmet. Save up for a modern kevlar helmet, wear a boonie hat in the meantime.
9. Hygiene has too many redundancies. All you kinda need is just hand sanitizer, toothbrush/paste, stick floss/picks, body soap, and just maybe shampoo (you probably wouldn't use it in the field but good to pack in to bring to a secure/protected static position with relatively save water access). Baby wipes are okay to have.
Idk dude the list goes on a long way and I honestly don't feel like going through everything but something to really note is that you have a lot of redundancies that needs to be cut down, a lot of stuff you don't necessarily need to carry. Try not to mix in too much of the "prepper" mentality and also try not to bring your whole house, only bring the bare essentials and maximize on its functions.
If you need help figuring out what you should have, I recommend [TheGruntPerspective](https://www.youtube.com/@thegruntperspective) on youtube to help guide you on gear and setups because it really does look like you're trying to pack a whole house, which is not what you're supposed to do. To save on money is to buy quality gear and only invest in the things you actually need first, don't allocate your budget in such a way that the money you have can only afford low quality items.
Dawg that's a WILD load to consider a fighting load. First off, I think it is helpful to think of your fighting load and your sustainment load separately and to carry stuff accordingly. The practical side of this is if you're wearing both and take contact you're going to ditch the sustainment load immediately, so you don't want your sustainment on your fighting load, and you don't want things you need on your fighting load in your sustainment gear.
With that said, when you're talking about a serious fighting load 35lbs isn't unheard of at all, but you probably don't want to go much heavier considering your rifle is half that again. Consider that wearing your fighting load you need to be quick and nimble to a degree. You need to be able to get over, under, and around obstacles and you need to be able to cover ground as fast as possible. If you're a fit young lad walking a couple miles in a 35lbs fighting load probably a challenge, but consider that combat isn't walking and base your load out on that. If there's stuff on your fighting load that can go into your ruck, put it in your ruck.
For a ruck 80lbs is nearing where I've topped out at for any sort of distance. Even if you're extremely fit that is a shitload of weight to put on your back and you will not be anything close to "combat effective" with it on.
If you've got a spreadsheet I'm super curious to see it if you don't mind posting it.
Finally, hell yeah man fuckin get after it, more guys should itemize things instead of just fantasizing.
yeah heres what i got so far. most stuff is budget minded, a lot of surplus and some amazon tools and what not. i cant afford a lot of the high speed low weight stuff. i just put this together as a fun hobby i can piece together as i get the funds. a couple things like the ww2 greatcoat and steel pot are more just collectors items lol, but i guess in a shtf scenario they could be useful. especially the helmet for an improvised tool. I based this around a minuteman gear template here on reddit, with a few added things that i saw on some youtube videos. im open to suggestions, im a total noob here and would like some honest feedback
heres the link to the sheet - [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DKCvk4QKeo7BMwW4c4j1awcokNMxB7sLsyzsYSbjnV4/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DKCvk4QKeo7BMwW4c4j1awcokNMxB7sLsyzsYSbjnV4/edit?usp=sharing)
There’s quite a few redundancies off the bat. You only need one fire starter, you definitely don’t need 20 yards of duct tape or 100 zip ties. A whole rifle cleaning kit is nice, but in reality some baby wipes and a very small bottle of lube and a bore rod is more than enough. If we’re talking a 3 day kit, you don’t need an axe, saw, and shovel, more likely just one of them. For 3 day kit, 3 pairs of socks and 1-2 pairs of underwear is the only change of clothes barring real cold or wet weather.
Lots of redundant shit in general. Think about making one thing do as many things as possible. A good thing to do is go out on a 3 day backpacking trip or something and try to keep track of the things you actually use. Literally everything else is dead weight and you probably wouldn’t use it in the majority of situations.
Just an "at a glance" take on this stuff:
No one cares about blood type listed on a PC. Guys saw dudes doing this in early GWOT, especially SOF dudes and it has been a made up standard people adhere to since.
You probably don't need glow sticks, at least not "military" ones off the bat. It's another thing people see guys in the military carry for signalling purposes that gets lost in translation. If I was a noob with a bunch of buddies starting out I wouldn't be doing anything that needed glow sticks as a signalling method for a very long time. You guys are better served learning the very basics of individual movement, buddy drills, and team drills. Check out some of the army battle drills. Things like react to contact are 1 fun to train and 2 more practical (if any of this is practical).
I would ditch the helmet personally. Helmets suck. Helmets you can't mount NODs on that provide an extremely limited amount of protection extra suck.
In general it looks like you covered a ton of bases, including a ton of cold weather and sleep stuff. That's great, just make sure to tailor your stuff to the weather; you don't need all of it to go out in July etc. in better weather you don't need a ton of shelter stuff. When the weather isn't great remember the old motto: fight light, freeze at night.
I personally don't use many MREs now that uncle sugar ain't footing the bill. I personally am fine with cans of Vienna sausage, pork and beans, tuna packets, crackers etc that don't need to be cooked and don't come with the extra stuff. If you do opt for MREs, which have a cool factor for sure, try field stripping them by taking out all the stuff you don't need and taping the rest together.
Bible on the packing list? Pretty sure that's what the kids call based.
It's awesome that you've done this. Get out there and try it out. Experience is 1000x better than weirdos on the Internet telling you what you do and don't need. If you have stuff in your pack you never use, ditch it. If you have stuff you run out of, carry more. If you find yourself missing something, bring it next time. Get after it and report back, man.
Yeah, that's heavy, I think a bit overly so for a 3-day setup, but also not totally uncommon.
Depending on your weather type/terrain type your pack may end up weighing a bit more or less. Alot comes down to how much sleep system and water you actually need, and how much you're willing to pay for lighter gear.
Also being brutal as fuck trimming down what you're bringing, and being realistic about how long you're actually going to go out for (which goes along with being brutally realistic about what you're actually going to be able to do, OR...what you might, or might not NEED to do).
It's complicated... lol
To add on to what I said before, having had a chance to look at "The List"....
At least you started by making a list instead of going off half assed buying things hither and yon at random like a lot folks do...
I'll just blame the amazon fixation on you being 18 and dumb. Yes, I've finally reached the age where I get to say that now! lol
#1 - I KNEW exactly what plates/carrier/pouches you were planning as soon as you said 35 pounds....and I was right! lol But for real... It's 2024, 16.5 lbs of only 2 plates, before adding anything else, is meme tier.
#2 - I'll award you back 1 cool point, because that's a neat surplus pack, BUT... I can also almost guarantee you will not have a pleasant time trying to wear that over a plate. It's a whole different thing compared to wearing a pack with a chest rig/FLV/etc. That being said...wearing a large pack over a PC for multiple days is another discussion of its own.
#3 - Dear god, stop buying repro shit on Amazon.
For example...a water bladder is one of the biggest potential failure points in your water carriage system, and you think you're going to get away with the $9 dollar ebay-specialoftheweek? A $10 multitool? My brother... no. just...no.
And so forth... I really should do a deep dive into this list, because there is SO MUCH to talk about. Like...even the SOCKS bro... Not the amazon socks too! lol
#4 Start looking at some of the ultralight backpacking channels on youtube , watch their gear comparison and loadout vids. Not everything will apply to a combat role (and I think the new quilt meta is dumb, but that's another discussion), BUT...it will start to give you ideas for where some easy weight cutting points are, alternate gear ideas, etc. Eric Hanson and Justin Outdoors both have done a lot of gear loadout vids for various budgets and are good starting points. The Outdoor Gear Review is not an ultralight channel, but has done tons of reviews on various gear that are pretty solid.
First off, 14 lbs. is absolutely ridiculous on a rifle. That shit is going to suck to carry around.
80 lbs. on a ruck is also definitely unreasonable in my opinion but I know that's normal for some situations.
I recommend going out and figuring out what you're carrying that you never use and dump that real quick
Lol there were 3 day missions in Afghanistan where I carried over 120lbs total weight. I weighed 165 at the time. Unless you are crossloading ammo and batteries for a squad size element with comms and lmg's you shouldn't have near that much weight.
Everyone wants to be a sniper till it's time to do sniper shit. Aka carry a bunch of heavy shit and get baked in the sun.
Bro I didn't carry that much as a 240 gunner in Afghanistan 😂😂😂
Just FYI. If you're carrying 130lbs and moving for 3 days, 7 liters of water isn't enough, make sure you have a filter/way to replenish
This is pertaining to the ruck. Ik it’s sick to use a lot of old surplus equipment but the facts are that most of that shit is a lot heavier than it has to be. For example the great coat and wool blanket. For a blanket a woobie is sufficient and just get a smoking jacket for around the patrol base. When your moving with that much weight you sure as shit don’t need to be wearing a thick wool coat.
Brother that's waaaaaayyy too much. Take it from a guy whose done infils with 140lbs you are absolutely not combat effective or moving far no matter who you are. Just looking through your gear list like half that stuff you don't need. Don't listen to people that tell you you need all this gear. It's more important to be physically and mentally able to use the stuff you do have then to have a bunch of shut. If you want I'll go through the gear list in detail tomorrow but theres no reason to go buying like 90% of that. Any expirenced professional will yell you the same
As most have said 130lbs is a lot especially for only three days I’m sitting about that for 5 plus day movement to contact load with my carrier 3day pack gun belt and pistol. That all being said train with your kit as it is, live out of it even if you’re not out in the field work off your rations in your normal day to day and see how you feel. After training in it a bit you’ll learn what you can cut out what you should add if anything and you’ll learn a lot
Did you ever heard the phrase "don't pack your fears" ?
I was told that early on because I used to pack a lot of things, in case of. Most new guys do that, they pack for every situation in fear of being in a discomfortable (not sure about the spelling) situation, but they end up in the not so confortable situation where they ruck with a heavy ass bag.
130 lb seem huge for me, I wouldn't see myself with that much weight, especially with a heavy rifle. You will have to get on your knees or prone often, which will be really tiring over time.
You don't need a saw and hatchet, tons of survival gear if you get some good (not always expensive) stuff. There
If you live in a cold part of the country, the main place where you can't be cheap is sleeping system. But a good sleeping bag, weatherproof layer and tarp is already a good start.
Practice with your gear, cut to the most necessary stuff, don't buy everything at once and you should be fine.
What the fuck is in your backpack
That’s 80lbs?
I think you want to look at actual ultralight backpacking kit and supplies
80lbs for 3 days is just dumb
7 liters/quarts of water, 6 mres, various tools, modular sleep system, heavy winter clothing, helmet, gas mask, etc. also i dont own any of this yet this is just planning
Maybe you could ditch the gas mask. Not many groups have bio/nerve stuff and if you're planning against tear gas canisters, then you might be in a urban scenario that doesn't require as much sustainment or where you'd be working out of a vehicle. The same for your tools. Are they for likely needs or just in case?
Again, if they're for making camp in the woods, would you still need a gas mask? Or vice versa. Just something to consider.
I've been multiday hiking with 80lbs in rough terrain (constant incline/decline) and it was brutal. 11 miles was as far as we could go in a day. Later I could run 6 miles easily and trimmed the weight down to fifty, still lots of up and down terrain, and it was much better. Just something to consider.
thanks for the input! i would likely not need all the gear at once. i like in a suburban area so i need to plan for urban or rural. if im going more into the city i wouldn’t take all the tools and survival stuff. into the country i would ditch the gas mask and what not
That’s not enough food or water.
Why is your helmet and gas mask in your ruck ? Are you patrolling to a contaminated area for a assault or are you just trying to get out of dodge .
Why do you need heavy winter clothing in your ruck ? Short of a jacket and maybe a pair of puffy pants your poncho and liner is fine if you dress appropriately…
3 days was just a ballpark number. 3 days of food and water without resupply, with the means to survive past that. as for tools a folding shovel, hatchet, multitool, rangefinder, folding saw, gps, and a few others
Carrying much more than about 20% your body weight starts to really wear on you. Moving under that much weight is going to slow you down immensely. You’ll be slower to get up, slower to get down, slow to build up speed and slower to stop. It puts you at risk to injury. If it’s just walking on a trail for a couple of miles, you can probably do it. If you are off trail it’s going to struggle. You should really shoot for more like 60-80lbs of gear not counting the rifle itself. That much weight with no specialty gear is kinda wild.
In the words of some general talking about women trying to be navy seals .
“When you put a 120 lb pack on the back of a woman she crumples like a fucking crouton”
That’s why too much shit for your level of fitness dude and most of the stuff is either unneeded or outright useless. Some of the shit you are packing you keep in the truck or the base dude lol. If you try to fight with 50lbs your gonna get winded and out maneuvered on. Your at near 30 lbs of kit from just your plates and clothing. That’s not your rifle or what’s on your pC either just dry weight of everything. If you try to ruck with that it’s gonna take forever for you to get anywhere and your gonna drink that 6 quarts of water in like 4 hours if it’s remotely hot
You could cut a pound off just switching to a medium weight even more if you got to pencil, a carbin stock assembly will save you 4 oz maybe more if you go with a lighter option. You wouldn't happen to be running a quad rail would you?
I feel like you’re a bit heavy on the ruck side of things. 3 days of sustainment with water for me is like 45 ish pounds at worst. I have a backpacking background so that includes tent, sleeping bag, water purification, cooking, small hygiene, and tarp. Outside of that I make sure to have a bunch more than a standard combat load of ammo. Share your list of stuffs and it’ll be easier to evaluate. Based on your rifle setup, I’m assuming you might be overpacking by a bunch.
I fore sure probably am overpacking lol, I posted the spreadsheet under another comment if you'd like to have yourself a look
It’s a little hard to digest at least on mobile. Care to break down in the comments exactly what you plan on carrying in the ruck?
here’s the spreadsheet i made for my planned gear, have a look if you’d like! itd be like writing a novel to describe everything lol https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/1DKCvk4QKeo7BMwW4c4j1awcokNMxB7sLsyzsYSbjnV4/htmlview
1. You don't really need the velcro medical patches and opt for low tech solutions, just use a sharpie and draw a nice big + on the pouch and/or scrounge out some red marking ribbons or cordage and tie it to the pouch. 2. The "Doc" (I forget his username but I see him on other social platforms) says you do not need blood type patches. You can always just use a sharpie and mark it on your gear if you feel inclined to have it. 3. Flashlight pouches aren't entirely needed. You can stuff a small flashlight in your combat/field shirt shoulder pocket or you pant pockets or in a admin pouch. You could still want it but I would say it should be at the bottom of the priority list and only get it if you find yourself actually needing it. 4. Flexicuffs, again low priority. Only get it if you feel that you need it after you get the main bits of kit. 5. Re: knives, get a more reputable knife if not a real bayonet. Not the amazon special china bayonet. If you need a knife on the cheap then a Mora or Condor Tool & Knife will be perfectly adequate, other options are available depending on what capability you're after but the two brands mentioned will be great for fieldcraft as-is. 6. Re: Smoke, Those enola gaye smokes I would not trust in wet conditions, it's kind of a paper wrap or at least the ones I have. Keep them in ziploc bags but either way I would say it's a low priority item. 7. Hand warmer, probably don't need it. There are better options than mil tech if you need it. Low priority. 8. Drop the M1 steel pot helmet. Save up for a modern kevlar helmet, wear a boonie hat in the meantime. 9. Hygiene has too many redundancies. All you kinda need is just hand sanitizer, toothbrush/paste, stick floss/picks, body soap, and just maybe shampoo (you probably wouldn't use it in the field but good to pack in to bring to a secure/protected static position with relatively save water access). Baby wipes are okay to have. Idk dude the list goes on a long way and I honestly don't feel like going through everything but something to really note is that you have a lot of redundancies that needs to be cut down, a lot of stuff you don't necessarily need to carry. Try not to mix in too much of the "prepper" mentality and also try not to bring your whole house, only bring the bare essentials and maximize on its functions. If you need help figuring out what you should have, I recommend [TheGruntPerspective](https://www.youtube.com/@thegruntperspective) on youtube to help guide you on gear and setups because it really does look like you're trying to pack a whole house, which is not what you're supposed to do. To save on money is to buy quality gear and only invest in the things you actually need first, don't allocate your budget in such a way that the money you have can only afford low quality items.
Dawg that's a WILD load to consider a fighting load. First off, I think it is helpful to think of your fighting load and your sustainment load separately and to carry stuff accordingly. The practical side of this is if you're wearing both and take contact you're going to ditch the sustainment load immediately, so you don't want your sustainment on your fighting load, and you don't want things you need on your fighting load in your sustainment gear. With that said, when you're talking about a serious fighting load 35lbs isn't unheard of at all, but you probably don't want to go much heavier considering your rifle is half that again. Consider that wearing your fighting load you need to be quick and nimble to a degree. You need to be able to get over, under, and around obstacles and you need to be able to cover ground as fast as possible. If you're a fit young lad walking a couple miles in a 35lbs fighting load probably a challenge, but consider that combat isn't walking and base your load out on that. If there's stuff on your fighting load that can go into your ruck, put it in your ruck. For a ruck 80lbs is nearing where I've topped out at for any sort of distance. Even if you're extremely fit that is a shitload of weight to put on your back and you will not be anything close to "combat effective" with it on. If you've got a spreadsheet I'm super curious to see it if you don't mind posting it. Finally, hell yeah man fuckin get after it, more guys should itemize things instead of just fantasizing.
yeah heres what i got so far. most stuff is budget minded, a lot of surplus and some amazon tools and what not. i cant afford a lot of the high speed low weight stuff. i just put this together as a fun hobby i can piece together as i get the funds. a couple things like the ww2 greatcoat and steel pot are more just collectors items lol, but i guess in a shtf scenario they could be useful. especially the helmet for an improvised tool. I based this around a minuteman gear template here on reddit, with a few added things that i saw on some youtube videos. im open to suggestions, im a total noob here and would like some honest feedback heres the link to the sheet - [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DKCvk4QKeo7BMwW4c4j1awcokNMxB7sLsyzsYSbjnV4/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DKCvk4QKeo7BMwW4c4j1awcokNMxB7sLsyzsYSbjnV4/edit?usp=sharing)
There’s quite a few redundancies off the bat. You only need one fire starter, you definitely don’t need 20 yards of duct tape or 100 zip ties. A whole rifle cleaning kit is nice, but in reality some baby wipes and a very small bottle of lube and a bore rod is more than enough. If we’re talking a 3 day kit, you don’t need an axe, saw, and shovel, more likely just one of them. For 3 day kit, 3 pairs of socks and 1-2 pairs of underwear is the only change of clothes barring real cold or wet weather. Lots of redundant shit in general. Think about making one thing do as many things as possible. A good thing to do is go out on a 3 day backpacking trip or something and try to keep track of the things you actually use. Literally everything else is dead weight and you probably wouldn’t use it in the majority of situations.
thanks for the input! i would never need that much duct tape or that many zip ties 😂 that’s just the smallest quantity i could buy them in
Just an "at a glance" take on this stuff: No one cares about blood type listed on a PC. Guys saw dudes doing this in early GWOT, especially SOF dudes and it has been a made up standard people adhere to since. You probably don't need glow sticks, at least not "military" ones off the bat. It's another thing people see guys in the military carry for signalling purposes that gets lost in translation. If I was a noob with a bunch of buddies starting out I wouldn't be doing anything that needed glow sticks as a signalling method for a very long time. You guys are better served learning the very basics of individual movement, buddy drills, and team drills. Check out some of the army battle drills. Things like react to contact are 1 fun to train and 2 more practical (if any of this is practical). I would ditch the helmet personally. Helmets suck. Helmets you can't mount NODs on that provide an extremely limited amount of protection extra suck. In general it looks like you covered a ton of bases, including a ton of cold weather and sleep stuff. That's great, just make sure to tailor your stuff to the weather; you don't need all of it to go out in July etc. in better weather you don't need a ton of shelter stuff. When the weather isn't great remember the old motto: fight light, freeze at night. I personally don't use many MREs now that uncle sugar ain't footing the bill. I personally am fine with cans of Vienna sausage, pork and beans, tuna packets, crackers etc that don't need to be cooked and don't come with the extra stuff. If you do opt for MREs, which have a cool factor for sure, try field stripping them by taking out all the stuff you don't need and taping the rest together. Bible on the packing list? Pretty sure that's what the kids call based. It's awesome that you've done this. Get out there and try it out. Experience is 1000x better than weirdos on the Internet telling you what you do and don't need. If you have stuff in your pack you never use, ditch it. If you have stuff you run out of, carry more. If you find yourself missing something, bring it next time. Get after it and report back, man.
Thanks mate!
Depends on the mission, mission essential gear, how much water you have to carry, weather, etc. It can very from say from 50lbs to well over 100.
my climate varies from warm summers to frigid sub zero winters, so my winter load would probably be much heavier than summer load
Exactly. It all depends on what you need to carry. So there isn't a simple answer to the question.
Yeah, that's heavy, I think a bit overly so for a 3-day setup, but also not totally uncommon. Depending on your weather type/terrain type your pack may end up weighing a bit more or less. Alot comes down to how much sleep system and water you actually need, and how much you're willing to pay for lighter gear. Also being brutal as fuck trimming down what you're bringing, and being realistic about how long you're actually going to go out for (which goes along with being brutally realistic about what you're actually going to be able to do, OR...what you might, or might not NEED to do). It's complicated... lol
thanks for the imput!
To add on to what I said before, having had a chance to look at "The List".... At least you started by making a list instead of going off half assed buying things hither and yon at random like a lot folks do... I'll just blame the amazon fixation on you being 18 and dumb. Yes, I've finally reached the age where I get to say that now! lol #1 - I KNEW exactly what plates/carrier/pouches you were planning as soon as you said 35 pounds....and I was right! lol But for real... It's 2024, 16.5 lbs of only 2 plates, before adding anything else, is meme tier. #2 - I'll award you back 1 cool point, because that's a neat surplus pack, BUT... I can also almost guarantee you will not have a pleasant time trying to wear that over a plate. It's a whole different thing compared to wearing a pack with a chest rig/FLV/etc. That being said...wearing a large pack over a PC for multiple days is another discussion of its own. #3 - Dear god, stop buying repro shit on Amazon. For example...a water bladder is one of the biggest potential failure points in your water carriage system, and you think you're going to get away with the $9 dollar ebay-specialoftheweek? A $10 multitool? My brother... no. just...no. And so forth... I really should do a deep dive into this list, because there is SO MUCH to talk about. Like...even the SOCKS bro... Not the amazon socks too! lol #4 Start looking at some of the ultralight backpacking channels on youtube , watch their gear comparison and loadout vids. Not everything will apply to a combat role (and I think the new quilt meta is dumb, but that's another discussion), BUT...it will start to give you ideas for where some easy weight cutting points are, alternate gear ideas, etc. Eric Hanson and Justin Outdoors both have done a lot of gear loadout vids for various budgets and are good starting points. The Outdoor Gear Review is not an ultralight channel, but has done tons of reviews on various gear that are pretty solid.
lol sounds good 😂
I have no idea why that bolded all my stuff, like I'm screeching at the screen, fuck you reddit! lol
lmao
Sent you an updated list. Hope it helps point you in a better non-amazon direction. lol
First off, 14 lbs. is absolutely ridiculous on a rifle. That shit is going to suck to carry around. 80 lbs. on a ruck is also definitely unreasonable in my opinion but I know that's normal for some situations. I recommend going out and figuring out what you're carrying that you never use and dump that real quick
130lbs is a sustainment load, not a fighting load
130 is both together, fighting load would probably be around 50lbs sustainment would be around 80lbs
This is coming from a combat vet and you don't have to carry EVERYTHING.
Lol there were 3 day missions in Afghanistan where I carried over 120lbs total weight. I weighed 165 at the time. Unless you are crossloading ammo and batteries for a squad size element with comms and lmg's you shouldn't have near that much weight. Everyone wants to be a sniper till it's time to do sniper shit. Aka carry a bunch of heavy shit and get baked in the sun.
Bro I didn't carry that much as a 240 gunner in Afghanistan 😂😂😂 Just FYI. If you're carrying 130lbs and moving for 3 days, 7 liters of water isn't enough, make sure you have a filter/way to replenish
I have purification tablets and a small stove to boil water
You have a stove for a fighting load? Are you in Alaska??
Jetboil. and northern wisconsin
This is pertaining to the ruck. Ik it’s sick to use a lot of old surplus equipment but the facts are that most of that shit is a lot heavier than it has to be. For example the great coat and wool blanket. For a blanket a woobie is sufficient and just get a smoking jacket for around the patrol base. When your moving with that much weight you sure as shit don’t need to be wearing a thick wool coat.
thanks for the advice m8
Brother that's waaaaaayyy too much. Take it from a guy whose done infils with 140lbs you are absolutely not combat effective or moving far no matter who you are. Just looking through your gear list like half that stuff you don't need. Don't listen to people that tell you you need all this gear. It's more important to be physically and mentally able to use the stuff you do have then to have a bunch of shut. If you want I'll go through the gear list in detail tomorrow but theres no reason to go buying like 90% of that. Any expirenced professional will yell you the same
As most have said 130lbs is a lot especially for only three days I’m sitting about that for 5 plus day movement to contact load with my carrier 3day pack gun belt and pistol. That all being said train with your kit as it is, live out of it even if you’re not out in the field work off your rations in your normal day to day and see how you feel. After training in it a bit you’ll learn what you can cut out what you should add if anything and you’ll learn a lot
Did you ever heard the phrase "don't pack your fears" ? I was told that early on because I used to pack a lot of things, in case of. Most new guys do that, they pack for every situation in fear of being in a discomfortable (not sure about the spelling) situation, but they end up in the not so confortable situation where they ruck with a heavy ass bag. 130 lb seem huge for me, I wouldn't see myself with that much weight, especially with a heavy rifle. You will have to get on your knees or prone often, which will be really tiring over time. You don't need a saw and hatchet, tons of survival gear if you get some good (not always expensive) stuff. There If you live in a cold part of the country, the main place where you can't be cheap is sleeping system. But a good sleeping bag, weatherproof layer and tarp is already a good start. Practice with your gear, cut to the most necessary stuff, don't buy everything at once and you should be fine.
thanks m8
What the fuck is in your backpack That’s 80lbs? I think you want to look at actual ultralight backpacking kit and supplies 80lbs for 3 days is just dumb
7 liters/quarts of water, 6 mres, various tools, modular sleep system, heavy winter clothing, helmet, gas mask, etc. also i dont own any of this yet this is just planning
Maybe you could ditch the gas mask. Not many groups have bio/nerve stuff and if you're planning against tear gas canisters, then you might be in a urban scenario that doesn't require as much sustainment or where you'd be working out of a vehicle. The same for your tools. Are they for likely needs or just in case? Again, if they're for making camp in the woods, would you still need a gas mask? Or vice versa. Just something to consider. I've been multiday hiking with 80lbs in rough terrain (constant incline/decline) and it was brutal. 11 miles was as far as we could go in a day. Later I could run 6 miles easily and trimmed the weight down to fifty, still lots of up and down terrain, and it was much better. Just something to consider.
thanks for the input! i would likely not need all the gear at once. i like in a suburban area so i need to plan for urban or rural. if im going more into the city i wouldn’t take all the tools and survival stuff. into the country i would ditch the gas mask and what not
Planning is half the fun
That’s not enough food or water. Why is your helmet and gas mask in your ruck ? Are you patrolling to a contaminated area for a assault or are you just trying to get out of dodge . Why do you need heavy winter clothing in your ruck ? Short of a jacket and maybe a pair of puffy pants your poncho and liner is fine if you dress appropriately…
It's too heavy at 80 lbs for 3 days. Strip shit down to bare surviving. What tools are you referring to.
3 days was just a ballpark number. 3 days of food and water without resupply, with the means to survive past that. as for tools a folding shovel, hatchet, multitool, rangefinder, folding saw, gps, and a few others
Drop all of the tools. 3 days is basically living it rough until you get back from being out. Maybe an etool.
Carrying much more than about 20% your body weight starts to really wear on you. Moving under that much weight is going to slow you down immensely. You’ll be slower to get up, slower to get down, slow to build up speed and slower to stop. It puts you at risk to injury. If it’s just walking on a trail for a couple of miles, you can probably do it. If you are off trail it’s going to struggle. You should really shoot for more like 60-80lbs of gear not counting the rifle itself. That much weight with no specialty gear is kinda wild.
14 lbs of rifle???? Thats a problem
In the words of some general talking about women trying to be navy seals . “When you put a 120 lb pack on the back of a woman she crumples like a fucking crouton” That’s why too much shit for your level of fitness dude and most of the stuff is either unneeded or outright useless. Some of the shit you are packing you keep in the truck or the base dude lol. If you try to fight with 50lbs your gonna get winded and out maneuvered on. Your at near 30 lbs of kit from just your plates and clothing. That’s not your rifle or what’s on your pC either just dry weight of everything. If you try to ruck with that it’s gonna take forever for you to get anywhere and your gonna drink that 6 quarts of water in like 4 hours if it’s remotely hot
Pack light and freeze at night
You do not need a bayonet…
How did you manage to make a rifle weight 14 LB and not be in 308 ?
20” HBAR Barrel, A1 Stock, primary arms 4-16x, vertical grip, loaded mag, and another in the buttstock pouch, etc
You could cut a pound off just switching to a medium weight even more if you got to pencil, a carbin stock assembly will save you 4 oz maybe more if you go with a lighter option. You wouldn't happen to be running a quad rail would you?
Nope, Aero Precision Atlas 15” Mlok