My ever lasting journey to get my hands on some new pieces of gear continues on and leads me across a new stem of magazine pouches, the British Tactical HL - HL -Triple MagPI Pouch - Stand Alone which I bought for use with AR pattern magazines.
The MagPI, as I understand, is a patent pending creation coming out of a partnership between British Tactical and Flimmuur Tactical under the branding of Horizon Laminate. They also design and manufacture a number of other pouches and equipment upgrades and accessories especially for the British Virtus system as well as Crye Precision plate carriers. Flimmuur also makes other specialty designs or even the MagPI in the replicated jungle tiger stripe pattern which they are mostly well known for, their partnership with Platatac. All with the use of US, UK, and EU sourced materials. From this point I will refer the British Tactical - HL -Triple MagPI Pouch - Stand Alone as "MagPI" just to make it easy shorter to read.
The first thing that sets the MagPI apart from most other magazine pouches is the use of laser cut laminates which makes for a thin lightweight material to work with that is consistently precision cut and reduces or even rid the use of binding tape, unlike the relatively heavier and bulkier common blend fabrics found on most load bearing equipment or components. Now of course this may depend on the design and how much material is stacked during the assembly process.
Rather than molle on the front, the MagPI has an array of cuts for molle/PALS webbing pouches if the user chooses to add an admin pouch or other pieces of gear up front. Same goes for the field of velcro loop which is also laser cut for molle.
Rather than the usual Velcro that we see many placards use, the MagPI uses a poly-laminate-ish hook & loop, quite reminiscent of the industrial Velcro adhesive hook & loop you may find at the hardware store.
Perhaps the most distinguishing feature is the magazine inserts. Unlike the popular Esstac KYWI kydex magazine inserts or the Haley Strategic MP2 inserts, the MagPI uses a much thinner and lighter thermoplastic material that is squared out C shaped sleeve around the circumference of the magazine rather than a wedge. The insert shape takes things into a new direction because the insert can be tension adjustable without essentially destroying the insert. With the Esstac KYWI, the user would have to either run the pouch for the long term until the tension sets in to a point where it's "just right" or the user applies heat (hair dryer, heat gun, oven...etc) to the KYWI inserts carefully until they get the tension to where they want it if not completely ruining the shape of the inserts. The MagPI can be adjusted for tension by lifting one end of the C shaped insert that is secured by hook & loop, and moving it inwards for a tighter retention or further away for a looser fit whether it's to accommodate a thicker magazine or whatever the reason may be.
It's not confirmed but it could be speculated that the the thermoplastic being used might (or might not) perhaps be Curv thermoplastic, which has been gaining traction in the gear industry as of late. It's interesting that the laminate and velcro were sewn directly onto this sliver thermoplastic thats sewn on the lips of the pouch, likely to give the pouch shape and some rigidity.
Rather than the snap that you get when you index a magazine into a kydex insert, these have more of a mush to them since the insert wraps around the circumference of the magazine. Not a bad thing and not a new sensation either when inserting mags into a pouch (as you would feel when working with something like the G-code Scropions or the HSGI Tacos), but just something to be aware of when compared to kydex inserts.
British Tactical/Flimmuur Tactical advertises this pouch to be lighter than kydex mag pouches while offering the same amount of retention. I have no doubts about the retention since it is adjustable but as for weight comparison I happened to have a tall slick Esstac Daeodon on hand and went ahead and measured the weight on rather crude but usable scale with the following measurements:
Esstac Daeodon (slick, tall): 290 grams
MagPI (complete with optional detachable flaps): 270 grams
MagPI (without flaps): 180 grams
MagPI detachable flaps: 30 grams per flap
The weight difference is quite significant. When the MagPI is configured without the flaps it is nearly four ounces lighter than the Esstac Daeodon, so there is definitley some weight savings that could help users mitigate the issue of weight especially if this was a whole line of pouches rather than just the MagPI. Imagine the potential of weight saved and the good news is that British Tactical has a line of belts that appear to use the same technology and the MagPI is also available for belts too.
The MagPI is also available with optional detachable flaps (they call them "lids" on the site, essentially the same thing) which will be nice for those with specialization in parachuting or just want the additional elemental protection and retention rather than have a completely open top pouch. So far I don't see any real negatives with the MagPI as of yet but time will tell and when this product recieves more exposure to the market. For the price it's not too bad and you are paying the price for the latest tech and materials, designed and made in the UK.
If you are looking to get a British Tactical HL -Triple MagPI Pouch - Stand Alone or any of their other MagPI pouches for use on belt or what have you, they can be found on the British Tactical webstore. A PSA for fellow Americans, I would recommend ordering from them in bulk due to the never-cheap international flat rate shipping.
(Below: British Tactical HL -Triple MagPI Pouch - Stand Alone mounted to a sibling's Defense Mechanisms MEPC)
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