BORELLI CONSULTING: Tactical Equipment Reviews

Improvising With Zipties
10 March 2008

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When I first went in the Army everything was held together with ALICE clips. A large improvement came in with the Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment (MOLLE). A number of manufacturers now make a collection of pouches and other equipment that mounts via the MOLLE system. But what happens when you want to mount something to a platform and one or the other isn’t MOLLE compatible? The answer I’ve found works quite often is zip-ties. As simple as it may sound, using these handy plastic strips to custom build your kit isn’t always a simple thing.

Two examples that I can share with you involve:
1) How to mount a knife center torso on your response vest, and
2) How to mount a light on your tactical thigh platform.

1) The Knife On The Vest

The knife mounted center chest is secured to the MOLLE attachment points with four zipties - two on either side.

Although many Chiefs of Police probably would have their blood pressure spike at the thought of one of their special operations officers mounting a fixed blade knife on their response vest, I've seen quite a few such officers with exactly that. They remember that they are warriors first and foremost and they go into situations where controlled violence is sometimes necessary to seize and control circumstances. For all the weapons officers carry, several of which can be used to deliver lethal force, why the presence of a simple knife - which can be used as a pry tool, wedge tool or lethal force weapon - upsets them so much. Perhaps it's because we adult humans have (largely) all been cut at some point growing up and it's an injury / pain we're familiar with. The result if quite a visceral fear that we have to overcome to be practical in our view of this tool.

The other challenge some police agencies face is that they have a majority of officers carrying knives - usually lockblade folders - but the agency has no policy, training or administration governing the blades. Once you get past the primal fear of the blade and you properly manage the training and policy of another tool, the existance of a blade on the spec-ops officer's vest is easy to accept. However, depending on the sheath the knife comes with, mounting it may not be so easy.

Some knives come with MOLLE compatible sheaths. All of these (that I've seen) are nylon sheaths with a hard plastic (or other synthetic material) insert and use a velcro or snap secured strap to hold the blade in. Most of the people I know who want a knife mounted on their vest want it in a more streamlined kydex (or similar) sheath that has a passive retention system which doesn't require unsnapping or pulling open to withdraw the blade. In other words, they want to grip the knife, pull and work. Such synthetic sheaths don't usually have the appropriate straps so that you can quickly and securely mount them to a MOLLE system. Enter the zipties...

Take a close look at the picture (above) to see the zipties that attach that sheath to the vest. Through the use of four zipties and careful placement, the sheath will move neither right nor left nor up or down - not any more than the straps will move. The attachment time took less than two minutes. Once the zipties were pulled the running ends were cut off with wire cutters. The knife is secure and can be easily withdrawn with either hand.

2) The Light On The Thigh Platform

The next challenge I faced was putting a Mod-U-Lok light holster (from BlackHawk) on the front of a thigh platform for a SERPA holster (also BlackHawk). The Mod-U-Lok was designed to go on and off a gun belt (or pants belt) quick and easy. Unfortunately, that doesn't make it easy to mount on a picatinny rail or MOLLE system. In this case I also mounted a knife behind the holster. In the picture shown right you can see the zipties used for mounting the knife and if you look closely the two that were used to mount the light holder.

To mount the face plate of the Mod-U-Lok light holger onto the CQC Thigh platform I started out by cutting off the back portion of the Mod-U-Lok holster. Where the pivot pin goes through the top I just pushed out the pivot pin and then trimmed out the hinge plastic / hole so that the face plate would fit more efficiently onto the platform. That done, two zipties were laced through and tightened down. The running ends were cut off and the light was nicely secured to the platform.

What's my point?

Our military systems have evolved across the years but even with MOLLE as the standard there's not always an easy way to mount what you need, where you need it, the way you want it to be. When the time comes to resolve such a challenge, don't discount the simplicity of zipties. Are they "tactical"? Not hardly. Can they help you configure your "tactical" equipment? Absolutely.

Stay safe!

Don't forget to check out our Recreational Equipment Review about using airsoft "weapons" for fun and training.

This week's Feature Article discussing the problem if today's warriors hesitate to pull the trigger.

For a listing of all reviews in chronological order, GO HERE.

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