Review: Grey Ghost Gear – 5×8 Utility Pouch Horizontal
Apocalypse Josh
This is the third of the Grey Ghost Gear pouches I took rock scrambling and bush-bashing with me not too long ago. I loaded up my belt with a selection of pouches, filled them with a collection of go-to outdoors gear, and set out to spend an afternoon scrambling up and down rock crevices, hiking through eucalyptus forest all the way to the top of scenic Hanging Rock. It wasn’t a hard or long climb, but it was a good opportunity to get out and about.
The GGG Horizontal 5×8 Utility Pouch I tested is designed as an add-on pouch and has numerous applications, such as admin or an E&E pouch. It’s a go-to for a variety of items you might want or need, but aren’t suited to a top-opening magazine type pouch. Vertical storage is good for high density and high capacity storage, but sometimes you’ve got to go horizontal!
It features a loop panel on the outside for the attachment of IFF items or morale patches and has dual zipper pulls. Its horizontal shape allows you to stash either a collection of smaller items, or a couple of longer ones that you want to be able to get at whilst rummaging on the go. I stashed gloves, a shemagh and a head-sock in mine, as winter storms can whip up quickly in rural Victoria in winter and I didn’t want to be caught unprepared. I could have just as easily put snacks, a phone, tools or any number of other things you might put in a pocket, but want in a pouch instead.
The pouch is manufactured from 500 denier Cordura nylon and attaches to any PALS/MOLLE style webbing with the two included new-style leaf-sided MALICE clips. Noise making metal zipper-pulls have been replaced with knotted paracord loops, which give you both a good fast purchase but also keep the noise down. The inverted zippers also aid to keep sand, grit and crud out of your gear. At 8″ wide and 5″ tall, you have quite a large gear storage capacity. You can certainly add a goodly number of things to it, from night-vision scopes to cleaning kits, canteen or mess kits.
The pouch is available in coyote brown, Kryptek Highlander™, and MultiCam. I liked that they offered it in a couple of different patterns, which is an indicator of Grey Ghost Gear’s understanding of the hunting/armed forces divide, catering to a variety needs and situations. It was interesting to see the very large loop-field panel of the front as well, plenty of room for several patches at once. It’s an interesting and potentially useful addition.
The zipper action was as smooth as any I’ve used, and with the dual zippers, getting in to your gear is a breeze. I found they were just big enough for the STANAG-sized MSClean kits so you could probably fit a couple of emergency magazines easily enough as well, but I think the main utility of the Horizontal 5×8 Utility Pouch is that it is possible to use it for a variety of gear. Pick a good place to fix it to your gear, load it up and away you go into the wild.
-AJ
Mad Duo, Breach-Bang& CLEAR!
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About the Author: Josh Orth is a second generation expat currently dwelling in the arguably civilized outskirts of Melbourne, Australia. He’s lived in deserts, jungles and urban sprawls around the world and traveled/adventured into assorted inhospitable places around the world and has a keen sense of the speed with which the trappings of ‘civilized Western life’ can disappear. This has led him to begin writing about his interests and observations when it comes to the gear, skills and other necessities of self reliance of being equipped for whatever a capricious, occasionally indurate life might throw at him. This isn’t by any means to say our eccentric friend truly experiences genuine vorfreude about dystopian life, but if he had to he might not complain. Read more by Josh at Apocalypse Equipped.
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