Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
I served as a Marine for five years and had never seen or heard of something called the TAPS rig. I must have barely missed it, and now, more than a decade later, it’s floated into my peripheral vision. When I shopped for a few surplus products, I discovered an entire world of modern surplus gear that I didn’t know existed.
The surplus in mind has always been vintage Vietnam stuff like ALICE gear. Predictably, that’s changed, and now the GWOT has more or less ended, and a lot of GWOT issue gear has entered the surplus market. From what I can tell, the military issues the TAPS and its crossed service boundaries. The USMC and the Army issue TAPS rigs to their troops, and you can find them in coyotes, multicams, and even UCP.
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The most impressive part of this whole rig is the price. On the surplus market, you can purchase the rig for anywhere from 30 to 70 dollars. The price depends on a few factors. Condition is a big one with like new or unissued going for higher. Complete kits with all the parts go for more money. Funny enough, camo pattern matters. The Multicam models tend to be the highest priced, the USMC Coyote is a little cheaper, and the Army’s old UCP is the cheapest. (Understandably, since it’s butt ugly.)
What’s The TAPS Rig
TAPS stands for Tactical Assault Panel System. Don’t let the anti-gunners know we can buy tactical assault textiles without a background check and through the mail! The TAPS rig seems to have been introduced in the 2009ish era, with modern rigs being issued shortly after. Finding an actual year is tough. One of the things the military likes is multipurpose gear.
The military designed the Tactical Assault Panel System to be both a stand-alone chest rig or an attachment to a generation 4 IOTV or USMC Plate carrier. The TAPS comes with straps and parts to make it easily convert into a dedicated placard.
The TAPS seemingly replaced the old fighting load carrier. In 2008, I was issued an M81 camouflage vest covered in MOLLE webbing and had it for my entire enlistment. The TAPS is vastly superior to the old FLC and a more modern option. I didn’t plan to attach it to a plate carrier but wanted a dedicated chest rig.
Why Is The TAPS So Awesome?
We live in an era that’s embraced minimalist setups. The TAPS defies minimalist design and is a full-sized chest rig with enough room for ten 30-round magazines. Up front, we have six single magazine pouches. On the right and far left of the rig, we have two bigger pouches that can hold two 30-round magazines.
These larger pouches are intended to be used for radios but can be repurposed for mags, a small IFAK, and more. Each of these pockets has a soft hook and loop enclosure. They secure your magazines or radio in place. They are fairly short, but they’ll squeeze over most magazines.
On the flip side, the TAPS has three admin pouches. The center pouch is the largest and is sized for things like maps, but you can fit whatever you want. The smaller right side pocket is zippered and the smaller left side pocket has the typical velcro retention.
Building the Rig
My TAPS rig came with all the goodies to attach it to a vest and the necessary straps to wear it as an independent chest rig. It’s also like every rave in the early 2000s. It’s got tons of MOLLE. MOLLE webbing covers the entirety of the vest, which has three rows. You can add a ton of stuff to the chest rig, and there are plenty of surplus pouches out there to decorate this thing on the cheap.
The current meta in the gun world is minimalist chest rigs that might hold four mags and a dump pouch if you’re lucky. That’s not the case here. This is a dedicated infantry fighting rig. It’s designed to hold lots of gear without issue and provide plenty of stuff for the American fighting man.
Performance Checking the TAPS
The TAPS is easy to put together and easy to adjust. There is tons of space for adjustments, and I got mine at the right height and tightness in about five minutes. I loaded the rig down with as many magazines as I could squeeze into the thing and hit the range. I had both a JAKL and a BRN-180 I needed to shoot, so I had the perfect excuse to test the TAPS.
In testing the rifles, I ran numerous drills and shot in multiple positions. There was plenty of reloading involved in varying positions. The first thing I noticed was that the retention flaps kind of suck. They are small and barely wrap around the magazine. The top part of the flap is easy to grip and rip and get out of the way. This provides instant access to the magazine.
The Pouches
The pouches are very generous in size. This makes it easy to put the magazine back in the chest rig. It also ensures the rig can accommodate a multitude of magazines from different manufacturers. Not all AR magazines are the same size. The only ones that give me trouble are the original ETS mags that have the built-in magazine couplers. The magazine pouches are so generous they can fit AK magazines.
The TAPS system holds the magazines quite tight and sits low in pouches. They aren’t going anywhere when you go for a run, get into the prone, or just move and groove. The TAPS holds up well to regular use and does well under abuse.
Downsides
Ten fully loaded magazines hold 300 rounds of ammo. That’s no light load—at least not for a chest rig. That weight helped show a weakness in the chest rig’s straps. They aren’t very comfortable and somewhat awkward. The shoulder straps are wide but have no padding. They are all that comfortable, and the straps in the back are very small and very easily twisted.
A metal buckle sits at the back of the rig. Good luck wearing anything on your back with the rig and not having that buckle dig into your back as you walk. If I had to guess, the military wasn’t exactly too focused on the TAPS being used outside of body armor. They didn’t put a whole lot of effort into the TAPS as a check rig.
As mentioned the hook and loop retention straps are kind of garbage. They’re fine, but shock cords and tabs would be a fair bit better. I’m already making plans to modify the TAPS ever so slightly to produce a more intuitive system.
The TAPS and You
For the price of some Chinese Condor crap, I can have a made-in-America chest rig that’s tough, well-made, and capable of holding up to ten magazines. Heck, it can even hold AK magazines. At a price point of around 50 dollars, you won’t be spending an absurd amount of money, well at least not any more than what you’ve spent in taxpayer dollars for the TAPS originally.
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