u/Neptune2284

I haven’t seen many reviews of this carrier outside of the company’s website, so figured I’d post my thoughts here for anyone who runs across it and might be considering picking one up.

Full disclaimer: I am nothing if not two things.

1. A civilian with no military experience or time “downrange”.

2. A broke bitch.

So keep those things in mind going forward. I’m always on the hunt for decent pieces of gear that will do the job for those of us on a budget without breaking the bank or falling apart under use. 

I’ve had this carrier for about five months now. Not a ton of time, but enough to gather first impressions and some general thoughts about it. I wanted something with a bit more flexibility and comfort compared to my WTF PC13, which is a great carrier in its own right, but has its limitations being a more slick design. I stumbled across M-Tac somewhere and picked up the Cuirass kind of on a whim. It seemed to have a lot of the features I wanted, and it was a reasonable price, so I figured why not.

As far as the shopping experience, nothing negative to report really. Shipping took a couple weeks given the fact it's coming from Eastern Europe but no complaints there.

Once it arrived I threw my RMA 1155's in there. They fit without issue, even being on the thicc side. It uses a JPC style cummerbund along with flaps for adjustment, and after playing with the fit for a while I added the necessities (for now) and started using it. For those who care, here's how it's currently set up, though that's changed a couple times and likely will in the near future:

• 2x RMA 1155's
• Krydex 3x AR mag placard with a knockoff elastic 3x mag pouch molle'd onto it for peak assaulter's placard jealousy (because I can't afford the real thing)
• IFAK (Pretty sure it's a condor pouch if memory serves)
• Krydex dangler (can't see it in the pic) + TQ
• TQ pouch + shears

While I've not spent days and days on end wearing it, I've worn it for almost every range trip, easily for a couple hours at a time. I think the longest I had it on for at any given time was about five hours.

Here's my general thoughts:

Pros:

1. This carrier is comfy as hell. I used to run a JPC clone back in the day, as well as the WTF PC13 more recently, and the Cuirass is miles ahead of those in terms of just being nicer to wear. It's got padding where it needs it, the overall geometry fits my body really well, and even with 2 level IV plates, 5 or 6 AR mags, IFAK, and other assorted goodies it carries the weight very well.

2. I'm no seamstress but the stitching seems to be solid. No tears, loose threads, fraying, or other issues even after running it pretty hard on the occasions I get to really put it through its paces.

3. Tons of molle space, and it works great with placards in my experience. Obviously YMMV depending on the exact make and model but so far so good.

4. It's very adjustable for different sized folks. I'm cursed with small shoulders (working on that in the gym) and that's led to issues with other carriers where the shoulder straps are too long and the plate bags are hanging way too low. That's been a non-issue with the Cuirass.

Cons:

1. Probably my only real gripe with this carrier is the shoulder straps, specifically the removable pads. They're chonky as fuck. Great for comfort, less so for getting a proper shoulder pocket weld and positioning a rifle. I'm definitely going to be replacing them with something a bit slimmer.

2. Speaking of the shoulders, it has QD release buckles on the straps as well. Some folks hate those, I don't mind a ton, but they can make it a bit awkward shouldering a carbine.

3. The tubes are Duraflex, not FirstSpear. Frankly that doesn't bother me whatsoever as they do the job just fine, but I know that's a big thing for some people so take it for what its worth.

General thoughts

Overall my complaints about this rig are minimal at best. For the $160 + shipping I think it's a great deal if you're looking for a more overt carrier with some good features. Obviously five months isn't a ton of time for testing purposes, but so far in my experience it's held up well to the use I've put it through.

If anyone's got any questions I'd be happy to answer.