British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

[bravotwozero]

British Army personal load carrying equipment, (PLCE) Webbing.

I'm going to be reviewing the official, (nearly all official), webbing system of the British Army.

I'll be showing you how to attatch pouches, what to put inside, and how to make the most of the webbing system .

Now, a few of of the forum members are either serving in the forces, or ex-forces.

So those of you in the know, forgive me if I cock up somewhere along the line!

Would like the forces guys to add their input too, especially you, Guard

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About PLCE Webbing....

Firstly, webbing is desiged to carry everything you need.

In the real world, webbing will be your lifeline. Water, food and ammo. It's all there.

In the Army, there's a reall emphasis of keeping your webbing on at all times during excersice, I think to reinforce the idea that webbing has everything you'll need. If you don't have webbing, you won't be able to fight.

Webbing is very versatile, despite being a simple concept.

There are three main orders of dress:

• Assault order

Assault order consists of the very basics. Some food, water and ammuniton.

Only intended for short durations, maybe less than 24 hours.

• Combat order

Combat order is intended for 24 hours. More pouches will be needed to hold a full ration pack, tools, entrenching tool, ect.

• Marching order

Marching order. Everything you'll need to survive and fight effectively for long durations, possible weeks, without being re-supplied. This means full bergen, day sacks, and a full set of webbing.

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[LEFT]

Ok the webbing....

This is my set.

Note, the two middle pouches is made by Webtex, more about them later...

Comfort.

A fully loaded set of webbing will be heavy, but it's surprisingly comfortable to wear.

As you can see, it does look abit messy with everything attatched:



But you can get 'hippo pads' which clip around the belt to provide a padded layer between the buckles and you.

How they attatch...

There are three attatchments between the belt and pouch.

A normal loop, and stud buckle, and a fork system:









The pouches...

Magazine pouches.

Design to fit 3 SA80 magazines, but this will easily accomadate 3 mp5 magazines. The pouches come in double sets, so that means 6 mags.





However Six magazines is alot, so make use of the other pouches...

Great for speed loaders.



Mess tin pouches.

Keep your mess tins and meals in here

Big enough for two, with room for a fork.



Utility pouches...

Keep your tools in here, spare batteries & ammo.

Keep anything els you need in here, will also fit a pistol.





Canteen pouch

Slightly thinner than the utility pouch, designed to fit the 95 canteen & mug.

Also has a pocket for a hexi stove, but use it for whatever you might need it for...







The yoke..



Very thick. And very comfortable! Good stuff, it.

Also, has a loop for radios , grenades, ect.

As you can see, it's very heavy duty.




The fastenings.

The standard fastenings are extremely tough.

Some people use them differently, but this is the way I was tought to use them...



The webtex buckle on the other hand, is pretty standard.

It's good enough, and quicker to open and close.





The webtex pouches.

Disapointing really.

But they are cheap. About half the cost of the real deal stuff.

You can see where they cut corners :



The webtex clearly isn't as strong. Genuine has re-enforced seems where as webtex have stuck with stitching. But it's good enough..


Well that's it!

Awsome piece of kit. Real deal. Perfect for a weekender or any milsim event!

Abit pricey new though. A new set will cost over £120.

But don't be put off by second hand webbing. Look's awuful on the internet, but it's fine. Just try and get grade one stuff.

But if you're adament on new kit, but on a budget, consider the webtex alternatiative.











Mess tin pouch.

[bravotwozero]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

For some better pics;

http://zeroin.co.uk/album.php?albumid=218

[jordan245]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

hippo pad for a bit more comfort

get some bunggies and thread them through the green tabs on the slide of your utility, water poutches etc but not the ammo ones, make sure its tight enough to stop things rattaling about in there but loose enough so you can still get things in there, also a few utility staps work well for that instead.

make sure its all tight enough so you can jump and run around so that theres no bouncing of the webbing as well

lose straps, get electrical tape and tape them up, leave some room in the front straps so you can adjust those.

[madwelshman]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

good little guide there fella! nice work!

may I add a little something?



grab yourself a "utility strap" which is basically a strap with a ladder gate on it, feed it through the loops along the bottom of the pouches (I highlighted some of them but got bored, feed through all of them ) then lock the ends together, stops all the pouches bounching off your bum when you run!

Squaddies tend to loop a bungie through the loop tabs on the sides of the pouches, you can see the loop on the left hand pouch in this pic,



its only small, 1 inch big half way down. This too, stops them bounching, and stops loose stuff rattling, but can be a mare getting stuff out of them in a hurry, so only really used on the water bottle an utility pouches, not mag pouches! easy to get out, but try getting an empty mag back in!!! arrgh! lol


RIGHT, THATS IT!!!!!! I'm learning to type faster!!!!! lmao!!!!

[bravotwozero]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

Cheers for that advice.

Just did a little run wearing it, and yeah, looks like im going to have to secure the pouches with some bungee!

I was wondering what those tags were for. I've seen real deal speed loaders put in the loops, but didn't realise the bungee was put through them.

Will find some bungee and a utility strap, maybe a hip pad too

Thanks.

[Black Bull]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

Great Review Owain!
glad to see you have moved on from the Saav to the legendary PLCE

[madwelshman]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

seriously matey, I used to carry 40+ lbs on my plce, you dont need a hip pad, leave them for the RLC and SPS (Special pen Service!)

All you need is a utility strap, holds them all together nicely! will cost you £4 max! probably a quid at a decent surpus store!

(even civi versions will work fine, all it is is 1" webbing, with a ladder lock buckle, like this!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-METRE-UTILIT...d=p3286.c0.m14

2m long, plenty long enough, issue ones are 1m ish, iir

[sniperiain]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

must say excellent review. brill job.
i have PLCE webbin and i must say its awful for airsofting, unless you strip it down to the basic components.
i had it full y kited, bit like owains, and i had, 9 mags, spread out. a bottle of beebs, a speedloader, another m4 style speedloader, a few hats, which i didnt need, and thats abou it.
i didnt even need to take the beebs out cos i had enough in the speed loaders. thats the reason i think its, slightly unuseful.
carrying full kit, lunch and allsorts around is a bit silly as you usually stop for lunch.
id like to know what people carry in their webbing
thanks iain

[bravotwozero]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

Very good point you made there.

I myself only bought this because I WAS going on a weekender tonigh and I've got a 30 hour event in sept, so this will be perfect for that.

On a normal day skirmish I can understand how useless this would be, all those pouches would be unecessery.... Unless you're trying for a British infantry loadout ofcourse.

One tip, if you're going for an infanty loadout, but just doing the normal skirmish, fill the pouches with newspaper or bubblewrap if you've got empty space, make them look fuller.

[Black Bull]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

i find it an awesome bit of equipment as i dont like vests as they get in your way whereas the PLCE has everything to hand and you can go prone and have easy access to everything

i am going to cut my rig down to just the ammo pouches though to be extra light
layout

first ammo pouch
2 FAL Mags
second ammo pouch
Bottle of BB's
third ammo pouch
Pyros
fourth ammo pouch
bottle of water

maps/radios to go in my smock

[beechey]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

i do like this:
1st get your hands on two sets of grade 1 plce
2nd set one with everything you need for an endurance airsoft event
3rd set the other one up for quick little skirmishes that way you dont have to keep taking stuff out that you dont need

[shadowcaptain]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

my PLCE - will be my second skirmish with it tomorrow

made by the ex para that runs my site for £85

sorry for the crap pictures also pouches randomly filled with stuff to pad them for the photos

from left to right...2 double ammo pouches, bayonet frog, water bottle pouch, 2 utility pouches, water bottle pouch, pistol holster, 2 double ammo pouches

then on my left hand yoke strap at the front a radio holder

[bravotwozero]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

Nice set up there!

That holster is pretty interesting...

Haven't seen one of those.

[hoggy21]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

Worth noting that a bungee goes around the back through the loops. But dont attach it around the ammo pouches. The bungee is to help keep the webbing tight and together so that it doesnt bounce around too much. You dont put it through the ammo pouches as it interfers with the operation of the pouch. My webbing consists of one ammo pouch, 3 utility and 1 water bottle, bayonet frog, and a sandbag. Common practise is two ammo pouches, left hand side for magazines and right for grenades / smoke etc. Due to my small waist size and the fact to keep the webbing tight i have a small belt, which means that i can barely get pouches onto the belt without having to either squash pouches on or leave them off. Because of the job i do, i dont need a second ammo pouch and i do need the utility pouches. Everybody has different preferences, so do whatever you need to make it comfortable for you. Ive got a hippo pad on the back to prevent the rubbage on the hips and to prevent it moving about when running.
Another thing to note is to ensure that pouches dont come past your sides, because the point of the webbing is to carry your equipment, but not get in the way when you lie prone.
The loops in the ammo pouch (between the two pouches) are for the speed loader. (Army speed loader, now airsoft ones!) The loop on the edge of the ammo pouch can be used to attach a bungee. You can get the utility strap seperate which runs through the back of the webbing. This is not really to hold it together, but a way to ensure that if a pouch comes loose, that you dont lose it. The bungee holds the webbing secure.

Fitting of webbing should be so that it sits ON your hips, NOT AROUND THE WAIST! This is a common fault. As soon as you start running the webbing will shift. Ensure the webbing is on the waist and hips, and then adjust the yoke so that the weight of the webbing is taken on the shoulders as well as the waist.

Hope that helps gents!

[sniperiain]

Re: British Army P.L.C.E Webbing.

matt youll have to help me with mine:D