Review of 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch and Ka-Bar TDI

[C0untZer0]

I first became interested in a fanny pack to carry a pistol for jogging and bicycling.  I started looking online and asking for ideas in the forums.  I didn’t just want a fanny pack where the gun would flop around in the compartment. I eventually came across this review of the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPzqjTPX5hk

So I purchased one. 

I realized it is meant for guns bigger than the R9.  I notice that the finish was wearing on my R9 from it moving around.  It doesn’t flop around, it’s just that the elastic straps don’t hold it completely immobile so it rubs against the nylon.   

Here is a picture of how the R9 sits in the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch:



Because I wasn’t happy with how the gun was rubbing against the pack material – I purchased the Ka-Bar TDI Fanny Pack.  I purchased the Ka-Bar TDI Fanny Pack because it looked a little smaller than the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch. 

Actually the dimensions of the Ka-Bar TDI Fanny Pack turned out to be larger than the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch, here is a picture of them together, the TDI is on top.





The elastic straps in the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch. Are spaced 2” from each other.  The elastic straps in the Ka-Bar are spaced 2.5” from each other. The Ka-Bar has firmer elastic than the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch.  It would probably hold a full sized or compact pistol in place more firmly that the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch, but with my Rohrbaugh R9, the way the straps are spaced just served to move the butt of the gun forward until only the strap at the muzzle was holding the pistol.

The dimensions of the pocket opening on the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch  is 4.75” from side to side and 4.75” from top to bottom.  The total length of the pack from left to right is 14.25”  The pocket on the front is just an opening to the pack, so the interior space of the pack is 14.25”.  The dimensions of the pocket opening on the Ka-Bar TDI Fanny Pack are 4.87” from side to side and 5.87” from top to bottom.  The total  length of the pack from left to right is 18”.  Like the 5.11, the pocket on the front is just an opening to the pack, so the interior space of the TDI pack is 18”.



The way the 5.11 pouch is constructed, it is a little over .5” deep at the bottom while the Ka-Bar fanny pack is only .25” deep at the bottom.

The 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch has 2 tiny zippered pouches on the left and right and both of those pouches are big enough to fit a 6-round magazine for the R9.  There aren’t any nylon straps to hold the magazines in, but the lip of the pocket comes over the mags so when you unzip the pocket the magazine won’t fall out.

The Ka-Bar TDI Fanny Pack has two pouches on the front, each pouch can fit a 6-round R9 magazine.  The pouch flaps are held closed with Velcro.

[C0untZer0]

Comparing the two..

Ability to draw quickly

The packs are basically the same in this regard except the Ka-Bar TDI has short loops that require a cord to be tied onto them while the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch has tabs that are ready to use. For someone who wants a tab that sticks up the 5.11 would be more to their liking.  If someone wants sometjing that hangs down and they want to put on their own cord or fob or something, then the Ka-Bar allows that.

Comfort

The 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch is more comfortable for 3 reasons

1)   It has 2” belt while the Ka-Bar has a 1.5” belt.

2)   The belt on the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch is adjustable on both ends.  That allows you to position the buckle in the small of your back, or any where from completely on the left side to completely on the right side.  The Ka-Bar’s buckle is fixed directly on the right side of the pack (as you wear it).  On me, that puts the buckle directly under my kidney.  I found that if I loosened the belt so it didn’t dig into my kidney, the pack was too loose and bounced around.  The only way to  reposition the buckle is to rotate the entire pack.  That might work for some people if they wanted the actual compartment on the left or right – basically on their hip.  I personally found that didn’t work well when jogging though.  The Ka-Bar's fixed buckle is shown below:



3)   The Ka-Bar has 2 straps with button snaps on the inner side of the pack.  There is a blurb on their site about a clip-on TDI knife clipping to the back of this pack, maybe those button snaps facilitate that.  They are large enough to snap onto a normal pants belt, but in a T-shirt and shorts, the snaps are just an irritation.

Here are pics of the snaps on the back of the Ka-Bar:





Cost

The Ka-Bar TDI is cheaper than the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch.  While Ka-Bar lists the price of the TDI as $45.54 on their website, the average cost for the Ka-Bar TDI is $34.45 and it can be purchased for $28.72.  5.11 lists their  Select Carry Pistol Pouch for $37.99, other outlets sell it for more than that, the average cost for the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch is $38.72 and the cheapest I could find it for was $34.99

Quality of construction

For the most part the two packs have the same quality materials and construction.  The 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch uses 1050D nylon, Ka-Bar states that they use heavy duty polyester.  The stitching on the Ka-Bar TDI is external while the seams and stitching on the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch are internal.

Overall Impression

I find myself using the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch more than the Ka-Bar TDI.  I think the comfort and ease of use are the main reasons.  I don't use the Ka-Bar for jogging or bicycling at all. 

Illinois is unique in that you can have a pistol with you while you're "transporting it.   A FOID card holder can legally transport their firearm if it is unloaded and in a "case" or "container".  Fanny Packs count as a container if they're closed.

The Ka-Bar might be OK for quick trips down to the store or something until I get my carry license, and then just putting the loaded R9 in the Nemesis holster into a front pocket is going to be how I carry it most of the time.

I'll still use the 5.11 for bicycling and jogging but the R9 will be loaded and holstered when I do that in the future.  Here is a pic of the R9 in the Nemesis in the 5.11

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Here are some additional pictures:

The R9 mag in the zippered pocket of the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch:



The R9 mag in the Velcro pouch of the Ka-Bar TDI:



Here is a shot of the R9 in the TDI, this is how the R9 would always wind up after a little bit of carry, you can see that the gun is only held in place by the elastic strap forward of the trigger guard, the butt would work it's way out of the elastic.  You can see that the elastic straps in the TDI are a little stiffer that those of the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch:




.

[C0untZer0]

I had read a criticism of this pack style stating that it isn’t a true holster that covers the trigger of the gun.  For decades in Illinois we have not been able to carry a firearm, but we could “transport” a firearm.  A person who had been issued a FOID card could transport a firearm  “unloaded and enclosed in a case”.  The courts had decided that packs, including fanny packs, constituted a case.  So for the most part, having the trigger covered didn’t concern me, but I discovered that the pack can hold the R9 in a DeSantis Nemesis holster without adding much bulk or adding any time to retrieving the firearm.  And the whole thing sits snug as a bug in a rug and I haven’t noticed any more wear on my R9 since putting the whole thing – holster & all in the 5.11 pouch.

I tried doing the same with the Ka-Bar pack and it just doesn’t hold the whole thing in.  I mentioned that the Ka-Bar is only .25” deep at the bottom of the pack, and the pocket itself is a little bigger than the 5.11 Pouch pocket – so while the Nemesis holster sits in the 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch unzippered, it doesn’t in the Ka-Bar TDI Fanny Pack.  That doesn’t make it unusable, but it changes how you’d retrieve the pistol.  The 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch has quick release pull tabs.  Pulling on the tab is going to open about ½ of the pocket and expose the butt of the gun, I’ve found the gun stays in place and if I am carrying the R9 holstered, I’m able to reach in and take the gun out of the Nemesis holster. 

The Ka-Bar TDI Fanny Pack has very small tabs that you would have to run a cord through or something to make them quick release tabs, and even so, a cord wouldn’t stick straight up the way the quick release tabs on the 5.11 Carry Pouch do.   I was thinking of experimenting with a key ring or some sort of a fob connected to the small tab – something that would be easy to grab.  Without using the tab, I’ve tried positioning the two zippers at different locations along the pocket but I haven’t been able to open the pouch without using both hands to pull both zippers in opposite direction.  If I unzip the front pocket, my holstered R9 will not stay in the pocket, it tends to come out, to lay on the pocket flap and fold out forward as I unzip the pocket.  Probably would not be a problem with a larger gun or a larger holster.  It’s not an insurmountable problem either since the holstered gun doesn’t tumble out, it lays on the pocket covering which folds forward and away as you unzip it.  When using the tab to open the Ka-Bar, just the top and the right side of the pocket opens up, the gun stays in the pack and it is accessible – pretty much like the 5.11 Pouch opens.

The inside of the pocket flap of the 5.11 Pistol Pouch has 2 elastic bands which can be used to carry magazines.  These two elastic bands are a little too big to hold the magazine of the R9.  The mag is kind of loose but I haven’t had any problems with the magazine dropping out when using the quick release tab.

The inside of the pocket flap of the Ka-Bar TDI Fanny Pack has 3 elastic bands which can be used to carry magazines.  The elastic bands on the Ka-Bar are a little tighter and hold the magazine for the R9 a little more snug.

The 5.11 Select Carry Pistol Pouch has a 2” belt and both the tongue and the buckle are adjustable at either end.  The Ka-Bar TDI Fanny Pack has a 1.5” strap with the buckle fixed on the right side of the pack.  The strap is adjustable on the tongue connector’s end.