Chicom Type 56 Chest Rig, AK, Surplus

The legendary AK-47 Chicom chest rig, familiar from Vietnam flashbacks. A bit later unissued milsurp of the People’s Liberation Army of China. Excellent, simple, and silent design. No wonder soldiers around the world still use these chest rigs that became infamous during the Vietnam War. Get yours now, because you probably won’t get a second chance of getting your hands on something as awesome as this.

We got a special shipment of Chinese army Chicom gear. The rumor has it that these rare beauties came from a secret British SAS warehouse. Why did they have these in the first place, that remains a mystery? The main thing is that we got them now, and soon you can have them if you act fast. This epic gear loved by all will disappear very quickly.

The iconic chest rig of the Vietnam War

Type 56 is the most iconic of the Chicom chest rigs. In Vietnam, it was used by both NVA and Vietcong. And it has been manufactured and used long afterward.

The rule of thumb "where there is an AK, there is also a Chicom chest rig" holds true still today. Even though this is best paired with a Kalashnikov, this works with other sensibly sized assault rifle mags as well. The bigger 7.62x51 mags also fit in the pouches but they don’t come out as smoothly. You can of course make the toggle loops longer with some extra string. This way you can also fit in two AR mags taped together. This is how US special forces used these in Vietnam.

This chest rig has three mag pouches side by side together with some smaller pockets for cleaning equipment, grenades, and such. All the pouches are closed with wooden toggles. The adjustable shoulder straps cross each other at the back and the waist belt strings are tied together at the back. The maximum waist measurement is about 110 cm. If your girth is above this, tying the strings might be a bit hard. We suggest losing weight or making longer strings yourself.

Made of thick and strong national democratic victory green canvas. The backside and reinforcements of the pockets are made of some polyester. However, for some mystical reasons, some of these have vinyl on the flaps of two smaller pockets.

The fact that about a gazillion of these has been made is in our opinion enough to convince us that they work. Because of the low-profile design, these work quite well with most backpacks and other setups.

Condition

This is as good as the new Chinese military surplus. So, it is pretty much in as good a condition as over 40 years old products can be. The colors can be a bit faded and the fabric a bit worn, and there might be some warehouse dust on them, which is of course as it should be. If anything but mint condition gives you anxiety, buy a Chinese copy of the Chinese original. But that will be nowhere as cool as this.