Chicom Type 81 Chest Rig, AK, Surplus

Otherwise pretty similar chest rig as the Type 56 familiar from Vietnam flashbacks but this fits FOUR AK mags instead of three. Unissued mil surp from China. Simple, durable, low-profile, and silent. No wonder soldiers around the world still use these. Pst, we only have a small batch of these, so hurry up!

More firepower

Type 56 is the most iconic of the Chicom chest rigs. In Vietnam, it was used by both NVA and Vietkong. And it has been manufactured and used long afterward. This type 81 is otherwise exactly the same but it has one more mag pouch and subsequently fewer smaller pockets. Maybe the number of enemies you needed to shoot grew or the inflation ate the power of the bullets, who knows. The main thing is that if you like shooting, you can fit more ammo in this one.

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 chest rig has FOUR AK mag pouches side by side together with two 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 c. (43”). 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 have been made is in our opinion enough to convince 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 new Chinese military surplus. So, it is pretty much in as good a condition this old products can be. The colors can be a bit faded and there might be some warehouse dust on them, which is of course as it should be. If anything but mint condition gives you sleepless nights, buy a Chinese copy of the Chinese original. But that won’t be anywhere as cool as this.