Assessment: Viktos Taculus Chest Rig

Viktos has made an unapologetic identify for themselves on the earth of tactical/EDC/journey attire and packs. Not happy to cease there, they lately announced their entry into the load-bearing gear market with the launch of two chest rigs: the Low Key and the Taculus. We’ve been testing out advance samples of each for the final couple of weeks, however this evaluation will concentrate on the Taculus. The Taculus is supposed to perform as a spread day and coaching rig, but in addition has nice potential as a SHTF/emergency response rig, or as an active shooter response rig for regulation enforcement.

Viktos Taculus Chest Rig Options

The general design of the Viktos Taculus is extremely easy however sports activities some well-thought-out options. The pocket configuration is mounted – three rifle magazine pockets with a hard-sewn “dangler” or “drop down” pouch. The magazine pockets do have rows of laser-cut PALS webbing for MOLLE equipment, which implies the rig will be expanded upon. However the base configuration will not be in itself modular.

The harness is a lean four-point design. The shoulder straps connect to the highest of the rig by way of G-hooks, whereas the waist straps use small magnetic buckles that may be opened with a pointy tug. All 4 straps lead again to a padded rear yoke which is totally slick (no MOLLE or Velcro) holding with the Taculus’ minimalist design. Two nylon “tails” are sewn into the highest of the rig for the G-hooks to connect to. Every tail has a number of loops so the rig could also be adjusted for experience top.

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There’s some extent to make right here relating to the harness system. Neither G-hooks nor quick-pull magnetic buckles provide an particularly bulletproof stage of retention. Moreover, the four-point system with its small, triangular aspect wings goes to be much less safe than a standard six-point harness with X- or H-configured shoulder straps and a devoted waist strap, all with unbiased adjustment and buckle closure. The parents at Viktos are conscious of the trade-offs and selected the slimmer setup for a few causes.

The Taculus was not supposed to be a “deployment prepared” chest rig. Whereas we imagine it may completely perform in short-duration city engagements (just like the aforementioned Patrol Officer responding to an lively shooter) it’s supposed function is for civilians to have a bit of little bit of light-weight ammo carriage for a weekend class, motion carbine match, or day on the vary operating drills. The opposite byproduct of that is the low value. At $75 MSRP, this can be the least costly chest rig we’d really suggest to you. We’re positive a simplified harness design contributes to that.

The again of the rig includes a rectangular piece of grippy, rubberized materials that’s held in place by Velcro. Peel it off and also you’ll see two rows of hook-side Velcro, permitting the Taculus to be hooked up on to plate carriers with Velcro face on the entrance plate bag.

The magazine pouches are sized for 30-round AR mags, and we’re unsure you might actually get the rest into them. Magazine retention is achieved by the identical rubberized materials, which traces every magazine pouch. Whereas retention will not be adjustable, we did discover various outcomes with totally different mags. The thick, textured polymer of PMAGs created probably the most quantity of drag towards the pouch lining. Metallic DuraMags slid out and in the simplest (although they didn’t flop or bounce round within the pouches) – every little thing else was someplace in between.

Under the magazine pouches is the sewn-on dangler pouch. It is a slender pouch the width of your entire magazine shingle, massive sufficient to carry the contents of a Supplemental IFAK Resupply Kit (SIRK) by North American Rescue. These are trauma kits with out the kits – contents solely, vacuum sealed in a thick plastic bag. They’re nice for makes use of like this, the place you have already got a pouch and solely want med provides. The dangler pouch on the Taculus has two shock-cord loops protruding of the underside which can be excellent for holding a tourniquet.

Finishing the Chest Rig Loadout

We talked about earlier that the Taculus featured laser-cut loops on the magazine pouches. We determined to place these to make use of by including a number of further MOLLE pouches to our take a look at pattern. Specifically, we added three Soft Shell Scorpion mag pouches from G-Code, in a two-tone colorway: Multicam Black pouch physique with OD Inexperienced body. We added one rifle magazine pouch and two pistol magazine pouches, loading the latter with Staccato C2 magazines. Lastly, we used a drug retailer hair tie to safe an IWA International M13 thermobaric canister. Whereas there’s not a ton of MOLLE-estate on the Taculus, radios, small fixed-blade knives, good telephone trays, handcuff pouches, flashlights, multi-tools, and smaller general-purpose pouches can all be made to suit.

For a down-and-dirty load-out on the go in SHTF conditions, we needed to see how nicely the Taculus would play with a slick plate carrier. So, we broke out our First Spear Deceptor, cinched it down, and tossed the Taculus on over prime of it. We ended up liking the way in which the Taculus match over armor much more than when sporting it by itself. It’s doubtless a bit of little bit of tinkering with strap size would change out minds on that, but it surely goes to show that this rig can completely be worn over plates or tender armor and nonetheless be each safe and comfy.

All in all, for a sub-$100 price ticket from a well-established model, we predict the Viktos Taculus presents a simple product at an especially accessible value that could be a nice show of magnificence by way of simplicity. This rig ought to simply be hitting the Viktos website as you learn this, so head over there and verify one out for your self.

Written by Tom Marshall