Hello, today is the first week of my new series called gun gear guy reviews, and today we're reviewing the Mayflower MBAV cut APC.
Mayflower is known for it's lightweight, yet accessory laden, gear and their APC armor carrier is no exception. While the stock model of the APC is well known in the shooting community it does not allow for many cuts of soft armor to be worn if you're using In conjunction plates that require a soft armor backer. OP tactical was able to negotiate with Mayflower to provide a SOCCOM armor compatible version that is just as field ready as the standard carrier.
Like the standard carrier the MBAV has a front kangaroo pouch capable of holding a triple mag insert or maps and other gear. I use mine to hold a HALO chest seal pair and a small flashlight.
On the sides of the carrier the cummerbund has two pockets, one for another triple mag insert of gear and a second one for 6"x6" or 6"x8" soft armor packs or thin stand alone plates or ICW plates.
While the system comes with the SwiftClip placard female connectors and will fit any of the Mayflower placard as well as the Haley Strategic D3 and it's variants, and other chest rigs like the Blue Force Gear rackminus system.
The MBAV plate carrier can be ordered with platebags sized for small through large ESAPI sized plates. If you use ceramic plates that are 10x12 instead of an ESAPI size you should get large just to make sure they fit properly. While it may be tempting to try and run a square plate in the back platebag you have to make sure that the plate you're running will be thin enough to fit with the soft armor underneath.
All in all the MBAV carrier brings all the best part of the standard APC and adds the ability to use other common cuts of soft armor with your plates to increase protection. It has all the mobility and low weight of the original. However the carrier is not totally without fault. Square or MBAV cut soft armor in the front platebag can cause some issues trying to get a good stock weld when you're bringing your rifle up. It's not much of a hassle, and it's a problem you have when using pretty much any kind of MBAV armor carrier, but it's annoying when shooting under stress. Like the regular APC it lacks a drag handle. While the MBAV carrier has better thinner shoulder straps that are easier to drag with, the lack of a drag handle on the carrier makes me wonder if someone could pull me out if I was wounded in a firefight.
