Words and Pics: Dave from E27 (@echo27_xray)

Introduction

Recently I was lucky enough to pick up a set of C2R FAST Jungle webbing from a contact. Given Rich of The Reptile House’s known proclivities for this particular Hereford-based nylon manufacturer, I offered him a heads-up overview before I sold it on. I’ll explain the latter in a bit.

C2R FAST, as most UKSF gearwhores will know, started out as a Hereford-based boutique tactical gear company specialising in small-scale made-to-order nylon; made in the UK for UK cool guys. Since then, they’ve expanded and now equip both Royal Marine boarding teams and Metropolitan Police SCO19 Counter-Terrorism Specialist Firearms Officers with their distinctive plate carriers.

Being a smaller company, C2R are able to move quickly and make custom items and short runs of specialist equipment when required; which brings us to the jungle webbing, of which at rough estimate less than half a dozen sets have been made.

Overview

At first glance it’s not dissimilar to the traditional PLCE webbing design, like the issue airborne and other custom tailored variants made by JayJays, Dixie’s Corner and the like. While these have been a staple of British soldiers for decades, there are a number of little tweaks and unique details that really set C2R’s offering apart.

1. Yoke

Starting from the top down, the yoke is superficially similar to PLCE but constructed of lightweight nylon mesh reinforced by woven webbing. Two black neoprene-esque comfort pads run over the shoulders and down each side of the back, providing weight distribution and also air flow up the shoulder pads.

I was sorely tempted to keep the yoke. Aside from the length of the straps being apparently designed for hobbits, it’s the the best designed yoke/suspenders set I’ve handled bar none; comfortable, extremely lightweight and very well made.

2. Belt

There are six points of attachment on the sewn ‘hippo’-style belt pad, to allow you to wear the yoke how you want or – presumably – to attach other suspension systems (my contact mentioned different styles, but I’ve only seen one other type).

Pouches are sewn directly to the belt pad. While some may miss the flexibility offered by MOLLE platforms, differences in personal taste are to be expected with a made-to-order item.

3. Ammo Pouches/Frags

On the bright side while we’re talking flexibility, the ammo pouches are impressively versatile. The lids are sewn-in but the pouches are velcro-lined with a removable divider. They can each hold a 200 round SAW mag, a hell of a lot of 7.62mm link, or with the dividers in: 6x AR mags, 4x 7.62 mags or a pair of smoke grenades each side. They even fit a few HK417 mags, or whatever else you might want to carry.

Seriously, these pouches fit anything. While they suffer a little from the issue I have with the Crye AVS/SPS range (i.e., kit designed to do a number of different things I find rarely performs as well as kit designed for a single specific purpose), you can’t really argue with pouches that’ll work with literally almost any weapon system going. As a Brucie bonus, they each have a frag grenade pouch on the front.

4. Canteen Utilities/Comms

Behind the ammo pouches, things get even funkier. There are canteen-sized utilities on either side; one with a PRC152 MBITR radio pouch attached, the other with a holster just in front.

The radio pouch is familiar to anyone who’s used a C2R MBITR before – it’s the exact same pouch – but for those that haven’t it’s got a Fastex buckle on the front which is adjustable for height and bungee elastic retention. It sits on the utility at a nice height and doesn’t flap around.

You can easily run antennas and PTTs around the webbing and up over the yoke to attach wherever’s comfortable.

5. Holster

On the other side, the holster is something pretty unique for a PLCE set. It’s constructed of thick reinforced nylon that wraps around your sidearm and Velcros together in a style reminiscent of those old adjustable holsters (only, y’know, not shit).

Pictured is the holster set up for a Glock 19 with surefire X300, but judging by the size it would take a Sig, Glock 17 or a variety of other similar size handguns.

It’s got both elastic retention and a Fastex buckle strap, which work well (though if you run a red dot sight on your sidearm the elastic retention did interfere with mine). The smooth nylon inside of the holster ensures a quick draw, and though the layout is a little odd (the holster is aligned so that the top of the sidearm faces inwards towards the body, so when you pull it you’re essentially bringing it up sideways, gangsta style), it works very well while saving belt space.

TL:DR; it’s boss.

6. Small Utility

On the back of the right-hand utility is a smaller pouch for a flare or some kind of other radio or equipment (which my contact told me about but I’ve completely forgotten, will update when I check that out).

7. Butt Pack/Map Pocket

Last but not least, on the rear centre is the butt pack.

I’m never really sure whether I like butt packs on webbing, as while I like the versatility and capacity they tend to flap around a fair bit. The C2R avoids these issues by being quite compact and securely stitched to the hippo pad. Because the pad is so tall, you don’t get that sensation of your ass being spanked when you move with a loaded up butt pack (this may or may not be a good thing depending on your personal tastes).

A very cool feature of the butt pack is the opening design. It’s similar to the standard issue dry bags, where you roll up the lid until the contents are snug and then fasten it down at the sides using clips. This means you don’t have dead space or rattling shit when you’ve got your pack cinched up.

It’s a very cool concept. I’d be completely down for C2R making MOLLE utility pouches with this design, as the butt pack works great for snivel kit (and stores my Arc’teryx Alpha goretex nicely).

On the face of the butt pack there’s one last velcro-lidded thin document/map case pocket.

Not earth shattering but it’s a nice way to use space.

Donned Pics

Here are a few pics of the C2R adjusted to size and worn:

So there you have it: the C2R FAST Jungle Webbing.

Conclusion

I’ll be quite honest, I’m not really a fan of belt order per se and despite the benefits of being able to go prone more easily and spreading weight across the hips, I do prefer chest rigs. However, as a nylon nerd and a geek for this stuff I really appreciate the different twists C2R has brought to the traditional PLCE design.

An excellent yoke, intelligent comms and holster placement, impressively versatile ammo pouches and butt pack really set this aside from the herd.

If you’re in the market for a set of belt order for work or for your collection, I wouldn’t hesitate to wholeheartedly grab one of these if you see one come up – if only for the cool points of owning a bit of bonafide UKSF unicorn shit.

Follow Dave on IG: @echo27_xray