When you mention Taiwanese or other foreign-made airsoft-specific "tactical body gear" to experienced skirmish players, what you'll usually get is a frown, if not an outright smirk. The first thoughts to pass through a dedicated gear-enthusiasts' mind is that such items cannot possibly be superior to, or even at the level of real-deal tactical gear from US or other recognized international makes. Typically, this is a field dominated by the likes of High Speed Gear Inc. (HSGI), Spec-Ops Technologies (SOTECH), Special Operations Equipment (SOE), and other such high-end manufacturers. The same can be said when it comes to holsters -- specifically, the tactical "drop-leg" or "thigh-rigs" that are so sought-after for Mil and Tac-Sim players looking to emulate their favorite television or movie heroes. The HSGI Saddle Holster and SOTECH Ground Pounder are among some of the most highly regarded "ballistic nylon"/Cordura thigh rigs available today, equally praised by real-life military operators and law-enforcement officers as they are by gear enthusiasts and experienced airsoft players. Similar items from BlackHawk, LBT, Eagle Industries, Bianchi and other recognized tactical-gear makes have also garnered high marks. However, one of the biggest complaints of players who hop on-line to look at these pieces is sticker shock. High-end gear does not come cheap, and these tactical holsters are no exception. Most mentioned here are in the $80-$90 (USD) range, when all's said and done. Unfortunately, what then happens is that the player on a budget or the newbie, looking at such shocking sticker/tag prices, out of instinct and need, turn toward the various much cheaper offerings from the "imitation" tactical gear makes. Foreign or domestic, these items often confirm the frown or smirk that more experienced players give them -- and these sub-par holsters are often the cause of lost magazines or even outright lost GBB sidearms in the field. At nearly $50 per magazine and well-upwards of $150 as an average price of skirmish-capable GBBs, it only takes one loss or first-person witnessed event for most players to come to the stark realization that investing in a proper holster that will work to well retain their expensive sidearm is a necessity, not a luxury. Its a mandatory investment. But what if you just don't have the money? Are there any compromises, or must you be doomed to constantly worry about your sidearm during skirmishes? Luckily, there is hope. ICS (I Chih Shivan Enterprises Co., Ltd, website URL: http://www.icsbb.com/ [bi-lingual English/Chinese]), which is a Taiwanese airsoft manufacturer much more well-known for their AEGs and AEG accessories, has recently stepped on to the market to offer tactical body gear as well. Among the items introduced is a low-priced tactical drop-leg/thigh modular accessory panel, which pairs with a low-priced, multi-mount-option, multi-retention, tactical light/laser enabled holster to make a mid-priced tactical thigh holster that, in my opinion, represents one of the best deals available for skirmish-viable gear. Wait a minute here.....I thought you said above that most experienced players frown at Taiwanese airsoft-specific imitation/cloned "tactical gear." What's going on here? Yes, it's true, most of the past offerings from the Far-East have been decidedly sub-par in this respect, but over the past year or so, if you've been monitoring the market at all, you should have seen a decided trend in the improvement of such Far-Eastern body gear. The various MOLLE and other modular-gear replicas, as well as clones of items offered by SOE and the other top US gear-makes have been getting more and more accurate, sophisticated, and most importantly, durable. Today, ask anyone who is without pretense, and they'll say that yes, specifically for airsoft use, the modern crop of imitation airsoft-specific gear is more than "good enough," and thus allows the player-on-a-budget even if he/she is hard-core MilSim to outfit themselves relatively accurately in a cosmetic sense without either breaking the piggy bank or undue worries of whether if the gear they have on will fall apart when playing. This is precisely the quality mold that the ICS drop-leg panel and holster fit into as well. Price-matched and for the specific purpose of airsoft play, there is nothing that even remotely rivals their quality and sophistication of design. Quality of manufacture is apparent from the first moment you pick up this rig. While the majority of the rig is single-stitched, the critical stress points are all double-stitched. This attention to detail is not only present on the body of the holster and the various leg and drop-down straps where such strength is absolutely needed, but also extends to even the Velcro pads -- their stress edges are also double-stitched to prevent separation of the pad from its attachment point on the holster or its accessories. The nylon on both the holster and the rig is nice and heavy, an elastic portion on the thigh strap is doubled-back for greater support and resilience, Fastex buckles as well as other rings and sliders are made out of quality plastics. Even the main drop-down extension for the modular thigh panel is high-quality stuff, with thickness and rigidity that rivals even that of various Eagle Industries gear that I have. Compared to my favorite mid-priced tactical drop-leg thigh holster, the BagMaster BTR2-L (US-made, marketed for the real-steel market), for which the two are price-matched, the quality of the ICS rig is easily superior. The BagMaster thigh rig carries a higher percentage of single-stitching only, the elastic is singly configured, and more critically, the drop-leg strap on the BagMaster is much, much more flimsy. (Side note: If the BagMaster BTR-2L is so badly built, why do I love it so much? The answer is that price-matched, it is still a bargain and again is fully skirmish capable furthermore, even completely without the thumb-break retention strap, this holster still managed to hold on to my 1-kilo+ hand-cannon without loss through several hours of rough-and-tumble field-play. In other words, its earned my trust.) For the money, the ICS gear is clearly superior in terms of quality of build, and is truly one of the most impressive pieces of "affordable" gear that I've seen to-date. The buck, however, does not stop here. The ICS rig is actually jam-packed with some very nice and very skirmish-practical features. First and foremost, modularity. As a belt mounted holster, the ICS is easily capable of securing onto any pistol belt or military web-belt you'd care to pair it with. The extra cross-security strap that further pins down the large, two-inch wide Velcro tab (the large vertical strap you see in the picture below) that services as the belt loop (easily swallows and secures even a 2 and 1/4 inch wide belt) insures that the holster will not break away from the belt. Although a "police duty belt" that is female (loop) Velcro-backed will offer even more security and will work to insure that the holster will barely, if at all, displace during use, its use is not mandatory. With the cross-length security strap, break-away is extremely unlikely under even the worst abuse or field-use stress. Modularity aside, what you'll notice almost immediately is that the ICS holster features a supplemental retention strap that is closed via a quick, silent-release Fastex buckle and loops over the backstrap/thumb-web area of the GBB pistol replica (see picture below). This item provides absolute fail-safe retention security even in the case of primary retention (i.e. thumb-break) failure or accidental disengagement. Many of the real-deal tactical gear makers actually call their holsters with this type of supplemental retention capability "airborne/jump/water/extreme ops-enabled."
But ICS does this one step better. The strap above is actually a tertiary retention strap. In addition to this supplemental retention device, the holster features a secondary Velcro "over-strap" that lies atop and covers the thumb-break, preventing against accidental disengagement of primary retention. In fact, it is impossible to disengage the thumb-break without first disengaging this secondary shield. With this in-mind, of course, the logical question of speed of draw and presentation arises -- and to this end, ICS addressed this issue by placing a pad of Velcro over the very base of this over-strap, thus allowing it to easily double-back over itself and tucking itself out of the way when not needed.
What does this set of retention features translate to in skirmish-play use? If you know the action is going to get hot and heavy and you'd like to have your sidearm available at a moment's notice, or if you're prepping to enter a close-quarters environment where a long-arm to sidearm transition may be necessary, then it's time to disengage the tertiary "ops" strap, flap back the secondary over-strap, and just use your holster as any other thumb-break holster. Look at the "Speed-draw" photo for an example. If you're expecting a bit of runnin'-'n-gunnin', you'd want to either engage the secondary or the tertiary strap and leave the other undone/disengaged, depending on your preferences and the situation at-hand. For example, if you don't want to bother with the tertiary strap, the secondary over-strap will keep your GBB extra secure until you rip open this Velcro covered assembly overlying the main thumb-break. However, if you need your draw to be as quiet as possible and do not wish for the sound of ripping Velcro, you can just as easily tuck away the secondary strap and leave only the primary thumb-break and the tertiary "ops" strap engaged for a silent Fastex-buckle release. And finally, of course, if know that you're going to be pounding ground and will likely be doing some crawling or climbing before you reach your objective, you can just rest comfortable in knowing that essentially there is absolutely no way that this holster can lose your GBB with all three retention devices engaged. Look at the picture above with all three retention systems engaged. Designed for skirmish field-usability, all of the ancillary straps, such as the two-part thumb-break, are secured to the holster via Velcro and their own elastic retention straps in the same manner as high-end real-deal holsters. Thus, while remaining fully adjustable and allowing for a variety of GBBs (I've tested this holster with everything from a full-sized 1911 to a USP P8 to a Beretta M9/92F), these straps are also well-protected against loss themselves. Furthermore, as first-line enabled gear, a single magazine pouch is placed along the forward spine of the holster (which itself is rigidly reinforced to help maintain holster shape as well as to serve as a front sight track and rear sight protector). This mag pouch has an adjustable-height lid and is large enough to accommodate most single and double-stacker magazines alike, including the wide and hefty Western Arms double-stacker 30/25-round SVI/Para magazines. As a further gaming concession, should you have this thigh rig on your first-line gear, you can easily ditch the holster while still retaining its position on your pants belt by unclipping the main Fastex buckle on the drop-thigh extender. This allows you to easily remove the thigh holster completely should you and your buddies decide to go off-field and into town for a quick bite from a fast-food joint -- while it keeps your precise belt mount position up-top (as you will be able to keep this loop on your belt!). When you return to the field, it's just a matter of clipping the drop-thigh component back into its buckle, and then fastening your thigh strap. Last but not least, this ICS holster, as I mentioned earlier, is designed to be able to swallow a tactical weaponlight-enabled medium to large-framed GBB pistol replica. Of my small collection, everything from a G&P frame-attached accessory rail Insight Technologies M3 (or M6 visible-laser/white-light combo) equipped WA High-Capacity Series CQB Special to a Glock SafeAction Tactical Illuminator mated KSC G18C to a G&P/Walther tactical-light equipped Maruzen Walther P99 fit securely within. But unlike most other tactical-light/lasersight enabled holsters, the ICS holster is designed so that its use even without the under-barrel accessory is readily possible. ICS achieves this by using a double-sided Velcro setup under frame of the pistol -- thus closing this section when a light, laser, or other such accessory is not used, tapering off the holster and allowing it to hug the frame of the pistol better.
With all of these packed features and its very, very nice construct, what would you imagine the retail price to be? Once again, keep in mind that most high-end real-deal tactical drop-thigh holsters offering a combination of different primary and secondary retention features and may or may not be under-barrel tactical-light/laser enabled hover around the $80 range. The ICS? The MS-15 Modular Drop Leg Panel has a New Taiwan Dollar (NTD) MSRP of 750, which translates to about $22 US. The MS-16 Modular Holster has a NTW MSRP of 850, which is only $25 USD. Combined cost, even if you should buy the item from your favorite local retailers (US or UK), you should be able to get the complete combined MS-15/16 set for between $40 to $50. Unfortunately, not many retailers feature this product on their websites -- as such, if you're interested in this item, get your local retailer to special-order it for you by having them contact the good guys at ICS, they're wonderful at answering e-mails. In the US, either you or your retailer can contact Specialized Distribution (http://www.airsoftsd.com/ - tel: 626-281-0979), who will direct you to a retailer near you which carries this product. $40-$50 is an outstanding price for a tactical thigh holster! The BagMaster BTR-2L, considered a "real-steel"/real-life pistol holster, costs nearly $40 and doesn't have half the features of the ICS MS-15/16 combo and isn't even double-stitched like the ICS! Are there any shortcomings? Only two that I can see. First is that the holster is open-bottomed. While this increases the number of GBBs (and tac-light/laser or mock suppressor-equipped GBBs) that can utilize this holster, it also lends to this holster the critical flaw of being unable to contain accidental light discharges, which can give away your location under darker conditions. Unfortunately, unless you are willing to step up into the $80+ range, there really are no tactical-light/laser enabled holsters that successfully navigate this issue. Second concern is that the holster, when used in "closed" format with a GBB that doesn't use a tactical light unfortunately will not secure the replica tightly. This is especially true the "smaller" your GBB happens to be. However, luckily, as long as you are properly using the retention straps, you will not have to worry about this issue. A final "neutral" concern that you should be aware of is the fitment of different light/laser units. Most all under-barrel laser units can be paired with this holster just fine. However, larger or bulkier tactical weaponlight and/or LAM unit may or may not be able to be fitted into the holster. Specifically, combinations of such larger units along with a large-framed GBB such as a 1911/2011-type replica or, say, a H&K Mk23 Mod0 SOCOM paired with a large SureFire weaponlight or one of the replica ITI/Wilcox LAM units for the Mk23 can be a difficult if not impossible fit. Luckily, you can rest assured that the smaller tactical lights such as the ITI M3/M6, along with its various clones by G&P, G&G, Walther, etc., can all fit just fine, even with the larger-framed GBBs. Conclusion: Truly, I feel that the ICS MS-15/MS-16 combo is an excellent choice for newbies and experienced players alike. It's built tough enough to easily match most mid-grade "tactical nylon" goods intended for real-steel/real-life use -- and this, combined with its multitude of features (tac-light/laser enabled, multiple retention systems), makes it one of the absolute best-buys available. All the while, most importantly, the ICS holster will make sure that you won't be leaving your favorite and expensive GBB out on the field. C. Allen
Lee Comment on this review in the forums Last modified: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 6:48 PM Copyright 2003 ArniesAirsoft
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