Laylax Bite MG Mag Holder

Over the years, I used many different ways of carrying extra magazines for my rifle or carbine, and with new material technology these days, we’re not just stuck with nylon or webbing pouches to choose from. I’ve had US M56 pouches, ’58 webbing and then moved on to various types of nylon and Cordura, and all of them have worked fine, but had certain drawbacks. In terms of design, I’ve tried closed-top pouches, open-top ‘CQB’ pouches, belt mounted and had them affixed direct to a chest rig or plate carrier, and again, everything works.

More recently, people have started to change things in terms of design and the materials used; I’ve seen things like the excellent HSGI ‘Tacos’, which mix highquality plastic with traditional Nylon and bungee retention, come onto the market, and I’ve played with ‘Fast Mag’ mag holders. I’ve had a long-term relationship with the developer of the innovative polymer Rapid Access Magazine Pod (RAMP), and seen the guys at IMI Defense come out with their own take on things.

Innovation

But there’s always someone who wants to push the boundary, isn’t there, and to my great surprise this turned out to be LAYLAX from Japan! Now, LAYLAX are no newcomers to the airsoft industry, as they are a highly-respected and wellreputed Japanese manufacturer of high quality aftermarket parts for airsoft guns. Their products include the Prometheus, Nine Ball and First Factory line of products, and for many airsofters LAYLAX parts are at the very pinnacle of both internal and external upgrade parts.

Up until now though, they’ve not been known for ‘tactical’ gear but that all changed when I met them at IWA; amongst all the shiny, high-quality parts I spied a family of ‘AR/M4’ magazine holders and when I spoke to the guys, they were keen to tell me all! LAYLAX are known for highly technical yet elegant solutions to airsoft problems, and it turned out that they had turned this expertise to the carriage of magazines, and they were kind enough to send me home with a selection of their BITE MG ‘M4’ and handgun Quick Mag Holders.

These are extremely innovative products, in that they combine the best elements of open-top CQB mag pouches with bungee retention, and the newer plastic or polymer pods. Essentially, the BITE is made from two opposing super-tough plastic sections, a base and a face, through which runs a bungee tensioning system, which is really easy to adjust. The BITE’s are constructed in such a way that when you secure a magazine into them they quite literally ‘bite’ down on it, keeping it snugly and securely in place; you need to be careful with these things, they’re right ‘finger snappers’!

On the rear of the BITE is another, more flexible plastic strip, which can be secured to MOLLE in numerous positions; three screws hold this securely in place, and once you’ve got the BITEs attached to your rig they are certainly not going anywhere anytime soon.

Field test

In use, they can be fitted in a standard configuration for an indexed magazine-change grip, or inverted for a swift ‘beer can’ pull; I’ve tested them using both techniques, and they work perfectly, whichever way to choose to mount them. The retention is truly excellent, but when you need to change, all ‘M4’ style mags are easy to remove. Personally, I find the pistol versions a little ‘clunky’, but they certainly do the job they were intended for. I’m going to run the rifle/carbine versions on my Warrior DCS rig during the summer, and I think they’ll serve very well indeed!

The BITE MG holders are available from www.fire-support.co.uk; the rifle/carbine models are £11 a pop, which is a very fair price, with the pistol versions coming in at £20 for a twin pack. The ‘M4’ holders come in Black, Tan, and Ranger Green. If this is what is in store from LAYLAX in the future, then I for one will be paying VERY close attention.