FIRST TACTICAL MEN'S TACTIX BDU PANTS OD GREEN FROM MILITARY 1ST REVIEW!

Hey everyone,

 So I've teamed up once again with the awesome team from Military 1st to bring you another gear review! In this review we’ll be looking at the First Tactical Men’s Tactix BDU pants!

The Men’s Tactix BDU pants are a lightweight, durable and utilitarian pair of tactical trousers that are designed/manufactured by First Tactical for EMT, First Responders, Forces personnel, Cadets and other activities that take place in rough and tough environments, which makes these perfect for Airsofters and outdoor enthusiasts alike. They come in a limited run of colours – black, olive drab and navy and as I’ve really been feeling green load outs lately I opted for the olive drab colourway.

Let’s discuss the features; the BDU pants have a modern design but with the classic fitted BDU styling that is popular amongst professionals in those fields. They are made from a tough 7 Oz 2-way mechanical stretch double Ripstop fabric – which means they are both durable but have a lot of stretch to them making them a great choice for tough activities that involve a lot of movement including Airsoft. When I pulled the trousers from their packaging my first impressions were very good – they had a good weight to them and the fabric felt high quality. The material is extremely durable, ultra-lightweight and because each pair is treated with the DuPoint Teflon Shield+, they repel water, oil and stains, ideal for those woodland players out there. I also noticed that on the vital seams, there is triple-needle stitching to ensure they don’t fail.

The pants feature a classic zip fly with a press stud and button fastening – no annoying buttons to faff around with! It also features seven wide belt loops (3 rivet reinforced) for those tactical belts, it has a concealed unique sliding Comfort Flex Action Waist system with a one-piece elastic construction for flexibility, a reinforced double seat design and running gusset for ease of movement and added comfort.

All the fastenings on the product are high quality and made by household name brands such as genuine YKK zippers and heavy duty Prym snaps.

The First Tactical Men's Tactix BDU Pants are laden with pockets to keep essentials in, including two roomy front hand pockets with inner loops, two back pockets with hook-and-loop secured laminated non-roll flaps and two expandable side cargo pockets with elasticated entrances, laminated non-roll flaps with a hook-and-loop closure, internal sleeves and hanging loops. The laminated non-roll flaps won’t falter over the products lifetime ensuring you always get a clean, professional look no matter what activity you put them through. The pants also feature external knee pad pockets for optional low profile kneepads, which I like to use during CQB games.

How do they fit? I opted for the 28/32 which is the smallest size the pants are available in (they go up to a 40/34) The pants are comfortable around the waistband and what I really like is that the waistband expands to accommodate your movement without an obvious elastic waistband. They fit the legs well but are loose in areas of high mobility such as the knees and around the thighs. Regarding the length, I usually wear a 30” leg being a small 5”4 in height but when wearing my Airsoft boots the length isn’t an issue – they sit nicely around the ankles with boots on. The leg cuffs also feature an elastic cord and a cord lock to help you adjust this and keep them in place. For the ladies out there, I would suggest checking the sizing chart on the Military 1^st website to ensure you get the right waist size.

For those reading who are in lines of work that require PPE to be worn at work such as First Responders, these pants accept the Lion Suit Undergarments. They also feature and internal hanging loop and ID panel for easy identification.

So, the burning question - how much do they retail for? The First Tactical Mens Tactix BDU pants retail at £69.95, whilst they are a little more pricey than a pair of bog standard pair of BDU pants, they are built with tough activities in mind meaning they have the longevity. At the moment Military 1^st have an 11% discount on combat uniforms until tomorrow (22^nd June 2017) when you use the code ‘UNIFORM17’ so get in quick if you want to take advantage of the savings!

Overall, I really like the First Tactical Men’s Tactix BDU pants – they’re tough, comfortable and offer the user a lot of movement. The material is a really high quality and the construction is fantastic, especially in regards to the triple-needle stitching around the really important garment seams (fashion student in me making an appearance there!) Despite being a men’s cut they fit me well in the right places and give me ample amount of movement when playing.  These would be really cool as an element of a civvie inspired loadout or Police loadout in the other colourways! These BDU pants get a thumbs up from Femme Fatale Airsoft!

Photography by Silent Kitty Photography.
Post sponsored by Military 1st.

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LOADOUT FOR UNDER £150? MULTICAM TROPIC FROM WEAPON 762!

Hey everyone!

I get a lot of requests from my followers for a post building a 'budget loadout', so I decided to team up with the awesome team from Weapon 762 to make this happen for you. In this post we'll be looking at a MultiCam Tropic/Ranger Green loadout (BDU and Plate Carrier) for under £150! Without further adieu, let's get down to it!

For the loadout build I wanted to step away from the usual camos that have saturated the UK Airsoft community and go for something a little bit different so I chose MultiCam Tropic for the BDU and to finish off the loadout, pair it with a simple Ranger Green Plate Carrier.

For the BDU's Weapon 762 sent me a TMC Gen 3 Combat Shirt and a pair of the TMC Gen 3 Combat Trousers with Knee Pads both in MultiCam Tropic and in a small. TMC Sports Gear is a brand by a Hong Kong gear manufacturer so this means that the sizes can be a little on the small side (so always check the sizing chart before ordering your size). The small sizes are great for Airsofters with a small stature such as myself. When I pulled the BDUs out of their packaging, the material felt pretty good quality and on closer inspection it turned out to be rip stop which is perfect for Airsoft.

The combat shirt has ripstop sleeves and a quick witting, lightweight torso fabric which helps keep you cool and dry on hot game days. It also has a high zipped collar to keep slings and straps off your neck and a comfort panel on the inside so the zip doesn't irritate, it has a pockets with velcro on each side and a pen/eyepro holder. The shirt is comfortable to wear and has plenty of patch space. With a price of £23.29 it is also a super affordable option for a BDU.

Moving on we have the Gen 3 Combat Trousers.

With the trousers you receive tan knee pads but I swapped mine out with a set of black knee pads that I had from a previous pair of trousers. One aspect I really like about these trousers in particular compared to other trousers with knee pads I've used is that the slightly stretchy material around the knees helps the knee pads sit in place at lot better. I also think it helps break up the camo a little. They have a mulitude of cargo pockets on the front, sides and back to store essentials and feature an easy to use knee pad adjustment system in the thigh pockets. I really like how the trousers look and fit. The trousers are are priced at £31.49 - a bargain.

For the Plate Carrier I opted for the TMC MP94A Modular Plate Tactical Vest in Ranger Green because it looked very similar to the LBT 6094 Plate Carrier.

The PC has a large section of velcro on the front for patches and 3 velcro M4 mag pouches on the front with a molle panel to add more pouches and molle panel systems. It has padded shoulder straps so any weight carried on the carrier is comfortable. It feels sturdy and the construction of the carrier is sound.

One issue I have always found with PCs is that they can be a little too roomy around my waist and although the MP94A Modular Plate Carrier can be adjusted fully to accommodate most sizes I removed the cummerbund and just utilised the velcro straps that also come with the PC. I also added some medium SAPI plates to give the PC a little more rigidity. The PC comes in at £42.74.

Next comes the TMC Vest Pouch Zip On Panel, I've seen a similar zip on panel from the brand Semapo Gear and really liked the look of it so when going through the Weapon 762 website and seeing a pretty similar alternative I decided to add one of these to the loadout. As a general rule of thumb I have a backpack on all of my plate carriers so I can carry smokes and any BBs/gas I need in the field so this zip on panel fit the bill. Although it has the zip on edges, it also has molle tabs on the back so you can mount it to molle systems. The two pockets at the top each hold 3 x 40mm grenades/smokes/flashbangs etc, a GP pouch in the middle which is pretty spacious and a small molle section on the bottom to quickly attach other pouches to make the configuration unique to you. The panel also has a built in hydration pouch/bolt cutter pouch. It's a pretty cool and useful addition to the loadout and came in at £40.49.

For the RIF and accessories - head pro, eye pro, gloves, boots etc I used items that I already had in my kit, so... 

What was the overall cost?

• TMC Gen 3 Combat Trousers £31.49
• TMC Gen 3 Combat Shirt £23.29
• TMC MP94A Modular Plate Carrier £42.74
• TMC Vest Pouch Zip On £40.49
• Shipping to the UK (dependent on post code) £8.99

Total: £147.00

Unfortunately as I haven't found any other retailer that stocks these TMC items or similar ones to it I can't compare what the prices would be from another retailer. For the price, these items are great value and definitely look the part.

You can save even more on the TMC gear from Weapon 762 by using the code femmefataleairsoft-weapon762 at the checkout! This code gives my followers 10% off their order.

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UPRISING 3 AT HILL 559!

On the 8th of April 2017, myself, Leah and Jet made the 4 hour drive from Victorville, CA to Clovis, CA for Uprising 3, an event ran by Airsoft Obsessed Dave and Robbie. The Uprising series of events are a super fun and popular series of MilSims that take place at Hill 559. Hill 559 is a 1 mile squared AO (Area of Operation) that features TONNES of hills (as it's name suggests), a stream, open plains and a shanty town. For the most part of the site the cover is whatever you can find - trees, rock formations and the hills themselves. The site is absolutely gorgeous in the warm weather but it is a super tough AO due to the heat and hills. For this Op there was around 150 players on site that weekend!

On the morning of the event we turned up at Hill 559, parked our car and loaded all of our gear into a nearby 4x4 to transport it from the car park to the camping area (due to the rain that had fell the night before the stream in the AO was bursting and only 4x4's could access the camping area, womp womp). We got to the camping area and started to set up our tent and get all our kit ready for the Op.

 What I love about the period of time before the Op officially starts is meeting the other players,  I finally got to meet my good friends Airsoft Hasmeen, Undeadfred12 and Scarmelita who I've only spoken to on social media for the last couple of years, it was great to finally meet them in person. We also got to catch up with Dickbutt Airsoft, thebrainexploder and meet Dutch, the YouTuber behind the YouTube channel Dutch the Hooligan. After a quick catch up, we set up our campsite and got kitted up we had our comprehensive game brief from Dave and off the sections went. The Militia side definitely attracted some awesome loadouts - from cowboys to hillbillys and traditional middle Eastern gear.

After the game brief, our section, Haji Max went out as civilians with no tac kit or weapons to interact with the other players (to add to the immersion of the event), walking the hills of Hill 559 monitoring the movement of FSC troops and playing loud music to distract whilst we worked out where their FOB was located ready for our assaults later. The only issue was that the FSC fighters were too cautious to interact with us. The firefights between the two sides kicked off a lot sooner than we expected. We sat on the hills cheering on our militia fighters whilst they engaged the enemy. After an hour or so we decided to kit up and join the fight.

My Militia loadout for Uprising 3:
LBX Tactical Ranger Green combat pants
Pentagon Archilles 6" boots in Tan
LBX Ranger Green Chest Rig
Wiley X Sabre Shooting Glasses
Plaid shirt from Goodwill
Bandana and Shemagh borrowed from the lovely Airsoft Hasmeen
ASG Scorpion Evo 3A1 with a Strike Systems RDS and B&T Tracer Unit
Tactical Pringles.

Our first outing as a squad of fighters took us right up to their FOB which we had scouted out from our recce patrol earlier in the day. We made our way over the hills searching for enemy platoons to engage with. Eventually we heard voices over a crest of a hill close to their FOB, once we had sight on the fighters and identified them as hostile we moved up the hill slowly ready to engage.

As all our platoon reached the lip of the hill, we descended on their position, with the sounds of blank fire and war cries echoing amongst the hills. We quickly took the unsuspecting squad of 19 in a matter of minutes. Once they were down and the area secured, we searched them and confiscated their kill cards. With 17 kill cards in hand, we made our way up the next hill to search for more enemy platoons.

As we were closing the gap between ourselves and our own fighters as we started walking back towards our FOB searching for FSC fighters we had missed, we came across another large group of enemy fighters who we engaged alongside another platoon of CVM fighters, attacking from both sides the FSC were quickly killed.

On Saturday evening after a hearty MRE, we bombed back up ready to go out before the night games. We walked (as you can tell there was a LOT of walking!) over the hills on the North side of the AO along the fence lines until we saw a group of enemies over the crest of the hill. As it was sunset, we had the sun working against us but as we were emboldened by the days successes, we set about making our way up the hill. We engaged the fighters, throwing grenades and smoke to cover our movements, after a long 10 minutes most of our squad had been hit.

After our squad was taken out, we slowly started the long walk to our FOB. One thing that took me by surprise is that the FSC squad that took us out then followed us as we walked back to our FOB (presumably to attempt to get the drop on the rest of our side) however as they crossed the road to make their way, a hoard of our fighters came from out of the trees and started engaging them as they were crossing open ground. Their fighters fell like dominoes and the stragglers were taken out when the CVM technical vehicle happened to drive on by and a group of cowboys in 10 gallon hats jumped out with sniper rifles. (Instant karma, don't be shady and follow people to their spawn :P)

Sunday ended in a dog fight for the shanty town in the AO. Our section left the FOB in full force, we moved slowly over the hills until we spotted an FSC platoon walking along the road that led to the CVM FOB. We watched them from the safety of a hill crest that overlooked the road, other CVM sections started to form lines on the adjacent hill top, all of which waiting for the enemy platoon to pass our position so we could flank them in a fierce attack.

As soon as the enemy platoon was past the Haji Max position, everyone erupted into action, troops moved forward over the crest of the hill, descending and opening fire on the unsuspecting FSC troops position. The air was filled with smoke that concealed the movement of our troops, edging us closer and closer to their positions. Eventually due to the sheer amount of CVM fighters moving in on their position, the FSC troops retreated whilst taking heavy casualties. We crossed the road and descended on their injured fighters, searching them for intel and kill cards.

After this engagement, we made our way over the hills to the west of the FSC's position in order to go undetected to the stream, which we crossed by the stepping stones. Once across the river with no resistance we moved over the hills behind the shanty town to take the enemy fighters by surprise and plant the explosive device that would destroy their stronghold and win the engagement. We were met with heavy resistance when we entered the town. The sky was alive with BBs flying past from machine guns and the sound of blank fire. Our machine gunners moved in on the FSC's position whilst our riflemen stormed the buildings.

As our fighters moved in, we were flanked by another FSC platoon who wiped out most of our rear defence. The FSC emboldened by their determination fragged our riflemen inside the complex.

Unfortunately due to the enemy resistance whilst we got the explosive device inside the complex we were unable to arm it in order to destroy the town. Endex was called just before 11am on the Sunday morning after the battle for the Shanty town had concluded. Shortly after a raffle was held for all the ticket holders including some awesome prizes from Evike.com.

Thank you to Airsoft Obsessed for having us and putting on such an awesome event. Also a big shoutout to all the players that attended, the level of play over the weekend was great and it was a super fun event!

Photography thanks to Airsoft Obsessed - www.facebook.com/AirsoftObsessed

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