[Sniper Cowboy]

This is an idea I've had rolling around in my head for a while now. What I am proposing is a MOLLE sheath designed to holster a primary such as a Tiberius Tac9 or a similar marker. It would normally be mounted to a MOLLE vest in the shoulder area, or to the side of a MOLLE backpack. The idea was brought on by seeing similar concepts in games like Gears of War, Halo, Mass Effect, and so on, and could also be compared to packing a katana on your back. Now, yes, this may sound like a fantasy brought on by playing too many video games, and would just be a waste of the money invested to develop the product. I won't deny that it may be a wasted investment, as this would be a pretty specialized item, seeing as how there are not many markers that it would be practical, or even feasible for. However, I feel that the benefits of such a system would be worth it if enough people wanted it.

Many of us already use a sling system of some sort or another, two-point, three-point, single point, and so on. Why? In a big game or a long day of play, it's nice to be able to let your arms relax at times. Also, perhaps we need both hands to complete a task, or maybe we need to switch from our primary to our secondary, and don't want to just drop our marker. So we use slings and straps. However, slings and straps present problems of their own. If you wear a vest, like me, it's always getting caught on the pouches and doodads you've got strapped to your chest. Slings also have a tendency to restrict the movement of the marker, as that is pretty much their intended function in the first place, and can make it difficult to switch hands for shooting out of different sides of a bunker. Also, many sling systems have the marker sit in front or at your side when you use the system, and while you will have free use of both hands, the marker is often still in your way while you perform whatever task it is you needed both hands for.
Now, imagine you could put your marker away on your person, where it won't be in your way, and have use of both hands, while still having it close at hand and quickly be able to deploy it... without any straps or slings getting in the way and getting tangled in the rest of your gear... attractive thought, no? This is what I am proposing: A sheath mounted to the shoulder blade area of a vest that you could holster your primary in when you needed it out of the way, and when needed, just pull it up and out, swinging it down to the front and at the ready. No getting tangled, it's free to switch hands with ease, and is super easy to do with practice.

These are the things that attracted me to the idea. So, I decided to do a proof of concept trial run. I took a piece of cardboard, cut it to the appropriate dimensions, and wrapped it around the front of my Tac 9 to size it. Then I hot glued it together, poked some holes where needed, and strapped it to the right shoulder blade area of my vest with paracord. And what do you know, it worked fairly well for something I cobbled together in the space of half an hour. I certainly wouldn't run it in a game except for poops and giggles, but it proved to me the concept could work if done right, and it gave me insight into what would be required for it to be done right.

Here are some definite requirements for it to work properly:
1. Wide mouth tapering down as the sheath progresses so as to make it easier to find the opening with the muzzle of the marker and to allow the marker to seat snug in the sheath.
2. No slop where the sheath attaches to the vest. If it isn't tightly attached to the vest, and has slop, the marker will flop around on your back. This is uncomfortable and makes it easier for the marker to ride out of the sheath with your movements. I'm pretty sure a tight fit is achievable with MOLLE, but it has to be the weave type, or the full velcro strap type, if you catch my drift.
3. Adjustment. I believe this is achievable with a simple method: three or four straps are used to pull the sheath fabric's ends together into a loop shape, and buy tightening or loosening these straps, you adjust the tightness of the sheath, and can adjust the tightness at different points to allow for the snuggest fit.
4. Form retention. Pretty much just like a pod pack with plastic inserts, so that when you go to slide your marker in, the opening is not closed and making it difficult to put your marker in. Or anther good example would be a tiberius tac8 holster. It retains it's form so that it's easy to slide your pistol in and out.
5. It needs to be the correct length. Too short, and the marker will just twist around on your back, like a compass needle around it's axis. Too long, and not all vests will be able to use it, and it'll take up valuable real estate on your vest. However, if need be, longer is better. I'd say about...four or so rows of MOLLE webbing is how much it should take up to be the most stable while not taking too much space and being a pain in the rear to weave through the vest. The MOLLE attachment straps should also be about an inch apart, so one collumn of MOLLE should be between them. That should be wide enough to give it a stable platform.

I think that's about it. This should fit markers like the Tiberius Tac 9 or the Rap4 shotgun very well, so, it is a fairly specialized piece of gear. Markers with hoppers or with foregrips/regulators at the front, or long magazines sitting close to the front of the marker will not fit this particular concept (that pretty much rules out 90% of the markers out there, XD ), but you can probably get away with bipods that fold up like on the Tac 9 elite. A longbow (anyone still have one of those? I wanted one of those sooo bad back in the day XD ) would also work with this very well, I'd imagine.

There's the idea, let me know what you think, and if you have suggestions, please, by all means post! I'd love to hear further ideas on this. Either way, I liked how well the proof of concept worked so much, I will be making my own this summer, and I'll post WIP and finished pics as I work on it. I'll try to keep up to date with this thread as much as possible.
Also, please vote in the poll, that's how we let Specops know what we think. And be honest in the poll, I want to know if you think this is a good idea or just a @#$% idea.

Thanks.