Attention all you stock players out there! Throw away all those old stock harnesses that wrapped tubes around you like a second rib cage. The stock harness for the new Millennium is here.
Doc's Machine is run my Doc Nickel (you may have seen his name in print, from time to time). While he is normally well known for his excellent custom work on markers, he's branched out a bit and designed a stock harness.
He sent me one at the first of the season and I've been using it for some months now. I play a lot of stock and pump so a new type of stock harness always piques my interest. Now I got this thing sight unseen (although he e-mailed me telling me he was sending one) and I was rather surprised to see a small package in my mail box with Doc's return address on it.
I was expecting the standard type of stock harness. You know, a belt with loops for tubes and suspenders with loops for twelve grams. Surprise, it's a FANNY PACK! Well it's more like a fanny flap, but I'll get into that.
The second thing noticed was that the loops were larger than normal. I immediately thought it was poor workmanship, but then I read the literature. (When all else fails: read the instructions.) The loops are made slightly oversized so that you can slide the empty tube back in. Ingenious.
Tubes are as easy to replace as they are to pull out.
The harness can hold sixteen tubes (eight on each side) parallel to the waist line. The belt has loops for seven twelve grams. The belt is adjustable and has a velcro closure so no annoying breaks on buckles. You may notice in the photos that I've attached a small pouch to the belt. I change twelve grams more often during a game, so I needed to attach a pouch to hold more twelve grams. You may think that seven twelve grams is not enough, but do the math. To hurl 160 balls with seven twelve grams, your marker would have to get 23 shots a twelve gram. Even the lowly Splatmaster can do that.
More than enough paint for even a stock hoser!
The material of the flap is very robust ballistic nylon and the elastic is thick and "industrial strength". The stitching is of heavy-weight nylon thread and the tube loops have two rows of stitching between them.
The back of the harness. Quality construction.
Like I said, I play a lot of stock and pump and this harness got the royal run-around. It got washed several times, as well. I've rolled over on it and scraped against trees and rocks and bunkers and huts. It has withstood the test of time. The thing I really liked about the harness was that the tubes are behind you, unlike your standard stock harness, so unless the bad guys have flanked you (or you're running away), you're not going to be getting many hits in the tubes. I don't mind hits in the tubes as far as the ball breaking and removing me from the game is concerned (that's a given for me), but I got tired of replacing broken and cracked tubes. It seemed, with my old harness, that I was constantly throwing tubes away because they were getting hit.
Not any more.
I also like the fact that you can easily slip the empty tube back into the loop. I normally dump them in the cargo pocket of my fatigue pants, but I prefer putting them back into the harness where they won't rattle or cause a ball to break (and sometimes an empty tube) when I'm hit in the pocket. I had originally thought that the larger loops would result in lost tubes, but I haven't lost a tube out of the harness yet.
Fellow stock players have had many positive comments about the harness. They have all remarked how they like the fact that it puts the tubes behind you. One even pointed out that you could wear two (one on top of the other) and have enough paint to play stock in a scenario game. Personally, I don't mind taking a break and going back to camp for more paint and air, but I'm old.
Due to the fact that you can carry eighteen tubes onto the field, the harness carries more than enough paint for stock class "hosers". It is billed as a stock tourney harness and I can't personally see me going through 180 balls in a stock game, even during a stock tourney. In a five player team event; that's thirty-six shots for each of your opponents. Even I can hit something more than once every thirty-six shots.
No more breaks on the buckle with this baby.
I can't describe how light and comfortable this harness is. You really forget this harness is there. At the end of every day, I always wonder why I can't get my jersey off, until someone points out that I'm still wearing my harness. Durty Dan strikes again! Duh.
The only major drawback is the price. Forty-five dollars is a bit much for a stock harness considering that for ten bucks more you can get a bulk tube harness that holds ten times as much paint, but then you can't use that for stock play, can you? Doc doesn't get them mass produced and because they're only made in small lots, they are more expensive. However, for the money I've saved on broken tubes, I figure the harness will pay for itself eventually.
You can order one of these beauties from Doc's Machine and Airsmithing Services at www.docsmachine.com.
Don't forget to tell him Durty Dan sent you!
All of the articles in the website Durty Dan's Paintball Information Services are free to use for webpages, school projects, reference and to promote paintball to players and the non-playing public. Credit for the source of the information should be included in the bibliography or references page.
© Durty Dan Enterprises 2000. All rights reserved. All works contained herein are under copyright of the author Durty Dan. While the Terms of Use are broad they do not include the right to republish this work in any publication (hardcopy or electronic) for the purposes of personal financial gain.
