Pattern 84 Chest Rig

The Next Evolution of Pattern 83 Making a faithful reproduction of the original Pattern 83 chest rig was difficult for us. To do it right we had to stick to the source material and pretend like it was still 1983. It’s a testament to the South Africans that their 40-year-old design works as well as it does, but if you look closely there are signs of age. As we dove into the details of our reproduction, an idea began to take shape. “What if we did more than copy the past? After all, the core design principles of Pattern 83 are solid. With a few tweaks and updates, it could be a serious contender in the 2020s…” We tried to ignore it, but eventually that nagging voice in our heads got the upper hand. As work continued on our Pattern 83 reproduction, we spun off an ambitious project — Pattern 84. Design Philosophy The process of modernizing a design like this is a balancing act. Change too little and there’s no benefit to the end user. Change too much and you might ruin what made the origi