let's build a MALICE pack! part 1: Frame Mods. taking an off-the-shelf ALICE pack and frame and making the tweaks to turn it into a high-speed-low-drag lean, mean, loadout machine!
lol, love you running comments in the text. I attached my MOLLE waist belt with the upper straps through the round hole with the it holding the bail against the frame, the lower runs though the bail and under the frame. Is very secure and has the effect of shifting where the ALICE frame rides on mine up by about 2 inches. I like it to ride a bit higher and on the belt. My canteens and other miscellaneous 'battle rattle' are securely attached to the MOLLE belt which is something you just can't do with the original ALICE belt. The best mod of ole ALICE for me was adding two 'cinch' straps, one just above the pockets and other through the handy belt loop like places the pocket snaps are attached to. That turned mine from Army tick to holding the weight right up against the frame, huge improvement. I also put a map/ document case with integrated bladder pocket on the frame. I carried the stock ALICE in the army and with the occasional improvement haven't seen a need to replace the ole gal.
Nice job. I recently started to do some upgrades to mine. I used some random hardware to upgrade the shelf so that it can hold the weight of the bag when fully packed and keep the bag standing upright.
great video series and hello from Ireland, ive two Alice packs, a medium and a large, i bough the medium surplus 25 years ago and its still going strong
haha the shelf. I bought one 10 years ago, but only this month I bought an ALICE frame with straps. Now I got another 10 years to think about what kind of pack I want to carry with it. Maybe a bucket or a suitcase ;)
I always have the shelf on in case I need to carry something but also to add a bit of stiffness between the sleeping system carrier and ALICE. I keep my machete in sheath tucked between the shelf and bag when I want it close but not in plain sight. The slight weight increase beats the 'oh crap I wish I had it' for me. When I use just the shelf the cinch straps I keep around ALICE double to secure water cans and such to the frame.
That’s an ALICE pack. There is confusion for me because there is another pack named MALICE which that ALICE ruck is not… 🤔 a tip. My shelf is a different style. If you have my style of shelf you can invert it and squeeze and “fit” it into the frame, out of the way behind the kidney pad, so the shelf is always kept with the large Alice and frame. It takes some fiddling with but once you learn how to squeeze it in You don’t even know it’s there unless you know what you are looking at. If needed the ruck cloth can be taken off from the frame. The shelf once unstrapped and pulled out of (I use surplus MOLLE gear straps with fastex buckles (x3) to secure the shelf on the “V” cross members behind the kidney pad frame when not in use or to secure 5 gallon pols jugs or wooden boxes to the frame when it is in use) the frame and installed in short order. Not sure if you can accomplish the same thing with the style of shelf you have. The ALICE imo is one of the best military rucks available to this day. I hit the Marine Corps just right in time to use and be issued three different style Rucks (Alice, FILBE, MOLLE, and I also have used the newest version) The ALICE was what I brought and used on my three combat deployments. It’s also the ruck I would use today. Besides maybe the MALICE which is why I watched this video… 😂
I recommend using a battle belt for upgrading hip belt. pass through the original belt straps through the battle belt and hold them together by using zip ties. I did modify my alice medium that way and its super comfortable now!
the best deal i see online is old grouch's surplus store. skinny medic recommends him, so i think hemust be pretty good. store.oldgrouch.biz/babaanddu.html
Just FYI if you use green apple dye one ACU patterns you get a Digital woodland pattern that works so well at not only making it not look stupid but camouflaging, I don't know why the army didn't just do it to fix the ACU atrocity.
@@renaissancemarinetv3536 And they're out of stock. Just placed an order from there for the MSS carriers and some canteen pouches. If they were in stock, I'd have ordered them. I've noticed on the site that they never take old listings down, so I suspect the price reflects them clearancing them off back when alice packs fell out as a common item. I do have a message into my local surplus store, but not holding much faith that they have them. They're over an hr away on the edge of Fort Drum. As I'm also doing the Hellcat mod on the pack, I'll likely need to extend the frame 6-8" downward to run both a shelf and the shelf, and I'm thinking of a DIY triangular shelf to reduce weight, and give 3 points of contact(more stable on uneven ground) rather than 4 legs.
The best thing to do, is to cut off the top half of the ALICE frame and strap it to a MOLLE frame, so your ALICE pack will slip onto it. Mount your ALICE to a MOLLE frame and youll never turn back. Its a little heavier than the ALICE frame, but load distribution and comfort is far superior, as well as carrying closer to your body, making you more agile.
@@renaissancemarinetv3536 Indeed. I started with just a ½" PCV 'hoop', but had an old wrecked ALICE frame, so I stripped it and tied it down with heavy duty zip ties. Another advantage is being able to set the carry height; I prefer mine a bit higher than either the MOLLE, or ALICE standard. Dry pack and frame is about 8½lb. A lot of that is the suspension hardware. The aluminum ALICE component weighs next to nothing. Thats pretty heavy, but it distributes very well.
My (i think modified) Australian army issue ALICE pack from the 1980s-90s that i got from an SASR soldier (and has been to the middle east something like 8 times) has one of those shelves. i mainly use it to carry PRC-77 radios and the more modern Raven radio. But the actually pack is in great condition and i think the operator i got it from may have modified it slightly because it has the more modern style of clips and has a lot more outer pockets than any other ALICE pack I've seen (Australian, U.S or other wise). But all in all my ALICe pack is just great.
Hey, I might do that, I've been thinking about starting an actual channel for a while, but I'm not actually in the military so i don't know how well i will be able to review the pack or anything, but i do Army Cadets so i do have a bit of "experience" in that sort of stuff
kaufmansarmysurplus.com is where i got them, 5 bucks a piece. i dont know what they would charge for shipping, but if your anywhere near samson alabama i recommmend checking them out. its an experience.
Maybe in your area they're rare but while I'm at the Army Surplus Store is sitting on a case of 5 600 of the backpack shelves lower and medium Yarmouth Surplus Store up north of us has the same amount in the cargo platform Shelf and they're very reasonable price at like five bucks a piece you might want to contact the Sandpoint Idaho army military store or the Bonners Ferry Idaho military surplus store they have great deals I'm a lot of military gear stuff you guys say is out of stock and loss and no longer available but it seems to be invaluable in great quantities here
i love my ALICE its the shit! i think it was used to carry M-249 machine gun belts would love to find out more i've messaged a lot of people but not much info its got 11 written on the lid and back with M-249 on left side and 11 in the middle on the flap that slips over the frame its got history i live in UK btw..
sometimes grunts will customize gear like that. names, or labeling a pocket. just guessing but its possible that alice pack was a squad or platoon pack designated for the machine gunners's A-gunner, or assistant gunner.
Also the military store in Salt Lake City near Sandy and there's another military surplus store 40 miles north very huge military surplus store that got Jeeps I got tanks I got into heavy assault assault vehicles boats and they got like 10 acres ab store and another 35 Acres of outside store
