Mess-tin around

I wear mine all the time, I keep my sandwiches in it during the day and cook my tea in it at night.

On my Y straps I either loop it through the O ring in the middle of the back or make up a WW1 style assault pack with the zeltbahn wrapped around it.

On my A frame I wear it on the A frame.

If I'm not wearing straps I'll put it on my bread bag. That is probably the noisiest option as the gas mask tin crashes into, but hey ho.

Cheers
Martin

I wear mine on the bread bag, and originally didn't use the gas mask tin at all for fear of them crashing together when moving. I tried fiddling around with the webbing, though, and ended up moving the bread bag further onto my right hip (secured in place by the rightmost strap of the zeltbahn) which freed up enough room to hang the gas mask tin on the left like normal. Ran about with the whole ensemble yesterday and there was very few instances of them causing a racket, or much noise at all for that matter.

There was a good picture taken of the set up - I'll post it when I get on the computer letter.

Thanks, the pic would be useful, im surprised that you wear them, like I said ive never noticed people wear them generally speaking, and dispute really seeing a use for them (storage, and more obviously cooking pots) I could never bring myself to wear then in the field, wearing them on the o ring of the y straps is an interesting concept, I just assumed they were only either worn on the a frame/bread bag.

I usually wear mine, either on the Y-straps like Martin or on the breadbag. Like Kendo says, deliberately arrange your kit in a way that keeps things that go clang apart. When I wear my messtins on the breadbag I have the rolled zeltbahn roughly center on my back to stop the gasmask tin crashing against it, loading up your breadbag with things you need or padding will stop the messtins and canteen from knocking against each other.

wearing them on the o ring of the y straps is an interesting concept, I just assumed they were only either worn on the a frame/bread bag.

Well it depends really, if you've got two water bottles (some units, some theatres) there aren't any breadbag hooks left for a tin.

There are various photos of varous configs of mess tins, water bottles and zelts. One of my favourites is the assault pack - rol you zelt into a sausage with a strap and the top and one at the bottom and wrap it around the mess tin (sideways). Then the top zelt strap goes in the O ring, the bottom strap around the vertical Y strap and the mess tin also goes sideways across the vertical Y bit. You can then take the whole Y strap assembly off like a sort of crap pack.

A frames were kind of a mid war thing (and equally crap pack, possibly the worst bit of load bearing gear I've had the misfortune to wear).

Anyway, they lugged all this stuff around in real life, so I do too.

Cheers
Martin

Yeah i have looked at the various ways to equip mess tins on line,

To be honest i have resisted buying an A frame as i was unsure how comfy it is (not that that should matter in combat lol), it doesn't really look like it provides that much support for the weight it can carry, although i do prefer the idea of mounting my mess tins on that rather than the bread bag, plus in theory i like the idea of the extra storage space (having the assault/combat bag), however i can imagine this isnt easy to access without taking the whole thing off.

The assault bag really is a load of crap, it is only useful with a British mess tin inside unless you don't mind all your stuff getting squashed. It is however an extra bag to put things in.

The 'lets zelt' thread has some links to interesting pictures of zelt/mess tin wearing (including the assault pack version). You'll always have to take things off, but it isn't really that different to a British small pack in the regard. It is easy enough to unhook the Y straps.

Bear in mind the German kit was specifically designed to stop soldiers carrying too much stuff and to only be able to access the non essential items (like food) by taking everything off ie when ordered or with the assistance of a comrade.

The only really useful ready access load bearing kit in German gear are ammo pouches, pockets (lots of nice big pockets in the jacket) and using the gas mask tin to store stuff instead of gas mask.

I nice easy combo is mess tin through the O ring on the Y straps and the zelt on Y strap D rings. Takes some of the weight off the belt anyway.

Cheers
Martin

Christ, sorry. Forgot I said I'd post a picture. Better late than never.

Actually a better picture than I thought, 'cause it shows how my brother (on the left) carries his stuff using the A-frame. Hope it helps!

Sorry for the late reply, thanks for the pic, was really useful for helping me plan my setup. Just need to get my hands on a zelt I think to finish it off