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Posted: 5/9/2026 10:55:21 AM EDT
| What are your thoughts and experiences with the SMERSH rig, by SSO/SPOSEN ? Basically I really like my DZ rig and I wanted something Eastern to run with my AK in a lbe format. |
| It's not going to compare to a DZ rig, but they are decently comfortable and serviceable rigs. |
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Originally Posted By Kane419: @lew that's fair enough . Only thing I'm not super stoked about are those fixed grenade pouches. Other than that seems like you said it will be well enough for the purpose. @Kane419 Those fixed pouches aren't terribly useful, but they don't really get in the way or detract from the overall system. It's not a bad set of LBE. And it's specifically intended for AK mags. If you have the money, I don't think you'll regret it. Of course, you'll need Adidas shoes and a Gorka suit, so budget for those. 
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"What is socialism? The most difficult and tortuous way to progress from capitalism to capitalism." -Stated at an intel conference, East Berlin, Oct. 1988
"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods." -H.L. Mencken
"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods." -H.L. Mencken
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1. SMERSH is cool. It just is. It's got the vibe. 2. SMERSH works. There's nothing wrong with it specifically. 3. SMERSH is NOT as good as the DZ rig or the other really good modern rigs. It still works, but it isn't nearly as comfortable or refined. Think of SMERSH like the British PLCE series, it's about as good as those. Pros and cons between the two obviously. 4. Older SMERSH sets are better - the material used was alot better. The metal buckles and such rust easily. 5. If you're going to get one, consider the Kommandostore repro. It's made by Arktis. The fabric is 330D cordura though. I think it's similar in weight to the fabric used in the modern SPOSN and such SMERSH rigs. 6. It's expensive to get ahold of real Russian SMERSH rigs. The knockoffs (other than the Arktis ones) are crappy. By the time you source a set and add water bottle pouches, it's going to be relatively $$$$. 7. Consider buying mag pouches to go on your DZ rig that take AK mags. It will be far more comfortable in the end. If you can't find decent ones you like, the mag pouches I make for my belt kits fit 3 x STANAG magazines AND will fit 2 x AK magazines perfectly. I am an AK guy at heart and wanted dual use magazine pouches on my 'perfect set of belt kit'. The pouches will fit on a DZ Rig. (Or get a whole set of belt kit from me of course) Short version? SMERSH is cool and works. If you need the vibe, go for it. If you care about best rig, get a DZ rig and put AK mag pouches on it. Or buy one of mine. I can't think of anyone else making AK mag pouch equipped modern belt kits, but I'm sure someone does. Please comment if you know others. |
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Originally Posted By lew: Of course, you'll need Adidas shoes and a Gorka suit, so budget for those. ^^ This. And make a playlist with some Russian hardbass music to shoot to.  Russian Hardbass Mix #1 (Hard Bass School/ DJ Blyatman) |
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| @marnsdorff solid point on using AK pouches on my DZ rig . I want to add a dedicated rig for my old school AKM so leaning towards vibe but it will still get the job done. If I find it sucks for me with all the weight of the heavy AK 7.62 mags then I'll definitely get a AK pouch to go on the DZ rig. |
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Originally Posted By Kane419: @lew Adidas and a gorka suit , copy that. . lol Da, harosho! Marmsdorff is absolutely right about the varying quality. The one my buddy has is straight from Rossiya pre-war and is well-built. The ones coming from Eastern Europe now are all over the map, with most being pretty chintzy. Kommando Store's is your best bet. Finding a good water bottle pouch is important. |
"What is socialism? The most difficult and tortuous way to progress from capitalism to capitalism." -Stated at an intel conference, East Berlin, Oct. 1988
"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods." -H.L. Mencken
"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods." -H.L. Mencken
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Originally Posted By Kane419: @ROCK6 that is smooth . That's kind of the style I was thinking. Definitely wanted a dedicated AK setup i can just put with the gear . What brand are those nalgene pouches ? I'm leaning towards ranger Green or something like that. I think they're were some Condor pouches, nothing special. My favorite for this purpose would be the Platatac 152 pouches. There is a guy on another forum with his own YouTube channel, Modern Minuteman that painted his Multicam Diz rig a ranger green color and it's not too bad looking. ROCK6 |
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants" - Thomas Jefferson
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Originally Posted By Kane419: @ROCK6 that is smooth . That's kind of the style I was thinking. Definitely wanted a dedicated AK setup i can just put with the gear . What brand are those nalgene pouches ? I'm leaning towards ranger Green or something like that. If you get a smersh, be sure to get it in one of the specifically Russian camo patterns or solid colors. Since you are going for vibe. |
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Originally Posted By Kane419: @marnsdorff solid point on using AK pouches on my DZ rig . I want to add a dedicated rig for my old school AKM so leaning towards vibe but it will still get the job done. If I find it sucks for me with all the weight of the heavy AK 7.62 mags then I'll definitely get a AK pouch to go on the DZ rig. Nothing wrong with vibe. And I am a believer in having some kind of usable gear set for each rifle you own, even if it's a cheap FLC or chicom chest rig setup. Going a little overboard and getting something cool for a classic AK is just bonus points. It's like getting a set of South African web gear for your FAL. Because. Or a set of ALICE gear for that M-16A1 repro. Fun side effect - when the Chicom paratroopers start dropping in your neighborhood, or the aliens invade, your crew of alien hunters is going to be dressed in style. And it's going to cause some hilarious pictures in 50 years when people document the event and talk about it on whatever ARFCOM is like in 50 years. (either on the virtual net on one of Elon's starships....or around the communal campfire of your local tribe wandering the wastelands) The apocalypse gives bonus points for style. Anyways. Saying all that...if it was like it was back a few years ago when you could reliably get a set of SMERSH for $200, I'd tell you to just do that fo' so'. But it's not like that anymore. |
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Originally Posted By marnsdorff: Aren't those pouches insulated? Added bonus in the summer and winter. Platatac, No. The round pouches do have a light  ROCK6 |
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants" - Thomas Jefferson
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Originally Posted By ROCK6: Platatac, No. The round pouches do have a light https://www.uspatriottactical.com/photos/styles/USPT_TP622_SOCP_1500_1.JPG ROCK6 MOST of the condor stuff is a step above MOST of the other chinese crap. Some of it is pretty decent. Some of it ended up being utter garbage. Those pouches look like the upper end of that scale. |
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| https://photos.app.goo.gl/UXhhngDxJdBrcmi5A so I got a ranger green SSO/SPOSEN legit smersh. My old AKM was my first center fire rifle that got me here so getting a quality LBE setup feels right to me. Looking at MOLLE water bottle pouches in R.G. now. I've found Amazon ones for $15 and up to Esstac for like $40 . |
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Originally Posted By Kane419: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UXhhngDxJdBrcmi5A so I got a ranger green SSO/SPOSEN legit smersh. My old AKM was my first center fire rifle that got me here so getting a quality LBE setup feels right to me. Looking at MOLLE water bottle pouches in R.G. now. I've found Amazon ones for $15 and up to Esstac for like $40 . Make sure that your SMERSH has molle attachment for the water bottle pouches. The OG style SMERSH do NOT have MOLLE for the water bottle pouches. It's an ALICE / PLCE kinda style web belt. But an odd size if I remember right. Edit: You can see the belt in this picture.  https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/JQEAAOSwestn~7Rg/s-l1600.jpg |
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Originally Posted By marnsdorff: Make sure that your SMERSH has molle attachment for the water bottle pouches. The OG style SMERSH do NOT have MOLLE for the water bottle pouches. It's an ALICE / PLCE kinda style web belt. But an odd size if I remember right. Edit: You can see the belt in this picture. https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/JQEAAOSwestn~7Rg/s-l1600.jpg https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/JQEAAOSwestn~7Rg/s-l1600.jpg Mine is OG, but you can still mount the MOLLE pouches on them. It won't be as "tight" but it works pretty good as is (much, much better than old school ALICE Clips!  )ROCK6 |
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants" - Thomas Jefferson
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Originally Posted By ROCK6: Mine is OG, but you can still mount the MOLLE pouches on them. It won't be as "tight" but it works pretty good as is (much, much better than old school ALICE Clips! )ROCK6 ALICE clips? You mean paracord and zip ties, right? ....right?..... (I just pulled out some of my leftover alice gear, putting together a set of 'army gear' for my soon to be 10 year old nephew. First thing I did was pull all the alice clips that were still on them off and cut the metal tabs off of the Y harness) |
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Cool rig, OP. Ranger green is dang versatile. Originally Posted By marnsdorff: ALICE clips? You mean paracord and zip ties, right? ....right?..... (I just pulled out some of my leftover alice gear, putting together a set of 'army gear' for my soon to be 10 year old nephew. First thing I did was pull all the alice clips that were still on them off and cut the metal tabs off of the Y harness) I used to play with ALICE and M56 gear as a kid. Hated those damn clips. Paracord worked alright, but MALICE clips changed everything. 
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"What is socialism? The most difficult and tortuous way to progress from capitalism to capitalism." -Stated at an intel conference, East Berlin, Oct. 1988
"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods." -H.L. Mencken
"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods." -H.L. Mencken
|
Originally Posted By marnsdorff: ALICE clips? You mean paracord and zip ties, right? ....right?..... (I just pulled out some of my leftover alice gear, putting together a set of 'army gear' for my soon to be 10 year old nephew. First thing I did was pull all the alice clips that were still on them off and cut the metal tabs off of the Y harness) Which is exactly why we either used 550 cord or zipties, those clips sucked donkey balls! ROCK6 |
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Originally Posted By lew: Cool rig, OP. Ranger green is dang versatile. I used to play with ALICE and M56 gear as a kid. Hated those damn clips. Paracord worked alright, but MALICE clips changed everything. Same. My gear life started when I got a set of ALICE gear and medium ALICE pack when I was a young teenager. Back before good info was available on the internet. I quickly learned to mod my gear - my first mods were the ALICE clips and metal clips on the harness. Swapping them for paracord. I loved running around in the woods with that gear. It's probably why I still have an affinity for belt kits. |
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Right there with you. I enlisted in the Infantry when in high school. Where my gear queer kicked in was in college ROTC, where we had a small core of prior service light Infantry, Ranger, SF, Airborne, Air Assault, and Pathfinder tabbed bros. We did a lot of field training on our own and gear mods were passed down hacks. Most had to keep their Alice clips since their kit was school/Army issued. Our little core purchased and modified our own kit. Back to the Smersh. There are two straps that turn the harness from four points to six points. I've finally added them (instructions were shitty and I had no idea what they were for ), and they make a big difference with stability. OP, if your Smersh shows up in pieces, there are s few videos that show the easiest way to assemble it. ROCK |
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants" - Thomas Jefferson
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Originally Posted By ROCK6: Right there with you. I enlisted in the Infantry when in high school. Where my gear queer kicked in was in college ROTC, where we had a small core of prior service light Infantry, Ranger, SF, Airborne, Air Assault, and Pathfinder tabbed bros. We did a lot of field training on our own and gear mods were passed down hacks. Most had to keep their Alice clips since their kit was school/Army issued. Our little core purchased and modified our own kit. Back to the Smersh. There are two straps that turn the harness from four points to six points. I've finally added them (instructions were shitty and I had no idea what they were for ), and they make a big difference with stability. OP, if your Smersh shows up in pieces, there are s few videos that show the easiest way to assemble it. ROCK I've also seen SPOSN SMERSH sets with 8 point harnesses too. I am a fan of 8 point harnesses. They usually help stability even more, especially with heavier loads. 
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Originally Posted By Kane419: @marnsdorff never seen that before. Looking like a net of straps to me . You don't have to cross the side straps. I run mine un-crossed. It's less messy this way. On the other hand, I have a buddy who DOES run his 8 point harness crossed - he says it helps pull the load in tighter to the body and stabilize and distribute the weight better. Then again, he's also using it to run a belt fed ammo load..... |
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Originally Posted By Kane419: @ROCK6 watched a bunch of those on YouTube and I don't remember a single one with clear instructions on setting up the 6 point harness like a PLCE ? I'm interested in setting up like that. This is the one I used:  SSO\SPOSN Smersh assembly review. ROCK6 |
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The smersh prices are ultra inflated these days after the start of the war. While the older ones (early 2000 timeframe) have always been collectible items at the time there were many newer ones (after 2010 or the molle ones) that couldn't sell for over 100€ here. Now they easily sell at double the price since they can't be bought new. That said, the Smersh is cool, but is it a good, quality and practical rig? It became popular when there was a russian craze in the early 2000s even over there in the US (remember? Ak with aftermarket things, Gorka in ww2 camo and such) and there was for the civilians some need to get Ak rigs and russian rigs sure complemented well the whole craze. Is it a good design? well it's an improved alice with some stability to the pouches as they interlock with both the belt and the nice belt pad, the harness is reasonably good. Is it a quality design?....well some variants are on par with alice, some are poor quality even between the older russian made variants, choose wisely. Is it a practical design? the base is not bad, the ammo pouches that are the most important thing aren't that bad, the buttpack is something the US customer is accustomed to....but that's all, there are two underbarrel grenade launcher ammo pouches that are unusable and if you want to add extra pouches you have to rig your molle or alice pouches to it. There are some chinese made Smersh rigs available from aliexpress these days that i am not sure are much worse than the russian ones. i am referring to the ones that have a laser cut belt with laser cut star shapes if you search for them, they are priced around 90$, they are not the 50$ ones. i saw a couple for sale 2nd hand around 35$ and may buy one to check, not that i really have an use for it. |
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Originally Posted By joeviterbo: The smersh prices are ultra inflated these days after the start of the war. While the older ones (early 2000 timeframe) have always been collectible items at the time there were many newer ones (after 2010 or the molle ones) that couldn't sell for over 100€ here. Now they easily sell at double the price since they can't be bought new. That said, the Smersh is cool, but is it a good, quality and practical rig? It became popular when there was a russian craze in the early 2000s even over there in the US (remember? Ak with aftermarket things, Gorka in ww2 camo and such) and there was for the civilians some need to get Ak rigs and russian rigs sure complemented well the whole craze. Is it a good design? well it's an improved alice with some stability to the pouches as they interlock with both the belt and the nice belt pad, the harness is reasonably good. Is it a quality design?....well some variants are on par with alice, some are poor quality even between the older russian made variants, choose wisely. Is it a practical design? the base is not bad, the ammo pouches that are the most important thing aren't that bad, the buttpack is something the US customer is accustomed to....but that's all, there are two underbarrel grenade launcher ammo pouches that are unusable and if you want to add extra pouches you have to rig your molle or alice pouches to it. There are some chinese made Smersh rigs available from aliexpress these days that i am not sure are much worse than the russian ones. i am referring to the ones that have a laser cut belt with laser cut star shapes if you search for them, they are priced around 90$, they are not the 50$ ones. i saw a couple for sale 2nd hand around 35$ and may buy one to check, not that i really have an use for it. You also gotta remember that up until just a few years ago - and especially so in the early 2000's - belt kit options were literally non-existent (outside of ALICE gear) here in the USA. SMERSH was better know, easier to get ahold of - and alot cheaper - than even British surplus PLCE stuff. It was almost the case that if you wanted a set of belt kit, you had to get ALICE or SMERSH or go source some 'weird foreign thing' that little specific knowledge existed for here in the USA. Sure there were a few other options out there - FMCO or whatever it was - but that was basically modded out ALICE gear - as an example. But not many people even knew they existed. |
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Originally Posted By Kane419: @ROCK6 @marnsdorff https://photos.app.goo.gl/VDKTGLdo1SMyWkM16 So for my nalgene H2O bottle pouch I landed on LAPG in ranger green with a add on pouch on sale for 15 each . 40 shipped ,GTG . This Is The Way (on sale) |
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Originally Posted By Kane419: @ROCK6 @marnsdorff https://photos.app.goo.gl/VDKTGLdo1SMyWkM16 So for my nalgene H2O bottle pouch I landed on LAPG in ranger green with a add on pouch on sale for 15 each . 40 shipped ,GTG . Good price and they'll give you a good idea for how that style works for your without breaking the bank. ROCK6 |
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