I was out with the family trick or treating tonight and after we were done in the area around our house we piled into our van and headed over to my parents house to show off our costumes and visit with them as we do every year as Halloween is also their Anniversary. So when we arrived we jumped out of the van and my wife was helping our boys so I attempted to put my pack on without her assistance, which I’ve had to do a couple of times since getting my pack and was successful doing so, but tonight I damn near had a heart attack because as I was putting one of my arms through the loop the strap let go and my pack fell to the ground. Minimal damage has been done, but it so far appears that there is nothing that I can’t fix, so far.
So my question is has this happened to anyone else in the community? And additionally, how can I avoid this happening again?
Glad to hear your pack escaped major damage; I’m sure this has happened to most of at least once. It might help if you specified which strap came undone. It’s possible that a botton sanp may not have held it secure or possibly that you have the strap incorrectly threaded.
Thanks. The HGA and Clippard valve were knocked off the pack body while the bottom of my TC thrower is all that came off the thrower itself, so just eye balling it it all looks repairable but I’ll find out when I tend to it tomorrow or the next day. And I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one that its happened to.
Sorry I didn’t specify, they are LC1 and it was the strap at the top of the shoulder pad that loops through the top of the frame and back to the pad through a black fastening buckle (not sure of the actual name of it) that let go. The strap being incorrectly threaded is a possibility, but I am uncertain as until this incident the straps have never come off the frame since the pack has been in my possession.
Last Halloween I got extremely lucky and managed to avoid such an accident. The straps were LC-1 and fastening buckle was just worn out. Instead of replacing anything, I just had my gf sew the strap so that it wouldn’t slip again. It made any kind of adjustment impossible so that’s something to keep in mind.
What kind of frame do you have? From what I’m told, the MILSPEC frames tend to cause the straps to slip from time to time… not sure how true of a statement that is, but my vintage LC-1 frames hold my LC-1 straps pretty damn tight…
You do have a MILSPEC frame, however, it seems the frame wasn’t the issue… I think the rivet method would help… I may actually do that myself, especially considering that part of my pack is never adjusted…
That’s happened once to a couple of my packs. I always check the straps now before putting my newest one on, but securing the top strap is a great idea!
I nearly had the same thing happen to me. I simply check the straps each time that I go to put on the pack now. Once the pack is on, the weight of it should prevent the straps from slipping through the buckle.
The quick release mechanism still makes me a bit nervous, but that’s another matter…
It looks as if your Alice straps are milspec which means they’re not technically real. Real straps are marginally thicker and their Alice webbing and that particular area which allows them to make contact in a more solid fashion and also allows them to maintain the integrity when great amounts of weight or put on to the Atlas frame is the moon problem with mil spec straps to slide thru as the nylon used for the straps is subpar compared to actual military use straps.
I have vintage LC1 straps and frame, and I struggle to get the straps through if I want to adjust them, it’s hard for me to believe that mine would ever slip…
I once replaced my vintage straps with reproductions only to have the webbing slip right through the retention rings the first time I tried to put it on. Thank god I had a spare set of straps with me.
So does that work well with the top strap? I was considering safety pins or some kind of pin so I could still re adjust the straps if I needed to, but if the zip tie works well I can go that route as well.
What’s the best way to tell the difference between MILSPEC and vintage straps? A lot of times, the stamped labels are faded and difficult to read… I can tell the difference between frames, but straps are another story… Is it the aforementioned sheen to the material? The texture?
