Hill People Gear Kit Bags--First Impressions

Last month I published a post concerning "Carrying a Handgun While Hunting or Hiking" that discussed various means of carrying a handgun in the back country. My focus for the most practical method led me to chest holsters, of which there are several varieties. I eventually settled on the Kenai Chest Holster from Gunfighters Inc. , and purchased a harness and holster set for an S&W N-frame .44 Magnum.

    Well, I got some comments and emails from readers suggesting Kit Bags from Hill People Gear. In fact, one reader reached out to his connections with the company asking them to provide a kit bag for my testing and evaluation. So, within a short time after I published my "Carrying a Handgun..." article, I received an email from Evan Hill of Hill People Gear asking which bag I would like to try. After some deliberation, I settled on a Recon Kit Bag in Coyote brown. But in my communications with Evan, I mentioned that I intended using it with the N-frame .44 Mag, and he told me that the Recon Kit Bag would be a tad too small and that they recommended the Original Kit Bag because it was a little roomier. Fortunately, he had just retired one of these, and so sent me his old one. About a week later I was looking at spanking new Recon Kit Bag and an obviously used but still in very serviceable condition Original Kit Bag in gray.

     Now I will say that in my prior research I had come upon lots of people recommending the Hill People Gear products, but one of the reasons that I passed over them was because I (erroneously) believed that you had to purchase a separate holster to use with them. This was incorrect. Although there are two thin velcro strips in the gun pocket, this is merely to accommodate what some users want. Similarly, there is a loop in the gun pocket to which you can attach a Fricke Zacchaeus Holster or MIC Holster (these are both minimalist holsters to cover the trigger and trigger guard of Glock handgun, with a cord placed to pull off the holster when the gun is drawn). But you do not need a separate holster. I want to emphasize this because not only was it not clear to me, but it also means that a Hill People Gear bag is from about 50% to 80% the cost of a Kenai system, depending on the specific model.

    Hill People Gear has a video that explains how to use the bag:

"Drawing From a Kit Bag | In Detail"--Hill People Gear (5 min.)

First Thoughts

    When I first opened the box, I was immediately struck with three thoughts concerning the Kit Bags. First, was the versatility because I wasn't limited to just the one firearm for which I had a Kenai holster: as long as they fit in the gun compartment, I could carry different firearms depending on what I thought best for my needs. Second was that it would better protect a firearm from dirt and grit and the elements than the open holster of the Kenai. Third was that the Kit Bags offered concealment for a firearm by itself.

Recon Bag -- Features

     The Recon Kit Bag is a "medium" offering. It has the same width and height of the larger bags, but only has two main pockets: the gun pocket and a front cargo pocket for carrying additional gear. You can find a list of the features of the Recon Bag here, but I am going to mostly rely on photographs. Please note that the background grid uses one-inch squares.

Recon Kit Bag -- front view

     This is the Recon Kit Bag I tested. This is in Coyote Brown. You can see the MOLLE attachments and I will say that that they are very well stitched on. In fact, the stitching is excellent on everything. My thought with wanting MOLLE attachments was that if I wanted I could attach an extra pouch or two to the front, a knife and sheath, and so on, but with those off, I would have a nice compact piece of gear.

    As you can also see, the zipper is heavy duty and zips up very tight to help keep out water. The tabs are large and make it easy to unzip and zip up the pocket.

Recon Kit Bag -- Back View

     The back view shows how the harness hooks up to the bag. It is a four point harness that has a clip on the right hand side to allow you to put the bag on and take it off. You can see the loops on the bottom of the bag which allow it to be attached to other bags or equipment. You can see on the right how far the zippers come down for the gun pocket: it is the same on the left side. It uses the same heavy duty zipper and pulls as the front pocket.

Recon Bag -- Harness

    This is the view of the actual harness. As you can see, it is a mesh that is very breathable. On the left hand side, you can see one of the elastic keeper for the harness straps so you can roll up any extra length you have and keep it from tangling. Below is another photograph showing the details of the zipper on the gun pocket.

Recon Kit Bag -- Detail of the zipper for the gun pocket

Recon Kit Bag -- Gun Pocket

     The photograph above shows the bag with the gun pocket completely unzipped. The manufacturer claims that no additional holster is necessary when the kit is being worn. I believe it. With the kit on the table, and a cocked (but unloaded) Glock on the gun pocket, I tried to depress the trigger through the fabric between the gun pocket and the front pocket. I was able to do so, but it wasn't easy. In any event, if you want to add a holster, there is a strip of velcro down the middle of the back wall of the pocket allowing you to attach a holster. There is also a loop you can see at the bottom to which you can attach a Fricke Zacchaeus Holster or MIC Holster, which are minimalist kydex holsters that just fit over the trigger guard.

Recon Kit Bag -- Front Pocket

     Finally, here is a photograph showing the inside of the front pocket. As you can see, there are a couple pouches on the back wall of the pocket, allowing you to further organize your gear.

The Original Kit Bag -- Features

Original Kit Bag in gray (what the company terms "Manatee"). 

    Most of the features of the Original Kit Bag are the same as the Recon Kit Bag. The main differences are that it does not have the the external MOLLE attachments of the Recon Bag and it has a middle pocket making it overall roomier. Moreover, the internal pocket has a back wall cut for PALS attachments and uses a fabric to which you can stick Velcro.

Original Kit Bag -- Middle Pocket

What Firearms Fit?

     Of course, if you are interested in one of these bags for carrying a handgun, one of your questions will likely be whether your firearm fits. Hill People Gear has a forum which notes various handguns that people have found fit their products, and I recommend looking through that to see if your specific firearm will fit.

     The Hill People Gear bags that I received for testing were obviously large enough for most any everyday carry gun, but what about the larger firearms that you might want in the back country? My first test, then, was to see what firearms would fit each of the bags.

     Since my initial interest was to carry a .44 Magnum S&W "Mountain Gun"--a 4" barrel N-frame--I tried that in each of the Kit Bags. As Evan Hill had warned, the handgun was just a tad too big to fit in the Recon Kit Bag, but the slighter deeper compartment on the Original Kit Bag was just enough to squeeze it in and zip up the sides.

4-inch N-Frame lying on top of Original Kit Bag

    Over the next couple of weeks, I was able to test the fit of other handguns, some mine and some belonging to people I know. Since the bags would fit or nearly fit an N-frame revolver, my goal was not to test medium and small handguns that were substantially smaller in dimensions, but firearms that I thought would work but might be pushing the limits. So, this is what I tested and found that worked:

• 4-inch barrel Single Action Army revolver in .45 Colt: This firearm was just a bit too big to fit into either of the Kit Bags because of the heel of the pistol grip was just a bit too long. I suspect that if it had a Bisley style grip, which is more vertical, it may have fit; but I don't have one available to test and can't say for certain, though.
• Ruger Wrangler .22 LR revolver with a 4-inch barrel: This is essentially a .22 LR sized Single Action Army style handgun. This firearm fit in both bags.
• 4-inch barrel .357 Magnum service revolver: This firearm fit in both bags.
• Glock 34 (5.32-inch barrel): The Glock 34 uses the Model 17 frame, but has a longer slide and barrel. This firearm fit in both bags.
• Full size .45 ACP 1911 handgun (5-inch barrel): This firearm fit both bags.
• S&W Model 10 with a 5-inch barrel: This is an S&W K-frame revolver and fit into both bags, but it was also clear that if the barrel had been any longer, it would not have fit.
• Browning Buckmark with 6-inch barrel: I actually didn't expect this because of the barrel length, but this firearm fit both bags.
• As noted above, the 4-inch N-frame revolver fit (barely) into the Original Kit bag but not the Recon kit bag.

So the basic takeaway is that most defensive handguns, whether revolver or semi-auto, with 4-inch or shorter barrels should fit both bags fine. Revolvers with 6-inch barrels would probably not fit. The real difficulty is with large bore revolvers, where even 4-inch barrel lengths might be too big. My N-frame fit; a large-bore Ruger or Taurus might not.

Drawing From The Holster--A Comparison

Glock 34 sitting on Recon Kit Bag--this firearm fit inside the holster pocket without any problem

     Since this whole affair arose over whether the Kenai chest holster of the Hill Gear Kit Bag was the better holster, I decided to test the two looking at draw times. Drawing started with the weapon in the holster, no covering garments, and hands at my side. I used a shot timer to measure the time between the beep, when I would move to draw, to when the first shot was fired. I used the .44 Magnum N-frame revolver in both tests, drawing from Kenai and the Hill Gear Kit Bag, and did two sets of six. There is a bit of a learning curve with both holsters, and I should have practiced before hand, but I didn't and so these are "cold" numbers.

	Kenai Chest Holster		Hill People Gear Original Kit Bag
Shot Number	First Set (sec.)	Second Set (sec.)	First Set (sec.)	Second Set (sec.)
1	2.61	2.15	3.82	3.86
2	2.15	2.07	5.53	3.94
3	2.00	1.82	4.22	3.94
4	1.72	1.95	3.90	3.81
5	2.23	1.76	3.18	3.26
6	2.33	2.03	3.22	3.40
Average	2.17	1.96	3.98	3.70

    So, basically I was consistently getting around 2 seconds to draw and fire the revolver from the Kenai Holster, but nearly 4 seconds from the Hill Gear Kit Bag. A big part of the issue with the Kit Bag was having to pull open the gun pouch far enough that I could access the revolver. That, in turn, was highly dependent on whether I was able to hook my thumb through a gap left between the two zippers on the right-hand corner and pull it open or not. If the opening was too small, it could significantly slow down the process. This is one of the reasons for the large variability in times and for the longer times. If I had been more careful of the opening size, I suspect that my average time would have been smaller.

    But that is still over one-second longer than the Kenai holster. And I think it is the difference between drawing from an open Kydex holster and the concealed nature of the pouch in the Kit Bag.

   But I also noted that the zipper on a few of my shots tended to bind a bit around the bottom of the grip on the revolver. It was simply such a large gun that it was pushing against and slightly deforming the zipper, which I believe also slowed me down. So, to make the test a bit more fair, I decided to do another draw test, except this time using the Hill Gear Recon Kit Bag and my Remington R51. Those results were better, with the following times:

	Recon Kit Bag
Shot Number	First Set (sec.)	Second Set (sec.)
1	2.98	4.44
2	3.34	2.43
3	2.62	2.49
4	3.94	2.25
5	2.59	2.69
Average	3.09	2.86

Again, I had a couple fumbles that increased my average time. Ignoring those, my time was closer to 2.5 seconds, which is probably indicative of what I would get once I was use to the holster and firearm combination.

Carrying The Respective Holsters

     For something that is going into the backwoods or brush with you, how well it carries the firearm is important. Balancing of the weight is particularly important, because my back will quickly start hurting if the balance is off.

    When I tested the Kenai holster with the .44 Magnum, I wore it while I did some yard work: in particular, I was spraying a spider barrier with a pump dispenser that required me to repeatedly get up and down from kneeling positions and bend over. The balance was pretty good. The primary problem was concealing the weapon. Even wearing a light jacket, the grip of the handgun protruded quite noticeably. So, the Kenai Holster, at least with that size of handgun, was not a good choice for concealed carry.

    Concealed carry with the Original Kit Bag with the .44 Magnum was no problem. The bag conceals the weapon very well--better than many fanny pack holsters I've tried or seen.

    But what about balance? My test this time was, again, more house/yard maintenance work. This time, I was climbing a ladder to get on the roof of my house and using a leaf blower to blow fallen leaves off the roof (there are a couple sections in particular where them seem to pile up) and to blow them out of the gutters. Once I was again on the ground, I also then raked up the leaves and cleaned up other debris I had blown from the roof and gutters.

    I was very impressed with the Original Kit Bag through all of this. I think that the 4-point harness distributed and carried the weight better than the Kenai rig. This is not to say that the Kenai was bad, but to say that the Kit Bag was exceptionally good. And, as noted, concealment of even that large of a firearm was no problem.

Concluding Thoughts

     Considering the foregoing, I see the Hill People Gear kit bags and the Kenai holster (or other similar chest holsters) as fulfilling related, but slightly different roles.

      The Hill People Gear bags would, in my opinion, be the better option for the person wanting to carry a firearm for self-protection while engaging in outdoor activities such as mountain biking, hiking, camping, or as a backup to a hunting rifle; activities where the firearm is secondary to the activity. It conceals and protects the firearm, allows you to keep some survival gear or a first aid kit on your person, and distributes and balances the weight very well. Because it is not molded for a particular firearm, it gives you greater options for carry. Just going on a short hike where feral dogs are your biggest danger, you can slip in something smaller and lighter. Going on a camping trip where you might meet up with larger predators, including the 2-legged kind, slip in a full size handgun.

    For the person actually hunting--that is, intending to shoot the game--with a large caliber, long-barrel handgun, the Kenai holster would probably be the better choice. You can carry a larger, longer-barreled firearm (assuming Kenai makes a suitable holster), and it is a bit quicker to access (as long as you don't have it under a zipped coat). 

     I think you would be happy with either, but for most people, the Hill Gear Kit Bag will probably be a better, overall choice, because of the versatility and concealability.