Mystery Ranch 3 Day Assault BVS

[drn1234]

Does anyone have any experience with this pack? I am looking for a new pack to hold all my long range gear and have room for food, water, rain gear, fleece.

I like that it has top access like an alice pack, but still can open wide down the middle if you need it. It seems to have allot of zippered storage as well.

Is this pack worth the money? Any cons to it?

I have an eberlestock now and like it except for the front load only. If I need to just grab and go I need to take the time to zip up the front. That is why I was looking changing.

 

[45.308]

With that pack, no but I have tested and demo'd my fair share of packs over decades. My main mantra is fast and light and the lighter I am the faster I move burning less energy and recovering quicker. The faster I move the more terrain I can eat up, the more terrain I consume the less time I am exposed to dangers. Durability is a concern but with today's light fabrics they are tuff, not balloon fabric like the past.

Most Dana packs are way over built, always have been to the determent that they are way too heavy and this pack is no exception. Of course, others will have a different view and that is what make horse races. A 6 pound 2000ci pack is just ridiculous in my opinion, that is just wasted weight on the body. And why does a 2000ci pack require a full frame, again this is something my experience cannot fathom. Others will say they carried this and that super heavy kit and so I have but with a light weight frameless pack. The other times I am moving quickly burning less time and energy.

The zipper down the main body is a novelty to me, you and others may disagree and have some use for it but me, not real practical to unzip when the pack is loaded to find and remove or add more kit then try to zip it back up especially on the fly. The design was tried years ago, can not remember by whom but it was not a huge success at the time, of course times change though. And while today's zippers rarely fail it is another stress point that is prone to fail.

Is it a bad pack, nope but to me it is over built and I can use a different pack for less money and weight.

good luck

 

[Bruiser_Joe]

it is my GO-TO pack, i use mine ALOT. it is currently with me in the sandbox. love it, great pack

 

[bohica17]

45.308 tell us how you can not use that bag for what he is asking. I bought one for my last deployment and it was amazing. I had people trying to buy it off me for damn near double what it was worth. And a typical load out for me was spotting scope, small tripod, LRF, frag, smoke, 4 mags for my ar or 60 rounds for my m110, 5 liters of water, food, poncho/woobie, head light, iv/stick kit, mbitr batteries, other batteries, 4 tourniquets, 2 pressure dressings, sketch pad, camera, beanie, muti tool, and shit sometimes id even stuff a m320 with 12 rounds of hedp and it all fit. It is a very good bag if you know how to pack. Also zipperdown the outside is useless? Maybe your just running to fast with all your light weight stuff. Because when you take the bag off and that little frame that you said is not needed helps keep everything where you packed it, its really easy to unzip grab something at the bottom you need zip back up, ruck up and keep going. And Dana makes his pack's to tough/heavy? Cant tell you how many aftermarket bag's on my last deployment got cut's and rips all over them from the small mountains we had. Back to the op, its a great bag. Also the mystery cinch is really nice when your in body armor, helps keep the blood flowing in the arms and when you need to engage keeps the pocket of your shoulder clear. My rto had the S.A.T.L. and he loved it as well, another one of our shooters had the nice crewcrab and he loved it. No one thought they were heavy from our section.

 

[Bracamonte]

45.308 is just speaking out of experience. A lot of us with a ton of back-country miles will have this same opinion about the Mystery Ranch packs. That being said, the Assault Pack and most of the Mystery Rach packs are made for a different job. Dana has always had "heavy" designs with bells and whistles. It transfers well to carry really heavy loads of equipment that are awkward shapes needing modular adaptation. I'm a huge Arcteryx and Gregory user (even promo'd Gregory a bit once upon a time), but I do own one Mystery Ranch pack. I have it for strapping a .308 and an elk head too.

Cons: high-price, and heavy for what you are buying.

The quality is going to be much better than Eberlestock.

Is it worth it? Probably if you are using it for the purpose it was built for: carrying really heavy loads, taking a huge beating, and lasting a lifetime.

If you are wanting something to just hold simple equipment on small shooting excursions, I would look further.

 

[drn1234]

Thanks everyone, both views are very helpful. I tend to go with gear that is a little overbuilt because I have had issues with the more cost effective items in the past.
To me good zippers trump all. I cant tell you how many times my eberlestock pack got the zipper caught in the little fabric flap. Once so bad I had to wait until i got home to take pliers to it.

I am going to contact Mystery Ranch today and se if they have a stock distributer in Colorado so I can take a look at it first hand.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[PatrickChewing]

I have a Dragon Slayer. I opted for this model instead of the 3 Day Assault BVS because its lighter and I don't need provisions for body armor. So far I love it. The build quality is fantastic and the folks at Mystery Ranch were very helpful with getting me what I wanted. I had an Eberlestock LoDrag and there is no comparison in terms of build quality and stiffness.

 

[bohica17]

As far as I know they have no distributors, you have to order straight through them. There customer service is fantastic as well.

 

[sr15match]

Unless your wearing body armor skip the BVS option, you don't need it. The 3-Day Assault is on my short list but I do have a coyote brown Dragon Slayer with optional side attachment pockets. I love it and use it for all my traveling downrange. Think hard if you think you might want to pack a bit extra at times, the Dragon Slayer offers a little extra room and the price is right when comparing the two packs. MY customer service is awesome and if you ask when you call (I recommend calling), ask about "seconds". Sometimes they have some and the prices are a bit easier to swallow. $325 for the basic 3-day assault verses $299 for the Dragon Slayer, you choose.

I also have an Eberlestock Half-Trac. Both measure about the same cubic inch wise, both front load but I prefer carrying the Mystery Ranch more so it's my go to pack.

I'll have a 3-Day Assault pack one of these days.

Here's my Dragon Slayer with side pockets.

 

[45.308]

45.308 tell us how you can not use that bag for what he is asking. I bought one for my last deployment and it was amazing. I had people trying to buy it off me for damn near double what it was worth. And a typical load out for me was spotting scope, small tripod, LRF, frag, smoke, 4 mags for my ar or 60 rounds for my m110, 5 liters of water, food, poncho/woobie, head light, iv/stick kit, mbitr batteries, other batteries, 4 tourniquets, 2 pressure dressings, sketch pad, camera, beanie, muti tool, and shit sometimes id even stuff a m320 with 12 rounds of hedp and it all fit. It is a very good bag if you know how to pack. Also zipperdown the outside is useless? Maybe your just running to fast with all your light weight stuff. Because when you take the bag off and that little frame that you said is not needed helps keep everything where you packed it, its really easy to unzip grab something at the bottom you need zip back up, ruck up and keep going. And Dana makes his pack's to tough/heavy? Cant tell you how many aftermarket bag's on my last deployment got cut's and rips all over them from the small mountains we had. Back to the op, its a great bag. Also the mystery cinch is really nice when your in body armor, helps keep the blood flowing in the arms and when you need to engage keeps the pocket of your shoulder clear. My rto had the S.A.T.L. and he loved it as well, another one of our shooters had the nice crewcrab and he loved it. No one thought they were heavy from our section.

No where did I say it would not work, I said it way over priced and way too heavy for a 2000ci pack to tote shooting gear and day kit. There are many packs out there at the same volume that will do the job just as well for a third of the price and weight. I have tried a main body zipper years ago and it was useless. Its been tried on several packs 10 or more years ago with little success. Of course laying a pack down so the kit settles can help but then again, why, if you have the pack off your body, use the top, its a small volume 2000ci pack, not a 8000ci load monster. Its a stress point, zippers rarely fail these day as do buckles but I know they can fail.

I have a 2 pound 4 ounce WildThings Andinista made from Technora that is 4000ci and has been used to guide and play since around 1996, I have carried up to and over 100 pounds, I doubt many pack have that much abuse on them.

Again, I said others may disagree but its my experience with packs in general and Dana packs, I sold and fit them for years, just not that pack. I did not attack anyone's opinion or experience, I gave my own is all.

 

[blair]

I have one and love it. The BVS option helps with air flow, even if you aren't wearing armor. Highly recommended.

 

[sr15match]

No where did I say it would not work, I said it way over priced and way too heavy for a 2000ci pack to tote shooting gear and day kit. There are many packs out there at the same volume that will do the job just as well for a third of the price and weight. I have tried a main body zipper years ago and it was useless. Its been tried on several packs 10 or more years ago with little success. Of course laying a pack down so the kit settles can help but then again, why, if you have the pack off your body, use the top, its a small volume 2000ci pack, not a 8000ci load monster. Its a stress point, zippers rarely fail these day as do buckles but I know they can fail.

I have a 2 pound 4 ounce WildThings Andinista made from Technora that is 4000ci and has been used to guide and play since around 1996, I have carried up to and over 100 pounds, I doubt many pack have that much abuse on them.

Again, I said others may disagree but its my experience with packs in general and Dana packs, I sold and fit them for years, just not that pack. I did not attack anyone's opinion or experience, I gave my own is all.

I guess that's why we all have our own opinions, preferences and needs for different things otherwise there wouldn't be a market for such options. For the smaller packs I prefer the full zip as the 3-day or my Dragon Slayer has and the opening front on my Eberlestock Half Track. I'm packing tighter into a smaller over all package and quite often I'm needing something off the bottom and it's not worth either unpacking or trying to dig all the way down thru a top-loader. I do have a larger top loader pack I was issued years ago that does get pulled out once in a great while but that's only when the amount of stuff to pack requires like cold weather gear, 0 degree sleeping bag, and anything else.

So in the end, to each their own, buy and use what works and makes sense for the intended purpose. There is no single perfect design to cover the spectrum.

 

[45.308]

I guess that's why we all have our own opinions, preferences and needs for different things otherwise there wouldn't be a market for such options. For the smaller packs I prefer the full zip as the 3-day or my Dragon Slayer has and the opening front on my Eberlestock Half Track. I'm packing tighter into a smaller over all package and quite often I'm needing something off the bottom and it's not worth either unpacking or trying to dig all the way down thru a top-loader. I do have a larger top loader pack I was issued years ago that does get pulled out once in a great while but that's only when the amount of stuff to pack requires like cold weather gear, 0 degree sleeping bag, and anything else.

So in the end, to each their own, buy and use what works and makes sense for the intended purpose. There is no single perfect design to cover the spectrum.

Absolutely, there is no one best anything for everyone and every task/mission/use. What I have used and experienced is no way the same as yours or anyone's. I try to be as open and honest with what I have learned and used over my experience time. I prefer light and simple, light does not mean cheap or fragile these days and the more completed something is, in my experience is more prone to failure.

 

[usafcajun]

Here's a quick review I'd done over on another site after I got one for work...minus the BVS.

Here's a mini-review of a new pack I bought for work. *I've had all this gear I needed for my job but no really good way to hump it all in a comfortable easily accessible manner. *Here is a link to their website for it. *3 Day Assault Pack | Mystery Ranch Backpacks *This thing is the baby brother of their Nice Overload 3 Zip pack. *It has a capacity of 2000 cu. inches and empty weighs about 5 lbs.

Here is a picture of it with everything that I have at this time for work...minus a couple of items.

In the following three pictures I'll break down what I'm packing in it.

In this picture you can see:
1 MRE, sand sock(attached to outside for quick access), kneepads, ghillie shroud for upper torso, shemagh, white cheesecloth 3'x6', black cheesecloth 3'x6', ziplock bag with 12 medium binder clips, box of thumb tacks, pack of clothspins, roll of duct tape, monocular NVG, 20 extra rounds of ammo, foamy earplugs, ziplock bag with electrical tape, weapon mulitool and more baggies.

In this picture there is:
spotting scope + tripod, 550 cord, Gerber multitool, gloves, energy gummy snack, compass, two flashlights, IR strobe, mosquito spray, rangefinder, 5 glowsticks(3 battery operated), notepad, mildot master.

The camoflauge woobie that everything is on is also inside the pack. *After getting all that in there I've come to find that there is still a fair amount of usable space for additions. *I will say that this pack is designed so well that I don't foresee ever switching unless it's to bigger modelA. *The frame on it and the adjustment points allow it to ride in a very comfortable and non-tiring way. *I did not opt for the optional padded waist belt as I'm not likely to have to hike long distances with this where it would matter. *It comes with a standard belt that is more than adequate for my needs.

The three zippers.....I'm sure some were curious about that...... *They make getting into the pack so easy. *They're all constructed in such a way as to prevent water from entering the pack from rain etc. *You can unzip the top two on the Y and get into the top of the pack and reach most anything. *As with most packs smaller things tend to make their way to the bottom. *The third zipper unzips to the base and you can get to EVERYTHING. *Inside on the back is a couple of rows of Molle and I have a small admin pouch attached for smaller things like the IR strobe and earplugs that would work their way to the bottom.

In my opinion it's well worth the money if you're looking for a quality backpack for work, hiking or a SHTF BUG.

 

[sr15match]

Yes, what you just said.

Besides I love the patch, that's fucking awesome!!!

 

[drn1234]

Sounds like a great pack. I wonder if they would ad some extra molly on it.

I will give them a call in the am to discuss.

Cant wait to get the new pack!

Thanks for all the responses