Dump’mups

Soldiers have been using dump pouches for a while. The inevitable adrenaline dump during a fire fight means a loss of fine motor control. Rather than fidget trying to get a spent mag back in its carrier pouch, it makes more sense to stuff them in a wide open pouch.

Dump pouches also find favour with cops who use them as evidence collection bags.

I have no need to quickly stow spent mags or gather forensic clues, but the idea is very useful for tinder gathering and also when foraging for wild foods.

My pal Military Moron has designed a very elegant solution, the Maxpedition Rolly Polly pouch. I blatantly stole the idea for this from him. I already had an MEC climbing chalk bag lying around, but not the spare cash to get one of Maxpeditions pouches, so just used it instead. That, a bit of Cordura, some webbing, some Velcro, some thread and a bit of time, and presto. My very own dump pouch.

Front, closed.

Back, showing Malice Clip attachment.

Another view of the back, showing the PALS webbing.

Another view of the back, Malice Clips removed.

Front from the top.

View of folded front from one side.

View of folded front from other side.

First step in opening. Not a fan of velcro for the most part, but I gave it a shot here. May make another one with a buckle instead.

Second step in opening.

Third step in opening.

Another angle.

Open. I removed a liner that constituted the inside, and removed a plastic insert lined rim around the top. (A chalk bag you want to keep open. I obviously wanted to close this up.) I sewed some webbing around the rim instead. Stiff enough to hold it open, yet still allow for folding and closing.

Side view of it opened up.

A back view of it opened up.

Another side view of it open. The chalk bag had a small zipper that led to a small compartment for a key, some money, some ID. Removed it and sewed the zipper closed.

Another view of the back.

Top view. When filling it I just slip the flap inside to help hold it open.

And once again, sewn entirely by hand on the train on the way to and from work.

In use. As the end of the day starts to approach I yank it open and stuff in birch bark and small branches to either help get a fire going, or if using the BushBuddy, the twigs I can stuff in here, are enough to get several pots of water boiling. (photo by Jason Irwin)

Also about the right size to shove a water bottle in. A bit bigger, but it’ll do in a pinch. Handy when you have to go and fill up water bottles.

When foraging for nuts or berries, I’ll bring plastic bags to line the Dump’mups with. Find something I want to gather, open the pouch, stick a plastic bag in, fill it, take it out, put the plastic bag in my pack, and close it back up again.