A little too heavy for me, anything over 50-60lbs becomes a major struggle and weight distribution i.e. a good backpack with a excellent back system combined with a Webbing system such as PLCE would be the way to go. i.e. 20lbs on the webbing and 40lbs in the ruck.

But of course a lot depends on the individual. This guy who came up with this INCH bag list may well have a girl friend who can help with carrying some of the gear.

Hmm, I see. Looks like she can carry some weight for me. I love a healthy woman.

50 pounds is heavy for a pack - you lose a lot of mobility and put a lot of stress and strain on your body. I aim for nothing heavier than 30 pounds. Incidentally, I cant begin to imagine why anybody could possibly want 1300 rnds of ammo unless they plan on fighting WW3.

I realize our SF soldiers can carry these enormous loads. But I always thought it was tremendously counterproductive to order them to so it. They should elect me general. I'd tell them to throw out 50% of their stuff ... more if possible. Take only the bare essentials and move on !!

Pete2

But how much of the population is even half as fit as those guys? Try the USMC fitness test.

Soldiers have been lightening their loads as soon as they were outside the wire since the beginning of time, I strongly suspect. The thing is to determine what weight works for YOU and within that limit strive to concoct the ideal mix of gear that will serve your purpose.

When I was active in SAR I went through this process. One of my companions weighed my pack at the end of an operation; it came out at 41 pounds, a weight I was able to handle routinely. That was then and this is now. I am a good deal older and my packs are lighter and the trips are less demanding. You still need to strike that ideal balance between weight and utility, stripping away all the useless junk. Mostly this takes time and real eperience in the field.

Snake Dr,I dont think I could even lift that much ammo,what does it weigh??If I was heading out permanent,on my BACK,I could see the .22,but rifle rounds are HEAVY.

I'm a big believer in test and train - to see if your gear and plan will really work in an emergency.

A reasonable upper limit to your pack weight is based on 1/3 of your weight and in a pinch 1/2 your weight. Understand packs at that weight you will move very slow and will burn a huge amount of calories. It is useless unless you have to move a short distant. No 160km/100mile E&E with a pack like that.

It is true in the army packs often got heavier, but mostly just before an attack when extra ammo was issued or for the unfortunate radio man. Carrying this weight is also something that required a high level of fitness, lots of training, and a whole lot of drive! normally with heavy weapons we traded off when possible and shift platoon gear around to even the load.

In the arctic my pack was always that heavy, but we never got more that 12km on foot in a day and at -40 we were reduced to 15min Walking followed by a 2min break to cool back down, instead of our normal 55min forced march and a 5min break.

Conditions, Fitness, and the Situation will dictate what you can Carry in what circumstances. Be realistic and if you want to carry that heavy of a weight in a pinch, them add 4kg/10lbs to the total weight and go out an practice with it and see how far you can go!

We should probably be encouraging heavy packs.

Since survival at INCH conditions may be a competitive sport, I would prefer that all of the competition be carrying 95# weight handicaps, while I dance along with my drpsk, tiny knife, and ramen noodles.

Yeah, definitely need to see the round. A 30-round magazine of 5.56 is 1 lbs, so you're looking at ... 43 lbs? Ammo alone? (for an AR platform). If you're talking 30-06 or something that size, definitely heavier.
I mean, if you're using it, your load is going to lighten, but you'll be a big target and probably won't get past that first magazine.

You'll make someone a nice cache, though.

So speaking of acronyms, what's MUSHY?