School me on dummy cord

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Weetabix
Posts: 6106
Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:04 pm

School me on dummy cord

Post by Weetabix »

I understand that dummy cord attaches small gear to your pack or person to keep you from losing it. I can figure out how to attach it to the gear.

Where and how do you attach it to the dummy so that all those cords don't interfere with your activities?

Does it go as much as possible to one point or to multiple points?

What items do you typically use it on?
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Yogimus
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Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 6:32 am

Re: School me on dummy cord

Post by Yogimus »

There are two types of gear you have. "Nice to haves" and "shit I need right the fuck now".

Nice to haves are like flashlights, handcuff keys, water source, utility knife, whistle, radio

Shit I need right the fuck now are "Combat" knife. handcuffs, pepper spray



You ONLY cord the nicetohaves. You do NOT need to have 500lb test line. What I do is gut the inside of 550 cord (remove the interior strands) and use the cord sleeve to give me about an arms length of cord. I wrap the now flat 550 cord sleeve around the object or stuff it in a pouch underneath the object. The cord is attached to a lanyard loop. If an item doesn't come with one, I either melt my own with a cleaningrod and a lighter, or I find a way to secure the cord to it. On small items like gerber tools, I attach a key separator

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to the item so I can hand it off if need be. Dummy cording does NOT remove the necessity of proper carrying pouches.
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randy
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Re: School me on dummy cord

Post by randy »

+1 on what Yogi said, especially the part about having proper pouches. The dummy cords are a backup for when the pouch fails (snags on something, isn't secured properly, etc).

I've gotten about 20+ years use of a roll of OD nylon cord that, IIRC, was intended to secure duck decoys in place. It's about the same diameter as the interior strands of 550 cord. Used it throughout my time on active duty, and later for things like amateur radio support to SAR operations.

Don't know what it's rated strength is, but I only use it on light pieces of gear (compass, signal mirror, pocket/Swiss Army knife, loading spoon for M-16 magazines, match case, lighter (secured with duct tape to the cord) etc.). When I was carrying a S&W Model 19 for combat matches and (civilian) field use, I also dummy corded my speed loaders (HKS) so I could wouldn't have to worry about dropping them in the woods but didn't impede my speed of re-loading.

Heaver stuff, like pistols, I use actual military pistol lanyards.

radios I secure to the carry pouch with a short lanyard in case the pouch fails, and use a speaker mic or headset so that it does not have to come out of the pouch except for battery changes.
...even before I read MHI, my response to seeing a poster for the stars of the latest Twilight movies was "I see 2 targets and a collaborator".
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