One common piece of milsurp gear popular with ‘custom Mandalorian’ and other ‘OC’ costumers are Soviet ammunition pouches made for the trusty Mosin-Nagant rifle. While the Reds and their Eastern Bloc allies/puppets produced a great variety of pouches for the 7.62x54R round, there is one style of Mosin ammo pouch that is by far the most popular with the ‘Mercs. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Mando costumer ever wear any other style of Mosin pouch:
This should come as no surprise, as these postwar pouches are cheap and plentiful (standard double pouches like those above can be had online for $5 or less—and anyone who tries to tell you they’re collectible or valuable is lying). For a piece of starter gear to quickly populate one’s bounty-hunting belt, they’re…fine. The downside to these pouches, however, is that they are immediately recognizable and don’t quite fit the classic Star Wars aesthetic—as the vast majority of holsters, belt pouches, and bandoleers seen in the core six films are all-leather and usually from WWI or WWII. As you can see, postwar Mosin pouches are made of two materials: pebble-textured ‘kirza‘ (which is actually just a rubber-impregnated-canvas), and real grain leather for the corners, rear belt strap, and front closure strap. Because the leather used was almost always lighter in color than the kirza, an eye-catching two-tone effect is created. Thankfully, there is a very easy fix – one which I don’t think many costumers are aware of.
An Easy transformation below!
Living History in the Star Wars Galaxy 