COLLECTORS GUIDE: Eagle Industries, Military Tags [2004-2014]

[Cats]

Well I promised if there was a new MiA website that I'd contribute some sort of new original content. Large image warning (850x7400pix).

Here it is!

For the foreseeable future this will remain a MiA.org exclusive, so please don't repost this elsewhere as I hope it will help generate views for MiA. If you want to link to it, please link to this page and not to the image directly. I hope it will help someone.

[luke213]

Allot to dig through but looks dang interesting;) I'll be back;)

Luke

[Gimpalong]

Easily one of the best, if not the best, gear guide I've ever seen.

Freakin' awesome.

[Knife]

Really good guide, reading through it now and I'm very impressed. Few things I didn't know actually.  Some innacurracies though and things that have been left out.

Early green tags did have D-6 and 3 number team codes, such as 466. I'd also include that after 08, Ranger Green stuff had their own specific tag color, different than the early green color. You're also missing DIG1 and DIG2 from the early AOR1 and AOR2 tags. It is probably worth including reference of these tags given there were a lot of these produced, and they followed a civi style tag rather than the normal contract tag seen on later AOR production items. Modern AOR items also occassionaly have the tag located on the PAL strap.

FWIW I've never seen someone counterfeit the Eagle contract tag. The 'tiny text tags' are in my experience from SFLCS kits.

[Cats]

Great catch on the post 2008 RLCS having a blue tag, completely to make mention of that apparently.

I also completely forgot to look at the 2007 and 2010 DGLCS gear since I dont have a wide selection avaliable on hand. Maybe I'll do an addendum. I'd never heard of DGLCS having contract tags, so thanks for the new intel, I've been wondering if maybe eagle included contract tags for custom orders in the past. If you have any photos of these id be very interested.

If it's not too much trouble, could you share what old dates you have for items with blue 1Letter-1or2Digit team tags? I'm pretty sure I've seen stuff like that in the past and probably didn't think of them because they might not have been in my sample. Usually when Eagle transitions to a new tag there's a bit of overlap, especially from the years when they own multiple factories.

Yeah I have no reason to doubt the authenticity of Tiny Text Tag items, but there's still enough lingering doubts from others that it was worth mentioning.

As for counterfeits in general, I felt it was important to mention them because it is incredibly easy to counterfeit Eagle tags to nearly identical standards; and because there's such a wide variety of counterfeit gear on the market and its fairly popular to sew your own now days, the possibility remains. This is especially true as time goes on with any collectible, as it becomes more scarce, the more frequently it will be counterfeited. But to recap, I've never seen one in person.

[Knife]

I should clarify a bit, the DGLCS stuff is listed on kitlists as DLCS. I can get some pics of AOR2 and maybe an AOR1 tag later today or tomorrow.

Here are the two green 3 # and D-7 tags. Sterile outside of these tags, came in a large lot of khaki pouches of stuff I purchased from a SEAL. Many of the other pouches have 4 # tags. On the left is a single frag, on the right is a 12rd shotgun pouch.



Tonight or tomorrow I'll see if I can dig up some pouches with those tags and a contract tag or civi style tag from an STS kit.

[Gabriel]

I had no clue all that stuff went down with Eagle.  Those last few paragraphs made me sad    Oh well, Crye or Die, I guess... *sigh*

[Krutch]

This post right here is why I love MIA. Such a vast group with immense knowledge. Great guide.

[Cats]

Sorry for the necro, lots of health problems this year.

As far as kit lists go, I've seen them labeled lots of ways online and in person. I've only seen the DGLCS online and I am not DG or CIF or anything that would see it close to the source; so it's possible to debate the authenticity of the online lists, especially since they'd be so easy to fake. DGLCS is the most common acrynom used to refrence these kits in the collector community though from my experience.
One of the various lists online that's kinda interesting: http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii98/Marc-Anthony_2007/DSC03325-1.jpg~original

An update on Eagle's production: I've been digging through a few kits I've gotten in this year, almost all multicam/OCP army stuff. It appears much of what Eagle was producing has been taken over by Tyr and First Spear (founded by ex-eagle employees); but what really surprised me was the stuff Eagle is making. They've switched away from the standard 1" PALS format and started using 3/4" webbing in place of it; I'm guessing to reduce weight and production costs. All the items I have seen that were Eagle were almost exact copies of items designed and commercially sold by Tyr, ATS, and First-Spear; I don't know what the legal situation is there but I thought it was interesting. I still haven't seen anything in the way of civilian Eagle products this year.

[EDIT:]
I forgot a couple other things I've seen this year.

Saw a counterfeit tag sewn onto an actual eagle product. I don't have permission to share the photo, but I'll point out the key flaws: incorrect material, no eagle logo/name/acronym, poor sewing, and thread didn't match the thread used on the item. Really It should immediately draw red-flags from anyone with a minimal knowledge of eagle tags; and the item was 100% legit so I'm not sure why they bothered.

Some of the AOR1/AOR2 issued stuff from 2011 till 2014 is being issued with blue tags baring a Health and Human Services contract number. Yes HHS does issue AOR1/AOR2 camo, however I don't know any HSS member who has need of M4, DMR, MP7, etc. mag pouches so I'm betting this stuff is going to seals unless HHS is preparing for something we don't know about haha. I've also seen other coyote and multicam/ocp gear with HHS contract numbers, if anyone understands this mystery I'd love to hear about it.


[EDIT 12/28/15 ]
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who has collected NSW stuff for awhile now, so I asked him about load carrying system names in the collectors community. He said generally DG-MLCS is used to describe the early DIG2/DG3A kit by Eagle & LBT which was a straight copy of the older khaki MLCS kit but in the new pattern; and DGLCS describes the later redesigned Eagle A1/A2 kit after the official adoption of the AOR pattern. He also noted DGLCS may also be used to refer to the newer NSW issue multicam stuff but largely because that stuff hasn't been well established in the collector's community yet and may change once more information becomes available.