heh all,

I am looking for input regarding leg protection. Currently I am using a set of soft pads that cover knee and shin. Decent enough but when playing bushball these speedball style pads don't cut it for me. For example this weekend I threw down a stupid slide into a bunker and a "stick" cut thru paints, pads and shin to gore me good. Dr. pulled out a 1/2" chunk of stick and cut some dead skin off... so... anyone have some solid hard shell or soft pad advice? What works for bushball armor?


D.

I've never tried moving around in them but I was considering checking out a set of mountain bike knee/shin guards. Alot of them have a hard plastic shell specifically for puncture resistance. There are also some tactical (read: SWAT) knee/shin guards out there with hard shells on them. Probably won't find them on a paintball or airsoft site but might be able to dig some up from a law enforcement / security equipment supplier.

SW

I second that - my Mountain Bike armour is great - not sure about wearing it for paintball but there is no reason why you couldn't - it would be a lot lighter than hockey gear that's for sure. Cheaper too.

Before I got the pants I have now, I used to wear mountain biking knee/shin pads like this. They were fantastic for protection. They would definitely have stopped your killer stick.

Yep, some hardshell MTB armor. Great for protecting the knees and shins. But all in all even with armor I'd suggest you skip the sliding into the bunker moves....

LOL... it was a perfectly stupid slide ... I guess Marty's is the best for MB armour?

You can also use soccer shin pads ($11-15 @ sports traders) and Rollerblade knee pads (not sure the price)

I bought my 661 4x4's on ebay a little while ago. They are mesh so will probably not stop a sharp stick but are really light and breath well on the hot days. They fit under my camo well and i didn't notice them on at TOD this weekend ... until I whacked a root and realized it didn't hurt this time.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/SixSixOne-661-4x4-Knee-...id=p3286.c0.m14

I've seen them come up occaionally in usedvic for a lot less than I paid.

Cheers,
Alex

soccer shin pads wont do shiit all. you need some knee protection

Heh,

I picked up a set of used "Roach" bike pads form SportsTraders for $15. Very similar to the 661s but with a solid nylon outer shell instead of the mesh style. I slid, crawled, smashed and otherwise abused them all day at TOD. They held up well. No holes in my shins and my knees are fine. Literally I think I spent more time doing barrel crawls, dives and slides then I spent upright... rough ground with lots of potentially ugly goring snags just waiting for a victim. These pads did the job.