Recently purchased a used Ranger. With the weight system are the weight pouches a must or just an accessory? Another words can I just throw hard weights in the weight pockets?

Thanks

that might be acceptable should you never have to ditch your weights....
In short imo ..no not really..ditchable weights are for your safety and with ALL of us being more safety oriented these days I'd be remiss in not telling you the TRUTH..seriously....BTW nice BC use it correctly and it will serve you well

thanks ordering them tonight then.

Biggest reason is that regular weights might fall out- an uncontrolled ascent is the real danger.

Maybe I don't understand how the current Ranger is configured. Mine is about 10 or 12 years old and I can put hard weights in the weight pockets and they ditch with a pull of a tab.

edit: I just read toecheese response. Hard weights can't fall out on mine, but if there is any risk of them falling out by accident don't do it!

You do not need the Zeagle weight pouches, bc works well with shot pouch weights 2 pounds or bigger. One pounders will fall through the webbing occasionally.
Hard weights will wear on the inside of the pockets over time, but the curved hip weights do set well in the pockets. Watch your toes!