All posts in Wilson Combat Magazines

5.11 tactical jeans review pt 1

I finally did my rounds and checked out a few local 5.11 dealers to see what they had in stock.    Something I always find annoying about stopping in these places is how much of a mess the clothing usually is.   I always have to dig around for my sizes and rarely do any of these gun shops or police and security stores keep there crap together.   The other thing that I find annoying is that so many of them clear out certain styles of clothing during the year like there is a non-season for polos and jeans.   Some of these tactical clothing manufacturers are running huge shortages and various products are out of stock for 6-9 months at a time.   I actually noticed many of the gun shops in my neck of the woods stopped selling 5.11 tactical pants because it was too much of a headache for them to deal with.

It was time to restock my tactical pants inventory and I’m not prone to sticking to only one manufacturer.   I have worn 5.11 tactical pants, Eotac, Woolrich Elite and even SigTac.   Each tactical clothing company and tactical gear manufacturer has it’s pros and cons,  but I’d give Eotac and Woolrich Elite the edge on quality control.     I am comparing the Eotac 205 concealed carry jeans to the 5.11 jeans and there is no comparison.   I feel a difference in the movement of each jean, but I really don’t think I feel restricted in any way.   They are both well made, but there are huge differences in the designs.   The Eotac jeans are very similar to the Woolrich Elite Discreet MKII pants, but they are definitely not the same.   The 5.11 jeans are what I’d call more for deep concealment.   There are internal pockets that can hold a j-frame revolver or a small semi-auto and a few spare magazines.   I find the pockets to be a  little too deep and don’t really like the fact the guns are practically inside the pants.   I tried putting a Sig 239 in the pockets with spare magazines and it was extremely uncomfortable when sitting down, so I would have to say you need something smaller than that.

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Speed loaders and training courses

I was fortunate to attend a sniper competition a few years ago where I must have learned more about combat than every before.   About 40 students were attending this training competition even and given the rules for attending the match.   Everyone was told to arrive with unloaded firearms, but to keep all of their gear in the cars and attend a safety briefing.    Well, one of the  best events for this competition/training even occurred in the first 30 seconds after the safety briefing.   Everyone was asked if they understood all of the safety rules and when everyone said yes, it began.    The Instructor explained the first stage of the shooting event.   Everyone was told to grab their gear from their car and immediately return to the firing line, unload the gear and engage the targets.   The attendees gave us a big smile while the students/competitors did an “Oh, Shit!”

I sat and watched every student run back to their car which was about 15-30yds behind the firing line, I noticed varying types of rifle cases and rifle bags, some shooters showed up with loaded magazines and others had to manually load the guns, as soon as they were ready to shoot, they engaged the targets.   I believe they had 6 minutes to take down all of the targets from 100-200yds.   The variations in time to engage the enemy targets varied by several minutes.   Anyone that had a M4 Carbine or 30rd magazine that didn’t have loaded gun magazines or didn’t have a speed loader, was the last to engage the targets.   I saw only 2 people out of 40 engage the targets in the first 5 minutes.   Maglula speed loaders are must for anyone serious about using a carbine for self defense, unless  you have the military style loaders.

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Gunsmithing and 1911 reliability

My first 1911 was a Seriea 80 which has a firing pin plunger, but in my opinion that was a good thing to add to the design and IMHO does not take away from the novelty of the firearm.   I have heard from so many of my friends that Kimber makes the best 1911s, but I still have yet to understand why I should bother spending over $1000 on  a firearm when I already own two 1911 handguns that cost me less than $400 each.   Springfield Armory GI models are very well made and I have had zero reliablilty issues with my guns.   I have to admit that I am not one to push the limits on the types of ammo that my guns eat and I think that may be the real reason I don’t have issues with them.

When I first carried for work, I carried a Colt 1991A1 and used hollow points, but I  had an awful lot of malfunctions with the 2nd round.   Not that often, but maybe about 1 out of 75 rounds might not seat all the way and I would have a stoppage.   I was told to polish the feed ramp and I did, and the gun did run more reliabile, but then I did have maybe 1 out of 300rds jam  on me.   I took a good look at ballistics charts and realized that a 45acp FMJ does enough damage and worrying about bullet expansion with such a large caliber was kinda pointless.   I wouldn’t get too caught up in doing too many tricks to get your 1911 to run reliable.   Find the ammo that really does work, in my case, FMJ and try sticking with Wilson combat magazines or Chip McCormick.  I mostly use 8rd mags and although there are some that claim that these are not as reliable as 7rd magazines, I have had zero issues.   One thing I do not do any longer is one up the magazines.  There seems to be some magazines seating issues if I force an 8rd magazine in the guns with 1 round in the chamber.

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If you are looking for the ultimate 1911 pistol magazine

There’s a  famous old saying in the world and it applies to all of those accessories and gun parts that you are putting on your guns.   The saying if you’ve never heard it from your grandma goes something like this, “you get what you pay for”.     Long  before I got into the business of selling guns parts and accessories, I remember ordering stock parts and accessory holders that I broke while installing them improperly and then blamed it on the manufacturer.   Then I realized I better pay attention to how I am putting this on and to not force things into place.   The next thing I realized is that expensive version I saw on mounting optics on an AK worked much better and actually held zero while the other part that cost $20 didn’t hold minute of man at 50yds.

Although I do not have combat experience, I have a friends that have served in Iraq and have actually been there and done that.   They claim that they have seen guys take 9 rounds of 9mm ball ammo to take to the ground while it only took 2 or 3 shots from a 45acp to drop them.   Even the military has finally after decades of complaining, agree that 9mm ball ammo sucks and there is a new 9mm ammo that is ballistically superior to the previous one.   Well, for those that have the option to bring their own sidearms to Iraq, they are all carrying M4 Carbines and 1911 style handguns.   If they need lots of handgun ammo, they prefer to use a rifle, if they are clearing rooms they like using handguns.   Don’t take it from me, take it from the guys that are on the front lines and they all swear by the Wilson Combat magazines that are stronger than the standard magazine called the ETM, or Wilson Combat Elite Magazine.

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1911 magazines wearing out too fast?

I’ve owned more than a few 45acp guns, basically for tests and evaluations, but I still love my 1911 handguns.  I have to admit that it still shocks me to see the number of gun malfuntions on firing ranges due to bad magazines or shooters not disengaging the thumb safeties during competitions.  In my humble opinion this should be a big warning to anyone that is carrying a 1911 style handgun, that they really need to do some research into the right type of 1911 magzines they should be using.   Although I would never feel out gunned  with a 1911, I stopped carrying them due to too many times I have missed the thumb safety during practice that I felt it wasn’t worth the time to keep practicing it when I could easily just switch to another type of gun.   I’m still not on the Springfield XD bandwagon, but many of my friends have jumped on that.  I do not think it’s a wise thing to carry a 1911 around without the safety engaged, but I would say that although the 1911 is a great competition and military gun, it has it’s place in the handgun community as much as a j-frame 38 special does.

There are many gun forums and places you can research 1911 gun magazines, the 1911 forum was where I first learned about swapping out various parts on my Colt 1991A1, and I have improved my shooting and reliability dramatically.   Wilson Combat magazines are my favorite, but Chip McCormick magazines seem to look more traditional and also have a very good reputation.   I have not had good experiences with GI magazines holding up for very long, and I also highly recommend paying attention to round counts in your magazines and recoil springs. Out of all of the guns I have owned, the Colts and Springfields I own do start to choke up after about 6000rds and become less tolerant of even just plain FMJ rounds.   If I had a round count like that using defensive HP ammo, I would expect problems much sooner.

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Rotate your ammo and rotate your mags

There are various stages of CCW experience, those that have made the mistakes, those that have witnessed the mistakes and those that are doomed to see both.  Although a gun owner may be observing all of the firearm safetey rules there are still many things to keep in consideration when CCW a firearm.   Even though a gun hasn’t been fired, if it is being carried it will fill up lint or the gun can become dry.  I have carried guns through out the summer months and found out that I’ve rusted out screws or pitted firearms.  Clean your CCW guns for reliability sake, but also for protection.

It is extremely important for you to rotate your carry ammo.  Many reloaders know the importance of having the proper bullet crimp to prevent bullet setback, but this is something that is inevitable going to occur if you keep closing the slide on the same bullet.  Even if you are not shooting up your ammo, rotate the ammo in your gun magazines to make sure you are not slamming the same first round.  Defensive ammo can be expensive and I realize that you aren’t going to want to shoot it all up after a couple times of cleaning  your ammo.  If you rotate just an 8rd magazine full of defensive ammo, you should be able to dissassemble and clean the gun safetly about 24 times with the same magazine.

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Ruger LCP 238 experiences

Today I got to fire a Ruger LCP along with the LCR revolver.  There seems to be a lot of breha when it comes to getting a .380 pistol these days.  I don’t think I really ever felt the urge to go that small when it comes to calibers, but since CCW is actually more popular now than it was 10yrs ago, and people are finding that small compact semi-autos are far more reliable than previously, people will take the light weight over a larger caliber.   The Ruger LCP can take laser grips from Crimson trace, and I highly suggest that you consider that.  I was never a big fan of putting lasers on handguns until I started thinking about very small and compact firearms that had terrible small sights.   The laser grips will help improve your hits and give confidence.

I have several Ruger factory gun magazines for my LCP, but I decided to pick up a few Promag magazines.   Promag had a good reputation in the 1990s for magazines that weren’t as pricey as factory magazines, but were still considered reliable.   I have several magazines for my Beretta 92FS, and although I did have a jam on one hollow point round, it has never jammed on ball ammo.   I would consider these to be excellent range magazines, but I would do a lot of testing to make sure you are sure the gun feeds reliable with an defensive ammo.   Some magazines may need to be tweaked a little and if you have problems be sure to call a factory rep.   Most gun magazine manufacturers will replace a magazine if it does not work properly.

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Keep your range mags and your primaries separate

Gun magazines have various levels of quality.   Some gun magazines are meant as throw aways i.e. 1911 magazines made in Tawain.   I have several 1911 GI magazines that were pretty good range mags, but when they jammed up on me, and I could blame it on the gun springs, it was time to toss them.   Buying Wolff gun springs that cost about $8 for an $8 magazine isn’t really worth my time, plus I’ve found that many of these have worn out followers and it’s really not worth the headach to tweak them, plus I’d consider them to not be worth using for self defense.   Wilson Combat and Chip McCormick make very good gun magazines and both of them should help get your 1911 to be more tolerant of various types of ammunition.

The one thing I have learned over the years is that no matter how much money I spent on a firearm, I’m still going to have something break.  When you put thousands of rounds through a firearm the you will eventually have to learn some level of gunsmithing.   After taking some of my guns to gunsmiths and having to wait for months to get simple things done, it’s good to pick up an AGI video and do the changes yourself.   The same goes for gun magazines.   Parts on a gun magazine can wear out and depending on how much you spent on the magazine, you may want to just toss it in the trash.  For some magazines, you will only have to replace the springs to get it back to reliable functionality.

 

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Wilson combat 1911 gun parts

Everyone that I know that owns a 1911 made some kind of upgrade or customization.   I personally think that, that is the norm and it’s good to suggest to gun buyers that you should expect to customize the gun, especially when it comes to gun grips.   There are a lot of things you can do to improve upon the GI 1911 gun that the military used.   The first thing that I always recommend is getting the sights replaced with your own preferences.   I personally love the way that Glock sights give a good sight picture and I have had very good experiences with training with my Glocks, but I still love my 1911s.   Beavertail can be dropped in and you won’t have to worry about gun smithing, 99% of the time.   The Wilson Combat Skeleton hammer and thumb safeties are also things to think about upgrading to.

An issue I have had with my big hands is that whenever I put on my preferred gun grips which are Hogue fingerless grips I sometimes it can become difficult to sweep the gun safeties or hit the slide release.  I found this out the hard way with a 1911 and had to put in an extended slide release.    You learn from experience but be aware that replacing any part of the gun may mean making another adjustment somewhere else.   Wilson Combat magazines are very reliable and lightweight and drop from all of my guns when the magazine release is hit.   Not all magazines drop freely and this is something to pay attention to whenever you are testing out your CCW or defensive gear.

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Looking for Zombie killing options

Do search for gun clubs and shooting ranges in your State to find out if anyone is holding a Zombie shoot.   They usually occur in the September to October months.   Having some good tactical clothing that will securely hold your gear.   The Eotac Style 201 pants are my favorite because they hold 6- 30rd PMAGS and they are easy to run in.   Tactical vests like the Style 101 are not heavy and don’t make you feel like you are wearing a flak jacket.   There is a time and a place for different types of tactical vests, but mobility is important.  You may want to try getting your magazines loaded up with all of your gear and then try running 100yds with it and see what it feels like and if stuff starts to fly out of your pockets.   Mobility is extremely important.

There seems to be a new craze in competition shooting in recent years.   I’ve seen more high school boys coming home from class with Zombie survival guides, the recent 28 Days later type movies and the doomsday virus outbreaks.    I guess IDPA has lost some traction to the present generation, but I’ve attended a few Zombie survival competitions and they were very good training events.   The best thing about it was the amount of tactical gear that I watched fail, and the number of really novice mistakes people made.   Out of the 5 stages I attended, there was 1 stage that we saw about 18 firearms go down.   About half of those were AK variants and they were mostly magazine related.  Some guys never knew how hard it was to do a tactical reload on an AK if there was a round in the chamber and a fully loaded 30rd magazine.  People found out what happens after firing off the 1st round and the magazine falls out.

 

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