All posts in Tactical Clothing

Tactical Pants and real CCW

I have been trading back and forth between 5.11 tactical clothing, Woolrich Elite Series and the much newer Eotac brand.   I will admit that I understand that many of these brands may be personal preference, but there are  huge differences in the fit and feel of the pants.   If I just take the covert pants from 5.11 and the Woolrich Elite 4909 pants vs the Eotac pants.   Woolrich and Eotac look similiar, but none of them fit the same.   While I find the 5.11 pants to fit more like normal fitting jeans, the inside the waist pockets are not very useful if you are going to be sitting down a lot.   I can carry a small j-frame revoler inside the pants without a holster, but the locations of the pockets aren’t very comfortable.

I took a Sig 239 9mm 8rd magazine and put it in the rear pocket and when I sat down it, was not comfortable to wear at all.   I think these pockets lend themselves more towards putting a wallet or handcuffs in them than a firearm and accessories.   Next I tried putting a Streamlight Scorpion in various positions and none of them worked.   I tried to pocket carry and inserted a Smith & Wesson 38 Special I had around and it could not be concealed in these tactical pants at all.  They were in 5.11 tactical pants, but not these?   With both the Woolrich Elite 44909 and the Eotac 205 jeans, these were not the traditional straight leg jean, and the fit was different for each.   I personally like the Eotac color, Woolrich pants were too purplish and baggy.   Both pants were pocket friendly and my vote would go for Eotac by far.   I do think the rear ID pockets are a little over done when you keep the water bottle pocket below it.   That strikes me as a little too tactical and not discreet.

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Cold weather and wet weather and CCW

Recently we had a Thanksgiving Day parade here in Philadelphia.   The parade started off with snow and cold weather, but it ended up turning to rain about halfway through the days events.    It was a good reminder for people that wearing warm winter clothing doesn’t mean you’re going to keep dry.   I remember all of the warnings I got in Boy Scout camp about keeping dry even when we felt warm.   Sometimes we forget how much sweat we generate under our clothing in the winter, but we will find out when we have to get into a sleeping bag.

When you are looking to put on layers of clothing to keep warm and learning how to adapt your concealed carry methods to a warm, but dry way of carrying.   Check out the  Woolrich Elite Parka Style 44420.   This is something you can practically wrap up in  your car and will be easy to stow away when it starts to rain.  You can easily move some of your tactical gear, like flashlights and knives into this parka and keep from burying your gun under layers of clothing.

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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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Matching guns to gun cases

I am a strong believer in marking all of your gear, not just because you need to have your name on it, but it’s a good to keep your stuff well organized so you don’t run into an “aw shit” moment when you didn’t pack up something vital for your daily events.  I just spent a weekend hanging out with someone that locked up all of his guns, but didn’t keep all of the keys together and couldn’t open up one of the gun cases.   I suggest people have a range bag to keep tools and range magazines in and then a good tactical vest.   The reason I suggest these is it’s best to really keep putting everything in the same place and know that every time you go to the range, items A and B are always with you, and then bring whichever gun or ammunition you need.

I always match the rifle case to the gun and leave the magazines or the bare minimum of 3-5 of them inside the case pockets.   Sight in tools are always in my tactical vest along with ear plugs, shooting glasses and even a small bottle of bug spray.   I wear my Eotac Style 101 vest under some of my hunting jackets just because it’s a little bit of an overkill for hunting, but it has everything I need in it.   I keep field dressing gloves, tactical gloves and elbow pads in this, also.

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Some say that a shoulder rig isn’t good CCW

Some say that a shoulder rig isn’t a good way of concealing a firearm, but I’d have to say that I think it’s the most comfortable way to carry a medium size auto.   There are considerable differences in the fit of each should rig, but I have actually found that Bulldog and Uncle Mike’s have made some really nice holsters that are very inexpensive.   If you are wearing a good gun belt you won’t have any bunching up where the straps latch on and if you are carrying a firearm in the winter, this can help free up the room around your belt line and give you some other jacket options that aren’t full length.

Galco gun holsters are still making the popular Miami should rig, but I’m not a big fan of the horizontal holsters.   These are banned at most of my CCW courses because it’s hard to actually use the holster and not sweep someone behind you if you are on the firing line.   I prefer to carry large size Sig Sauer pistols when I know I will be wearing a jacket full time and I like to carry them in something other than inside the pants gun holsters. I have recently picked up a Sig 229 in .357 Sig that I hope to get some good practice time in.  I don’t think it’ll be much of a big change from going from a Sig 228 9mm to a Sig 229.   There is a noticeable amount of weight but a whole bunch more punch.

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Concealed carry vests that work

I am going to begin counting the days for an upcoming hunting trip to Maine.   This will be my first hunting trip in the New England States and I will be planning for some very cold nights, but moderate temperature days.  Along with toting a Mini 14 for deer,  I will be carrying a sidearm as I normally do.  I prefer to hunt on the move for deer until I find a really good position and then wait for a few hours.   I know I am pushing the limits by using a 75gr A-max bullet in a .223, but I wouldn’t be using this if I know it couldn’t be done.   There are several gun shops in the area that show the deer that were taken and many of those were done with the Mini 14.

Since I own and wear much of the Eotac apparel line, I have everything in my inventory to pick from.   The Style 103 vests are really meant as concealed carry vests and they are not really tactical.  I know that may be just my opinion, but the coyote brown and od green vests look very nice in the outdoors.   Since I will be in a cold environment, I don’t want to constantly take gear off and on, in really cold situations, I prefer to wear base layer clothing with a t-shirt and sweatshirt and then a vest on the outside for concealing my Sig 229 .357 Sig.  I keep a few Mini 14 5rd magazines along with my knife and flashlights in the vest and if I need to ditch some of the hunting ammo, I just take it out to lighten the weight and I’m ready to head into town with my CCW rig already on.

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Tactical clothing accessories that you shouldn’t forget about

The first thing I noticed when I took my first Carbine Class and got down prone was that the ground was still wet and I could feel every stone jamming into my elbow when I got down in a prone position.  With todays accessorized M4 Carbine with every light, laser and optic configuration, we have to realize that our bodies could use the same ideas when it comes to the clothing we wear.    The Eotac duty gloves are good for the times when you need to worry about hot barrels and flying brass and aren’t very bulk at all.   Elbow and knee pads are something that I have found are very useful, but there are huge variations in the way that they fit on your body, not to mention that most of the time, the only way to find out is to actually try them on.

I have several sets of knee pads, but the ones I find the most useful are the Blackhawk Neoprene, because they seem to just feel more comfortable.   I already have enough worries about snag and movement restriction when wearing tactical clothing and sometimes I really have to watch how I move around corners so my tactical pants don’t catch on things.   The Eotac style 201 pants come with a foam knee pad that works quite well, but the only draw back is for the knee pands in the tactical pants to properly align themselves over your knee caps is to be kneeling on both knees at the same time.   This is something I had to get use to when getting into firing positions.   The Style 202 and 203 lightweight pants also use the same foam knee pads and from my experience they last a pretty long time if you take them out when they are not being  used or when you are doing your wash.

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Retiring your summer clothing for your Winter CCW

We got new windows installed on the house this year and for the first time ever, it didn’t feel so cold when I woke up yesterday as it was outside.   I guess all of that green energy improving we did really did make a difference, I guess I’ll know for sure when the heating bills start to come in.   It’s always this time of year that I have to remember to close every window in the house because its warm during the day and it night it gets down to almost freezing and then back through the cycle until Winter comes in full force.   Yesterday I retired my lightweight pants and concealement vests for my new Eotac Style 103 concealed carry vests.   I always have to force myself to wear clothing for awhile to get the real feel and use of each pocket before I really can comment on them.   It was a few years ago that I really started to hate some of my  non-Eotac pants because I always had a heck of a time trying to get my wallet out of them whenever I was driving through toll booths.   When I wore my Eotac pants, it was easy to access every pocket.

I would have to say that the Eotac Style 1o3 concealed carry vests are not heavy weight, but they are not lightweight.   They are also not lined which in my opinion doesn’t matter.  I like the idea of wearing base layer clothing, wearing a T-shirt or polo on top and then the a jacket or vest in the winter, instead of wearing a giant heavy winter coat.   I do not like the idea of basing my concealed carry method around a heavy coat, because there are too many situations in the winter where it can get really hot and keeping my jacket on in those situations can become impractical.   Base layers and vests seem to breath better than all of the winter coats I have.   Although The Eotac vests are being made in the military looking lizard pattern camo, the brown and O.D. Green vests are very outdoor friendly and won’t look too tactical.  I can easily carry 3 full sized Sig 228 magazines in the front pockets as well as a knife and flashlight and the weight does not yank at me.

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Why you should consider buying the proper CCW clothing

I was told about the coming concealed carry and tactical apparel market exposion over 10yrs ago, but things have really exploded in the last 4yrs.   I have seen several companies fail in this market, but mostly to poor marketing or problems in manufacturing.   I recently read an article about the coming cotton price increases so I know there may be yet another shock to the industry.    I never jumped on the CCW clothing bandwagon until about 6 years ago when I started wearing 5.11 tactical shorts.   I slowly go to understand the need for such pocket designs and then branched o ut to other clothing companies after that.   I am very happy with the pants and vests I have been wearing for the last few years and kind of lost interest  in some of the pants I use to wear, but Woolrich has done a great job of designing outerwear for CCW owners.

The Woolrich Elite Parka is a great Fall and Spring outwear accesory to keep you dry on those rainy days where you don’t want to wear something that will absorb water or make you sweat too much.   I’ve worn the Parka on Sept and October and although I did start to sweat wearing it, it kept me dry and was easy to take off and toss in the car without taking up much room.   Now that we are into full blown winter weather, it’s time for sweatshirts and sweaters.   I don’t CCW wearing sweaters as much as I use to, due to the amount of fraying and strings I seem to notice on sweaters.  I guess it’s seeing too many Glock discharges on Dean Speirs website, but I’ll only pocket carry if I have to wear one.   The Woolrich Elite Polyester Fleece is a new product that is CCW friendly and will secure your spare mags.  I’ve carried spare magazines in pockets before and had bullets come loose because if you have enough bouncing around, the bullets may eventually come loose and may cause a moment of embarressment when  your wife finds doing a load of laundry.   Get the right clothing for concealed carry, it’s out there.

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Happy feet even if you aren’t dancing

I remember all of the times I heard my Grandparents or Uncles make comments about getting old and I thought it was somewhat funny, but as I got into my early 40s and listen to my friends, it’s a constant medical report when we get into the “How’s everything going”.   One issue many of my law enforcement SWAT teams have issues with are there feet.   Most of these guys are pretty well in shape, but feet are something that can’t take the constant abuse or neglect without future repurcussions.    In my line of work, I’m lucky if a pair sneakers will hold up for more than 3 months because of the amount of weight and lifting I do.   I tried out the traditonal Dr. Scholls inserts and they worked well for about a month, but then they are shot.   Last summer at a Police and Security Expo we tried some foot inserts that came with a 2yr Warranty and they didn’t last 2 months.   It was somewhat of a shocking failure of a product.

Since we have moved on to carrying the Original Swat boots, if there is the slightest hint that the insoles are wearing out, original swat makes there own gel inserts that work very well.   The Style 1232 Air 9″ give you extra support for hopping around on concrete and hard surfaces.  I have not had to swap out or put any gel inserts in this style of boot and we’re going on over 4 months of 6 day a week use.   I started wearing these at the end of the summer months so it’s hard to say if they are going to be really comfortable to wear in hot environments, but I’m still impressed with how lightweight they fell on my feet.

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