All posts in Tactical Gear

So you want to call us up and ask us the “what belt do I want” question!

The Wilderness BeltsLike all of the holster and apparel question, the next question all of the new gun carriers are the “do you have a good belt” which means they need a stiff belt so the holster doesn’t ruin it. I like many, learned by making mistakes or just not  having the information at hand to make the right decisions.  I still have a few belts in the house that are obvious early gun belts because they all have the holster crunch.   There are differences in gun belts,  you want a stiff belt but some belts can be too stiff and feel like you have a hula hoop around your waste.  Even the Blackhawk pistol belts that we sold were discontinued for a slightly less stiff design.   The Desantis gun belts are more money but had a better reputation.    We are waiting to get the new Blackhawk Pistol belts and get them to our customers for feedback.

The quick fixes for gun belts are the Elite Survival Cobra belts and the Wilderness belts.   The belts have different buckles or ways to latch but The Wilderness belts that we stock have been our primary for almost 9yrs now.  Lots of people are shocked to drive up to our Broomall, PA showroom and find a tactical store that actually stocks them.  I personally have used them for almost 15yrs and the support they give is excellent.   I first started out carrying a 1911 and that did a job on my previous gun belts but it was very easy to forget that you had a gun own you because the support was so good.

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How brick and mortar stores are making a comeback

original swat bootsThere are a lot of things that we stock in our Retail showroom here in Pennsylvania that people have learned to not buy online.   We juggle between being competitive online with our pricing but actually stocking most of the items like tactical clothing, that people want to walk in and  hold it in their hands before buying.  When we look at some of our competition online, some dealers have 365 day returns and others have free returns and exchanges, but some people just don’t want to deal with the return authorizations ect or wait weeks for their tactical footwear or  pants to come back to them.   Some have  told us that they would pay more money just to make sure that something was what they wanted vs getting something they didn’t like.

We stock as much of the Original Swat tactical footwear line as possible because it’s a California based company and they don’t have a lot of online dealers so  people always want to know if we stock it, not just drop ship it.   I personally wear the Original swat boots and it’s not just because I sell them, I really do like them and considering how bad my feet are, I really can’t deviate from wearing them.  The prices are great and the warranty is outstanding.   There have been some major changes to the product line with them moving out of China to Cambodia, but we have a very high satisfactory rating with this product line.   The reviews from our customers about the waterproof boots, composite toe since they do not make a steel toe, and the comfort are superb.

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Red Dots on Handguns, Really?

Trijicon RMR sightsThe first time I saw an RMR sight on a handgun I laughed about it because I thought it was pathetic that someone would put an optic so big on a handgun,  then a reality check hit me, and I realized, what’s wrong with cheating when  your using a firearm to protect yourself or someone else?   We use fancy advanced weapons when we play video games but for some people they think putting certain technological devices on a firearms is over complicating things.  Well, given that the life of a red dot RMR sight is a very long time, there isn’t the battery issues that you might have if you were running an Eotech type of sight.   I do like Eotech sights, but the RMR is more compact and I have seen several people run them on shotguns.

You really have to watch your weight  on shotguns because they naturally tend to be heavy and rarely do people use slings on something like a Remington 870.   There are several different mounting systems that you can use with the Trijicon RMR sights and the new RMR sights are now coming with the green reticles.  There are many things in the tactical industry where you really just have to find out what your preferences are and use them  in the most proficient ways possible.   There are several different MOA dots, 3.25 and 6.5 are probable the most common but there are 7 MOA red dots and 12.9 MOA dots.  You do have to be careful that you don’t get too big on dot sizes for AR15 rifles because it can hinder your ability to see targets very quickly.

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Frisk gloves, are their any new options?

Turtleskin glovesWe started out selling tactical apparel and tactical gear about 9yrs ago and much has changed since we first started.  Their were XENON bulbs in just about all of  our Streamlight Flashlights and now there are LED lights everywhere and XENON is a thing of the past.  The technology has so dramatically improved in the flashlight industry but now body armor and protective clothing has also.   Turtleskin gloves are made by a company called Warwick mills, they have a long history working for the Space Program and making Astronaut suits, so dealing with protective clothing and puncture resistant materials.  They make all sorts of gloves and not all of them are big and clunky like lab gloves or things that Apollo 11 had on.

Many working in the EMS world are very much aware of Hepatitis C and HIV, and sadly there have been a lot of Police and Ambulance personnel that have lost their lives or had life altering things happen when contracting these.    There are 2 styles of Turtleskin gloves that we are selling and they have quickly outsold the Hatch gloves that we were selling a few years ago.  The Alpha and Bravo gloves do feel very different and they are almost a 2 type of season glove.   We realize nobody is going to wear these all  year long but it’s nice to know that the Bravo Turtleskin gloves have a much more comfortable feel in hot weather and Alpha is better suited for colder weather.  See our online store for sale, discounts and promos on these items.

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Backpacks, range bags, and customizing.

5.11 bagsI have so many brand names of nylon gear in my house it’s not funny.   I don’t even know some of the manufacturers names because they weren’t tagged very well.  It seems with the number of sales calls I get every year, there are about as many nylon makers as there are custom kydex holster makers.  There are certain things that we just push off to other companies because it’s too time consuming.   People are very particular about the type of bag they want and they will know it when they see it, but the problem is they want to hold it in their hands.    There are different points of placing molle straps and sometimes a bag has too much and sometimes too little.   There are is an endless supply of so called “tactical” backpacks, but unless you have the time to travel, good luck trying to find a store that  has evertything.

One of the main reasons we opened up a tactical store was so that our local customers could check stuff out before they purchased it.   5.11 tactical is a monster of a company and they have so many cool products that many of our Police and EMS personnel prefer the 5.11 bags primarly the Rush products.  The Rush messenger and Rush 24 and 72 are extremely popular with paramedics and ambulance companies.  Some military guys have been buying just about everything that we sell in multicam which makes the 5.11 Rush 72 backpack very popular.   We normally stock all of these items in our Broomall, Retail store so stop in and check them out.

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Accessorizing your AR15 and the issues you will have with your gun cases!

Elite Survival gun casesYou live and learn in this industry but you can make fewer mistakes in life if you take your time and observe the mistakes of others.   Recently we had several SWAT Teams arrive in our store looking for gun cases that held more than 1 rifle and they didn’t want a hard case.  SKB makes some rock solid rifle cases and there are some pretty cool configurations you can do that can give you the customization that you want.  Not everyone is packing the same sidearms and being able to cutout your case in the configuration that your gun is a must.  Firearms like the LWRC M6A2 with a 10.5 inch barrel is going to be very particular because you don’t want a soft gun case that is over-sized.  Your better with a gun case that fits properly because too tight is bad and too loose is also not good.

My LWRC M6A2 rifles are probable worth about $3500 with all of the Eotech Magnifier, Eotech 512, LWRC rear sights and front sight.  I don’t want my guns getting banged around so I went with the Elite Survival gun cases like the Covert Operations case.  This rifle case has tie downs that can go over the optics and the firearm at 4 different points.  I also like to carry extra pistol magazines in this gun case, but that cost a few bucks extra.  There is also a triple magazine pouch that comes with each of these carbine gun cases and you can get them for firearms like the MP5 or even AK magazine pouches.   There are several different sizes for the Covert Operation case but you most likely will be using a 33 or 36 if you are running the average AR15 or M4 carbine.

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Crosshairs and reticles, precision or speed?

Trijicon TA01NSN for saleSometimes you can have almost all of that in one package but you’ll probable end  up dropping about $2000  or more on an optic.  If I could afford it I would  have an ACOG with the RMR mounted on top but that is too expensive of a package for me when I’m running it on a $600 gun.   For combat and if you are in the military, that is a great weapon, but there are still pros and cons  of using a mounting system like this.  One of the most common things I’ve seen with ACOGS in Iraq is that many of them actually got shot.  Considering that this optic is something that mounts so high on a carry handle or the RMR configuration on a flat top, you will have to think about getting a cheek riser of  you want to be proficient with this system.

The RMR is a really nice red dot that isn’t b ig and bulky like an Aimpoint or Trijicon SRS sight.  IF you get a sighting system like that, it’s a full blown optic, but Trijicon TA01NSN for sale are probable the next step down but with basically the same benefits.   I always have iron sights on my guns because I  have know all too well that optics can break, shatter or get shot and if you want to get it off you better have a backup sighting system.   I’ve shot guns that didn’t have rear sights and it is very difficult to hit anything.   If you want speed a red dot optic is good but if you want precision, a Chevron or crosshair reticle, especially a thin crosshair one like the TA01.

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Most versatile rain jacket?

Truspec softshell jacketsWe’ve sold a lot of outwear over the years and the Woolrich Elite Concealed Carry Chino and the SigTac jackets are going to be missed because they were all very well made items but somehow those companies just couldn’t compete in the tactical apparel world.   I’ve not seen a SigTac jacket in years but people still and ask us what happened to them.   There are a few links out there that direct people to us from gun forums but they are badly outdated.   The Woolrich Elite Series tactical barn coat that is another item that was well liked but fell off the production line very early.   5.11 tactical has some nice stuff but they have gotten expensive and plenty of people have fallen off the 5.11 wagon just based on price increase.

When it comes to concealed carry jackets, well, there aren’t too many companies that are going to mass product something like that because there are so many firearms that designing a jacket around that isn’t really cost effective.   If you want a very useful tactical jacket, the TruSpec softshell jackets are a very big hit and we have been selling them with the American Flag patch  which gives them a cool yet patriotic look.   These softshell jackets are going to be tight against your body but they have access points so  you can still get in to your gear or guns.   We’ve had several customers come in our store that said it’s the most versatile jacket they own because it’s something you can wear in the Fall or Winter or even a mild summer day that will help keep you dry.

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Shopping online or Shopping in a brick and mortar store

philadelphia Law Enforcement suppiesThere are a lot of things we learned in the last year about the Law Enforcement Community and sometimes its the small things that people want in your store and not the fancy stuff.   There are plenty of times we go to places like Youtube.com to watch the products that we sell to try and learn how to use them or to market them.   You can only read so much about a product but if you don’t know how something is used, certain terminology about a backpack might just confuse you.   There are so many differences between all of the bags we sell and sizes are something people have a hard time explaining.   The differences between the Rush 24 and Rush 72 5.11 bags is significant and sometimes people don’t know which one they want until they hold it in their hands.

Police Officers loose handcuffs and handcuff keys all the time and sometimes that 20yrd old holster needs to be retired.    We know have a Law Enforcement inventory and we are doing everything from Blackington badges and whatever else Philadelphia Law Enforcement Supplies like Safariland holsters, Blackhawk Serpa holsters and all of the pepper spray and batons that are used.   We have a pickup on location option on our website and stock a good bit of AR15 upper receivers and Magpul accessories.   Our Smith Optics Elite ballistic eyewear was used in the US Open here in Merrion and we are looking forward to bringing on even more products this Summer and Fall.

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Caliber conversion kits from Advantage Arms

Advantage Arms Conversion KitsIf you are looking for a review about the Advantage Arms 22LR conversion kits, well, there’s not much to say other then they are hard to get and in high demand.   Several years ago we heard about these from one of our Sales reps so we started bringing them in stock.  They sold out in minutes and when we went to order them again, they told us it might be months before we get a restock, we were shocked.   The Glock 19 and Glock 17 kits are by far the most wanted but we can hardly acquire them.  Each conversion kit will make sure gun a 22LR practice gun and with all of the crazy stuff going on about ammunition ect. these will give you firing range time for less  money.  If you have a Glock 17-22 we have a good selection of these in stock right now.  Each kit comes with cleaning liquids as well as one magazine.

We have a large selection of Glock 19 and Glock 17  magazines and those are just as hard to keep in stock.   Our supply of Advantage Arms Conversion kits is very sporadic and you really have to jump when you see them.   Even though you may not be training with your 9mm  ammunition, you can still practice trigger control or drawing your weapon from a Blackhawk Serpa holster without having to loose the muscle memory.   Practicing things like this with a 22LR gives you live action firing drills and way less of a drain in your pocket.   I find these kits to run very reliable if you get the right kind of 22 caliber ammunition for your gun.

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