All posts in Tactical Gear

A literal test run on Original Swat

I got to sit on another Carbine Course last weekend here in Ohio.   We wrapped it up at the NTOA Conference a few weeks ago in Pittsburgh and I was invited to sit in on a Counter Terrorism training session.   The students practice truck stopping and clearing a tractor trailor.   One of the things I noticed when the students were preparing for the class was that they were all complaining about how hot their clothing was and in late September, we were still having 90F weather.  The truth of the matter is you really have to prepare for that kind of discomfort and be prepared to be sweating it out in your gear.  When you gotta wear body armor, it’s going to be uncomfortable in hot weather.

Since we have started carrying the Original Swat boots in our inventory, I was keeping an eye on the students that were wearing our stuff.  I wanted to see how fast these individuals were moving and see if I could see any slippage.  One of the biggest complaints I got from students when asked about what they liked and didn’t like about boots was durability.   We’re still waiting to hear back from the students we sponsored  on the boots we supplied, but it’ll probable take about 12 months to get an accurate response.  I did hear a lot of positive things about the traction of the boots and how well students could move on roads without slipping  because the high humidity did give a slippery startup in the morning.

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Woolrich Elite Parka Fall outterwear

I have to force myself to wear certain types of tactical clothing that is available and wear it for a few weeks before forming a solid opinion.    I’m always happy to find a company that puts out a good quality pant or shirt.   I have had some very well designed clothes only to find out that the next time I picked them up the pants didn’t fit the same and it wasn’t that I gained weight.   Woolrich has been in the clothing business for a very long time and although I know that there are several good companies out there that some of this just comes down to preference, but Woolrich knows their fabric and the quality is excellent.

Ever since I got into this business, I’ve been acquiring lots and lots of outerwear, but most of it sits in a closet for 3/4 of the year.   Up here in the Northeast, we get all 4 Seasons, but sometimes we go from Summer to Winter in just a few weeks.   I’ve had the Woolrich Elite Algerian Jacket, Barn Coat and half-zip sweatshirts, but I was really disappointed that the Barn Coat didn’t stay around because it was a nice cut and design.   The Woolrich Elite Series Parka is a waterproof 100% nylon ripstop that gives you a good outer layer that isn’t too heavy and isn’t too light that you can’t carry gear or backup magazines.   I’d have to say that this is very much a Fall weather jacket and I found it too be a little too warm to wear when it was about 78F and high humidity.  It kept me dry, but was a little too hot.

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Those little .380s

The .380 has now become one of the most popular CCW calibers.   I guess so many people are now being awakened to gun rights that gun manufacturers are catering to their desires for smaller concealeable weapons.   I’ve seen what the .380 caliber can do and in all honesty, the caliber is really a minimal caliber and you better do some real good thinking on how to effectively engage a target when you are carrying such a weapon.   It still amazes me that to this day, 90% of the people I know that carry a firearm have had ZERO formal training.   I would say that considering the fact that people are bigger today than they were 100yrs ago and that crack cocaine, PCP and other street drugs can make people bolder and stronger than ever, you better know that firing on a target until it’s down is something you better know about and not expect a one shot stop.   I’m sure I may be pissing off a few “experts” in CCW, but if I am going to carry such a weapon, I’ll have the gun unloaded on target A and expect to be moving and reloading for the expected follow up shots.

There was a shooting in the Phildelphia area in the last decade where a female police officer was killed by a bg with a .380, but it was a point blank direct hit to the head.  I hate to be so graphic, but that’s about what you’re going to have to expect this caliber to do.   I have heard of bullets not penetrating the cranium and a full magazine of .380 holding 6-7rds should be expect to be used on a target.   I’m starting to see some laser companies putting lasers on these small gun which IMHO may be a good idea to help in low light shooting.  Crimson trace laser grips makes them for Walther PPK pistols which are one of my favorite .380 guns.  I realize that many who carry a CCW may not consider themselves at high risk, but for anyone  in a high threat or high risk job, should seriously consider a larger caliber.    Depending on  your body size, Kahr and Kel-Tec make some nice pocket 9mm that are closer to what I would consider to be minimal calibers for defensive use.

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Gun safes to suit your needs and not take up room

I have a few generations of the gun vault gun safes and I have to admit that it may be time to toss a few of them.   Technology in the gun industry has been greatly advancing and gun safes are no different.  I believe that there is a 99.9% probability that you do not ever have to leave an unlocked fiearms in  your  home for defensive reasons.   Most reasons to lock up your firearms is to prevent theft so get that in your head if you aren’t locking up even your hunting rifles.   With many of us carrying firearms daily, you have to realize that the way gun safes are being designed today, that the older styles wear out batteries faster and in my experiences have some reliability issues.

I have good experiences with all of the gun vault gun safes that I have purchased in the last 3 yrs.  There was apparently and issue with some of the first biometric safes, but the issue has been resolved.  If you have kids in the house or live in a home where there is a lot of traffic, these safes can be bolted to areas that are not easy to find and most criminals aren’t going to take their time during a robbery.   My advice is to not put them in the obvious areas, but make sure you can still easily open and close the safe.   The gun vault microvault can easily fit into your car and be used for travelling or be used in an even more stealthy manor in your closet or near your bed.

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Preferences and applications of reticles

There are now so many choices for hunting and target shooting optics, more so than just a decade ago.   I’m still waiting for an optics company to come out with combat rifle scopes that have interchangeable reticles, but we’re not there yet.    There are some really good bullet drop compensators for hunting optics, but the only drawback is that they are setup for specific bullet weights and deviating from that will make the calibrations incorrect.    IOR Valdada had some good fast European reticles, but the eye relief was notoriously bad.    I really don’t like the idea of having to get my eye that close to a combat rifle scope due to the higher risk of bonking yourself  in the eye.

Trijicon rifle scopes have a better eye relief and I really like the triangle chevron configuration.  You gotta do your research on how the Trijicon reticles are calibrated because once again,  deviating from the bullet weight will causes misses at certain distances.   It would be nice if they could get some of these reticles setup so you can switch from long range calibration to CQB, but like I said, we’re not there yet.   I’m not a big fan of putting to many  lines on a piece of glass because it can become messy when using them for observation.   I’d also have to state that the vast majority of people I know that have ACOGs aren’t using them for long range shooting and mostly just for hitting the X at 100yds.

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Practical and tactical should go hand in hand

Although I am a big fan of battle rifles and prefer to carry a gun bigger than an M4, if I gotta carry ammo on my person and it’s not being carried in the trunk of my car, I’ll gladly take the smaller caliber.    The M1 Garand is a great and powerful weapon, but combat is at a much faster pace and being able to suppress a target with small arms is as important as neutralizing it.  If you are a weekend warrior and are considering taking a Carbine Class, even though your training will take place in the Course, you should do research on gear and accessories before you walk in the door.

 

I always try to sit in on training courses whenever I can although I wish I had the time to actually take more classes.   I’ve written on several occassions that one of my greatest joys of watching classes is watching all of the gear fall off or fail a student and watching their slow evolution of losing gear along the way.   Theirs nothing wrong with being a tactical accessory junky, but if you have to carry an M4 all day like i’ve had to, you’ll quickly learn that lightweight, means a happy person.  There seems to be a big craze getting tactical gear with the quad rails even though most people don’t need them, and then having to go out and get rail covers, when a simple stock would have lightend the gun by a few pounds.

 

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Radio Shack and EverReady

We all remember when we saw the sales at Radio Shack and Dad or Grandpa went out and picked up some new doo dad to tinker with.    I remember the flashlights that I always though were the most powerful were the big long D flashlights that could basically be used as a baseball bat if you were dealing with a home invasion.   Now everyone knows that those flashlights worked well for that time period, but you can get the same brightness from CR123 batteries and have 1/10 of the weight and bulk.   I think my biggest problem with modern flashlight technology is that the flashlights are getting easier and easier to misplace and lose.

Flashlights these days are virtually bullet proof and most are water proof.   The Streamlight flashlights are something I keep in the tool box, in the car and carry from time to time, especially when going to a mall or park late at night.  The PolyTac is my primary lightweight go to white light.  I would not recommend going with the smallest thing you can get your hands on because losing a $200 flashlight is going to be pretty painful.  Although I do keep some weapons mounted lights,  it’s always good to tote around something that isn’t attached to a gun.

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Weapon mounted flashlights

I’ve sat in on several IDPA events with flashlight stages and watched people drop their flashlights left and right, while trying to engage targets.   There are better ways to retain a firearm in your hand without having to mount it to your gun.   The Section 8 Tactical device called the URD, Ultimate Retention Device is IDPA legal and a good option for those that still do not like having to mount a flashlight on a handgun.   I realize that putting a flashlight on your defensive pistol will most likely mean having to get a bigger and bulkier holster if you are carrying it, but for a gun safe gun, especially something that is being  used in your home, train to use a flashlight in whichever way you feel most comfortable.

I’m not a big fan of pressure switches being used on flashlights because I’ve seen them become another accessory that will snag on something or fail on  you.   Flashlights can have batteries fail and the bulbs can burn out, and having to worry about another connection isn’t my cup of tea.   Streamlight flashlights have a very popular handgun option called the TLR-1 and TLR-2.   One has a flashlight and the other has the light and a laser mounted in it.   Each has their place in defensive applications, but anytime you add an accessory to a firearm, it’s another thing that can fail on you.

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Tactical gear and clothing

There are a lot of words that get thrown around in the firearm industry that are fairly broad.    Tactical clothing these days may sound like BDUs to one person and 5.11 tactical clothing to another.    Tactical gear can mean anything from a folding stock to a knife, or a $1500 rifle scope.    The word “tactical” doesn’t really tell you what something is going to be used for in the field.    I have some pretty dressed down AR15 rifles that to some people, just look like violent weapons and scare them, while most of us that are familiar with the accessorized M4 Carbine, will find a A2 style AR15 to be  pretty bland.

The so called tactical clothing and concealed carry markets seem to be new markets and these terms get thrown around a lot but don’t really tell us much.  To the trained individual, they can spot a knife in the pocket and 5.11 style pants from a mile away and loads of pockets full of tactical gear and usually that’s a dead giveaway that someone is carrying a firearm.   Think about what purpose your clothing is to serve and adapt to it.   There are more than a few good clothing companies that are making concealed carry friendly apparel.

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New A-Tacs pattern camo coming in Spring

This weekend was another big weekend for us in displaying the new A-Tacs pattern cammo from Eotac.    We got a  lot of inquiring responses from people walking around the NTOA, National Tactical Operations Assoc. in Pittsburgh this week.   More than a few of the people made comments about how bad the military digital camo was and that it looks more like a blob than melts with it’s background.   The A-Tacs pattern is still in production but we are looking for a Spring delivery date.

The A-tacs pattern is going to be a big hit, my only hope is there is enough production to keep up with the demand.  The style 201 operator pants have a proven design and will be part of the first run in tactical pants for the A-tacs pattern.   My only wish was that these pants would be available before archery season because more than a few people mentioned at how good the pattern would be for hunting as well as military applications.   The pattern we saw and displayed was for urban environments.

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