Archive for June, 2012

What people are saying about the differences in material

When we first got into the tactical clothing business Woolrich Elite Series was the first company to come out that was different than 5.11 tactical.   The 5.11 pants and shorts we were wearing were a poly cotton ripstop material and not cut very well.   I have some of the 5.11 covert carry jeans and they are just downright lame as far as design and fit.  The Woolrich Elite jeans were a good idea but the colors and fit were not very good.  To date the only concealed carry jean that we sold that got a good response were the Eotac 205 jeans and we are sadly not going to see those again.

The cotton canvas pants seem to be liked because of the comfort of the material but when people want lightweight pants, it’s either 100% cotton ripstop or it’s going to be a poly cotton blend.   We had an electrician come in here and say that the TruSpec tactical pants we sold were not approved for his job and only the 100% cotton ripstop pants were due to fire safety.  Both pants may look the same but they are not the same when it comes to moisture resistance and comfort although I find the TruSpec pants to be best fit for me for the poly cotton blend.

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Colt 1991A1 and Chip McCormick magazines range day

I have worn out more 1911  magazines than any other gun magazine and I guess it’s no surprise that I put a lot of 45acp down range.   My 45acp magazines get put to use and I have learned from experience to rotate through all of my 1911 magazines and replace the springs about the same time I replace my recoil springs.  All of this can depend on how many magazines you use for the most part.    I would always recommend that you have atleast 3 gun magazines for every handgun you own because not only does this spread out the gun magazine wear, it’s about what  you will most likely need if you are doing any type of competition shooting.

I have a Colt 1991A1 that has seen more action than any other sidearm and I refuse to do any major changes to it as long as the gun runs.  The gun fits my hand very well and I have had good luck with the proven Chip McCormick magazines that I have used for IDPA competition and for CCW.   I love my 1911s for competition shooting but I’m still searching for a 45acp gun that I can carry all the time.  Some of the shorter 1911 guns seem to be to much too much maintenance and I really don’t like the idea of carrying a firearm where I have to do a countdown to when it it needs to have its guts cleaned out.

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Tactical Clothing is mostly about preference

I just got off the phone with a customer that asked me if we sold clothing that was “true to size” i informed him in the last 7yrs of selling tactical apparel, that I can’t answer that question because the times that I did, it was usually a customer looking for an answer so that if the clothing didn’t fit, he’d blame me for tell him that it would fit him.  We’ve sold many Wilderness belts over the years and although we never get complaints about how the belts hold up, there are so many sizing issues with these belts that even The Wilderness has a disclaimer on the end of their order processing about not taking back returns.

The differences between Blackhawk, Tru Spec, 5.11 tactical, Woolrich Elite and even the rare inventory of Eotac clothing that is floating around can sometimes have more to do with quality control than original design differences.  We’ve pruned much of our tactical clothing product lines and discontinued much of what got too many complaints about.  The differences in fit between such things as tactical polos is considerable and we’ve always been a big fan of the Woolrich Elite  product lines although tru-spec has gained some ground with us.

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Where to shoot?

There are some really good gun clubs out there but finding them is a hard thing.  Now that this whole Zombie apocalypse thing is going on, it’s actually a great way to find out where all of the cool ranges are.   Concealed Carry is a growing and more widely accepted thing unfortunately due to the changes we’ve seen in society certain people in society, namely small business owners are becoming the targets of crime.  Crime has always existed but certain crimes are on the rise.  Competition is a great way to train and I would actually highly recommend playing paintball.   Teaching people the importance of movement and cover and concealment are things that you learn in a basic game of capture the flag.

There are indoor ranges and outdoor ranges and range rules can vary dramatically.  While I would never want to bash a gun club, many gun club listings don’t give you all of the details but the best places are usually found out about by word of mouth.  Word of mouth is how some gun clubs really want to be found out by because they might not want to advertise where they are due to some States Political climates.   Some indoor pistol ranges are not very good for Carbine use and some outdoor ranges have very restrictive rules on magazine capacities.

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Is your gun holster going to get you killed?

I remember hearing all of the stories about how AR15 rifle jam and that they need to be cleaned.  Well all of this is true but the complaining seems to be exaggerated.   All firearms will eventually go down if they are not cleaned or maintained which in my opinion is a better term, but some may last longer than others.    I have seem ammunition malfunctions occur in rifles where just the slightest burr on the bullet can cause a feeding problem and taking your gun apart or clearing the malfunction can be difficult.   The same type of thing can occur with any mechanical device, ever get your shoe on your foot all wrong and have trouble getting your socks pulled up?  Mechanical parts will eventually cease up or jam up at some point.

Gun holsters have become far more complicated anymore and with everyone and their dog putting on sights, laser or just night sights, you can end up needing a different holster unless you’re brave enough to tweak the holster yourself.  Recently we had a tactical team show up at our store and pick up some of the Blackhawk Serpa holsters we sell and asked them what they were seeing in the Law Enforcement Community after all of the recent  hoopla.  I already knew the answer to this but I sometimes like to test out the customers we have and find  out what their opinions were of this mechanical device.  The answer was, it’s a mechanical device and it can fail.

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Hunting rifles, handguns and assault rifle cases and that’s the easy part

There are so many variations and configurations of just something like an M4 Carbine that you would be amazed at how hard it can be to put a gun in a case once you add on a different optic or flashlight.  I have modified some of my M4 Carbines 2-3 times and always ended up finding out the gun wouldn’t fit right when I came about 4 inches away from zipping up the gun cases I used.  I have several M4 Carbines and it’s always nice to just close up the adjustable stock, but different barrel lengths can mean needing a different gun case.

Measure your overall length for long guns before you buy a gun case online.  People tend to forget about over all length when they order Allen gun cases from us and sometimes have to exchange the sizes.  Gun cases are a royal pain in the butt to ship and we often have to add on shipping charges because once you get to certain size gun case you really can’t fold the case over again or risk damaging the formation of the material.  The Allen assault rifle cases are in a good price range and if that’s all you need in a gun case, their products are well made in that price range.

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Soft gun cases with versatility and for a decent price

Everytime I walk out of a gun shop with a new long gun I try to make sure that I have  soft gun case available if I have to take several guns to and from the range.  There have been times I’ve packed things wrong and a few times ended up putting dents in areas that I shouldn’t have.  Not everyone can afford to spend $100 on a customized gun case although some firearms really demand this.  If you want to pack up your pistols and don’t want to have to put too much thought into which size gun bag to get.  Just spend $8 on a bulldog gun case and you’re all done.

Not every trip to the ranges demands and SKB gun case with multiple pouches or accessories.  When I pack up my handguns or better yet, when I’m only bringing one or two handguns these Bulldog gun cases like the pistol rug, hardly burn a hole in your pocket and give  you enough protection for reasonable bouncing around. You might even be able to pick up the bulldog cell phone case for you.  Bulldog also  has a molded pistol case which can give you even more protection.

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Recon sleeping bags are they any good?

We get asked so many questions about certain products that at some point we’re going to have to just put up a FAQ’s on the website but at this time I really don’t have the time to do it.  People ask us if the products we sell are any good and that’s really an answer you’ll have to get on  your own.  From past experiences if we have a problem with a product line we usually dump it which is one reason we are so particular about what type of clothing we sell. Every product line has issues from time to time, but if we reach a boiling point, we dump the product line.

Many products out there are used for things that they are not  intended to be  used for and there a  great many ways to look up reviews and get feedback on them.  Right now one of our biggest selling product lines are the Elite Survival Systems recon sleeping bags which are flying out the door.  There really isn’t much out there to argue about these because the ratings on them are pretty accurate for any0ne with realistic expectations.  The Elite Survival Systems product line has started to expand out to real survival systems with emergency food and emergency bags.

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Lots of Turmoil in the clothing business

We have just got word that their were riots in the Apple factory in China and another one of our product lines is having trouble getting stuff made over there because of some of the flooding.  What the heck is going  on with that place?  Everyone seems to think we have to tip  toe  with China because they own so  much of our debt that they can pull the rug out from  under us.   The truth of the matter is we actually still own them.  They won’t get anything out of us if we go down and right  now they are actually having the rug pulled out from under them.   We are at a total of 4 of our major product lines has pulled out of Chinese manufacturing beacuse of the labor costs and price increase on raw products.

I have no idea what is going on with the clothing industry.  We have done some really big promos with Tru Spec and Blackhawk products as well as the Woolrich Elite tactical pants  product line and we’re under the impression they are all having some issues.  We are testing out some of the new products form Tru Spec this summer because one of our favorite clothing makers, Woolrich Elite isn’t making the 44905 shorts at the moment and that is something that really concerns us.

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There are many things you will need

I have owned an AR15 now for close to 12yrs and when I first got it it seems so expensive and I was almost afraid to beat it up.   Then one day I was holding a local shooting event at a gun club and it started to drizzle, several guys with the $2000 rifles didn’t show up to the event because they were afraid their stuff would get ruined.   An old guy that was hanging with us burst out laughing and said he trucked an M1 Garand around for 2 years in the rain and snow and is gun wasn’t ruined.  It’s funny how many prima donna their are in the tactical community and that is so common with the AR15 accessorized and customized world.

I don’t teach carbine courses but I listen to the guys that do and over cleaning seems to do more damage to guns than not cleaning them enough.  I’ve seen many firearms go down due to the lack of lubrication, but many gun cleaning supplies from years ago are out dated compared to what Break Free CLP and M-Pro 7 products are doing.   I use break free products basically to protect hunting guns and for a do it all cleaning, but for handguns and my larger caliber semi-auto firearms I use M-Pro7 gun oils, it seems to last longer and doesn’t evaporate.  Sometimes I don’t get to shoot a gun for a year or more, but I like knowing that nothing drained or evaporated from the firearm.

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