Pants options for the shooting ranges?

There have been many times I have gone to IDPA competitions or local shooting matches and seen guys pack up gear and be on their way because they are afraid of the elements.   One of the funny things about the shooting community is the number of prima donnas that dwell in it with expensive firearms, but won’t run them like the are capable of.  One of those elements that firearms should be able to handle is the rain.  Especially when it comes to  using Military style firearms.  Some hunting rifles may get messed up in the rain but there are ways of preventing that.  Cheap optics will also become know and fog up on you.

One of the best things to market for this time of the year is rain gear.  For some odd reason we get a lot of rain in the Fall and the Summer here in the Northeast and most tactical pants are just going to hold water or get saturated.  Cotton Canvas has a bad reputation for this but this year we have something new.  The Woolrich Elite WaterProof pants go well with the Elite Waterproof parka.   Unfortunately Woolrich is only making these pants in black at the moment, but they easily roll up and can fit in a range bag for those rainy days.   It would be nice to see something in the future that is Hi visibility though.

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Sometimes you just have to wear different pants

Sometimes when we have to take over the work around the house that we are not use to doing, we have to put a different pair of pants.   When you have to do gardening you need to think about being in the kneeling position and sometimes throwing down a mat or old rug will help you get the job done without hurting your knees.   Some of the tactical clothing we sell actually ends up in the ER because the doctors that are wearing them like the fact the large pockets can be used for tools without having to worry about stuff showing or falling out.   There are some situations where we are putting a holster in a different position and the gear just doesn’t feel right.

One situation recently made me realize I was wearing the wrong pants for the situation was with the Tru-Spec 24/7 ligthweight pants.  These  tactical pants have a great fit for my body size, but the pocket locations for a knife or flashlight just didn’t feel right with the Blackhawk Holster.  When i had to reach for my knife I had trouble getting to it because the hold 3 o’clock holster and knife location didn’t work out so well.   If I was carrying IWB with my Sig 220 I wouldn’t have had  this problem, but it was another gear and accessory issue.

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Fall Special on LWRC Upper Recievers

The news coming from LWRC this Fall is that the new Lightweight Stretch upper has replaced the older M6 LWRC rifle.   There is very little different about this upper than the M6.   The LWRC Lightweight upper comes standard with the Magpul MOE Handguard.   It took me awhile to figure out what the big deal was when all of the MOE stuff started showing up.   Sometimes it’s a royal pain to have to research all of the new products that come out around this time of the year because we know that people are going to call about them and we try to look as smart as we can.   If you haven’t know it by now, gun accessories, primarily for the AR15 fill the void for the guys that grew up and stopped playing with LEGOS.

Some of this stuff really does improve the fit and feel of a firearm and lightening your Carbine without weakening it a great thing.   As anyone in the military if they could change something on their M16 to take off 8 oz and they will tell you it’s a good thing.   We recently got in the new LWRC uppers for sale that is the lightweight stretch upper.  This gun comes with the New Magpul MOE stock which is all stock with rail attachments.   There is an aweful lot of un-used weight on many M4 Carbines and the Quad rail thing is great if you are using it, but most people don’t.

 

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Getting it out there !

For those of us that live in the civilian world and don’t have the dress code standards that Law Enforcement and Military men and women have, we have more leeway on what we can choose to wear.   A big thing to get in this business is Military and Law Enforcement contracts.   There are districts and Departments that have specific colors and dress code standards on uniforms and tactical clothing.  If you can get them, you may be set for a very long time.   Whenever a new line of clothing comes out it’s always a big deal to get it out on the public circle and get people to wear it.   If it is over priced or a pain in the butt to clear it stay around very long in this economy.

I’m not sure where the military contractors are going to go now that Iraq and Afghanistan seemed to have maxed out on man power and I doubt there will be another serious influx of personell there so massive expansive of the tactical pants and tactical clothing may be over.  The big thing for clothing companies to do is get to the police departments and get them something that actually functions well and can be used in the Narcotics, Homeland Security and under cover work.   Vertx seems to have done a really good job in growing some legs in that market.

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Hottest Seller for the M4 Carbine from Trijicon

Sometimes we get a new product from a company that just flat out blows away the previous production line, but recently we have noticed that our most consistent selling M4 Optic is the Trijicon TA01NSN ACOG.   This is probable the most practical setup without over complicating the system and putting higher mounted parts on the already high sitting combat optic.   The Trijicon TA01NSN has backup iron sights for close up fighting.   For those trained with iron sights, nothing gets you back to the basics and away from glass optics that those metal or composite posts.

One of the best things about the ACOG system is the optics come already mounted.  We have all witness some shooters have a really difficult time with long range shooting because the optics they are deploying are not leveled properly.  The Trijicon TA01NSN like it’s fellow ACOGS can come on a carry handle or it’s only mount.  Nothing to adjust with the optic like you have to with scope rings, these optics are already leveled and once they are sighted in they can be removed and should remained zeroed.

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$13-$15 magazines where to put your money?

Sometimes it really bothers me when people want to argue about everything without really making conclusions about what gear is better.  Yes, I know there are plenty of debates out there about which firearms may be more reliable than others, and there is an answer to that depending on the conditions they operated in, but there is absolutely such a thing as stronger and more durable.  Some people have the lack of critical thinking where discussion about t-shirts preventing bullets from expanding falls into the same argument about how Second Chance body armor is junk, either way your screwed because your bullets won’t expand in one situation and you’re bullet proof vest is going to fail when you get shot.

Well here’s the reality about AR15 magazines….. The M16 is the highest maintenance firearm that has been put into Military Service, but the guns reliability has been dramatically improved by Mapgul Pmags.   There is not argument unless you are total moron, that the Magpul design is stronger and feeds more reliable than any USGI magazine.   USGI magazines are meant to be thrown away and throwing things like that away all the time is a waste of production and resources.   If you can run  your magazines over with your car and then defend your life with them, they are better.

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5.11 Covert Casual Pants Review

Today we got in a large quantity of the 5.11 tactical line, everything from Tactical Polos, EMS pants and the 5.11 parkas.   5.11 really has the EMS market and from what our customers have told us, it really is hard for them to even look for another brand.   Yesterday we got some complaints about some of the product that have been discontinued, but not everything that has been  discontinued was for reasons other than it was a  slow seller.  Sometimes products changes occur and recently some major production issues coming from Asia caused clothing to completely dry up.

The 5.11 Covert Casual pants are to this day the vest fitting 5.11 pants I own, but I’m still very annoyed that there regular line does not fit me so well.   Some of this may be subjective about tactical pants fitting properly, but I have 12 different 5.11 pants in front of me and only this one gives me the movement that I need.   The Covert Casual pants are made in some very nice colors other than the boring Khaki colors that everyone seems to make pants in.   The pockets are a little over thought, but if you can use them, you use them.

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Keeping it simple for CCW

Recently we got some requests to bring in The Wilderness Titanium belts which we kind of avoided because they are so expensive.   They aren’t expensive for the people that want to get the most out of a belt and knock off a few ounces of weight.   So many people in the civilian world don’t understand that you really can feel the difference at the end of the day between carrying 15lbs of weight vs 20lbs.   Your feet and your back will know it and reducing weight not only means less weight, but it can mean adding on another important item without going over your comfort limit.   My back and my feet hurt when I hear these stories about what our troops are carrying for their daily chores.

When we open the discussion about concealed carry, the weight issue still means something.  I can run through the list of close friends that are highly trained in carrying firearms and they all gave up carrying full size 1911 handguns for j-frame revolvers.   One of my favorite CCW is carrying a Smith & Wesson 637 in Don Hume holsters.  The Jit holster rides up high, it weight practically nothing and it doesn’t take up room in a pocket with is another popular mode of CCW.   Pocket carry is nice, but lets remember that carrying a gun in a pocket means not putting anything else in there, but what if you need the room for keys or other gear?

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Movement and fit with tactical pants

Although I might blog about tactical clothing for the majority of the time, I’m really not a big fan of the whole industry.   If you want concealment, putting the name Blackhawk or 5.11 on your clothing falls under the category of “Not Really” if you want to be running stealth operations.  I’ve seen enough drug busts go down that anyone working in Narcotics knows this.   I’ve often been impressed by the types and looks of some of the people that run Narcotics operations in Philadelphia and how good they are at tricking the bad guys.  Sometimes the guys running behind the scenes sitting in cars get to wear the tactical clothing, but not the front men.

Normally the guys doing the fence jumping are the hardest to impress.   Those are the guys that call up a day after the wore the clothing and tell us they blew out the tactical pants.   I must have worn about 20 different types of pants in the last 4hrs trying to find something that fits me right from my personal experience, movement is something that is really important to me.  The  number one place guys blow out pants is at the gun range.   As soon as they kneel down on the ground they’ll know what the fit and flexibility is.   What is claimed as tactical might be all about the looks and pocket designs, but they may not operate with the operator.

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Home invasions and burglaries on the rise

Everyone I know that owns a firearm has a story about why they own a particular firearm.   Somebody might prefer to carry a said firearm but when it comes to being a nightstand gun, things can change.   Sometimes you don’t want a full size auto in an IWB holster but as a gun you want to make a stand with, that Full size Glock 17 is what you want.  Night Sights are also primarily sold to people for home defensive weapons as well as putting flashlights on them.   A flashlight being carried with a gun means getting and using a different type of holster and that is a whole other can of worms.

When it comes to locking up your firearms, there is now absolutely no reason to not lock your guns up.   Gunvault safes will hold your firearm whether you are using a laser grip, Crimson Trace or other, flashlight, or spare magazines.   Gunvault safes come in a very wide and versatile price range.  Biometric technology has become far more reliable in recent years and they seem to have their stuff in order.   If  lock up your guns and properly mount them the way the gunvault safes are meant to, you will also reduce the chances of having a burglary become a gun theft.

 

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