Some feedback after finishing the Dean Caputo AR15 armorers course

It has been several decades now that I have been shooting firearms and we’re working on the second decade of military style semi-auto experience.   Some of the guns I have  owned in the last 10yrs are breaking down from time to time, but I’m still learning about the firearms. When something breaks,  its somewhat fun to learn about how a firearm was designed and how much trial and error went  into a firearms design before it was done right.   All of those little springs and detents probable came about after trying other things, but they are all very important parts of keeping  a firearm running.

Recently I had a stock come apart on my and the spring and detent fell out, I couldn’t find the stock wrench that I had so I had to pick up another one from Tapco.   It is now staying in my range bag,  I’ve had magazine failures and ammo failures, but getting the AR15 Armorers course gun dvds is a good gift or good thing to watch with your gun buddies.   There are good ideas on keeping gun parts and small compact gun tools around to keep your gun up and running or get it up and running when you’re at a range.   Something like a $1 spring can shut your gun down for the day if you weren’t prepared.

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Range Report on M4 Carbine

I’ve had an LWRC Carbine for several years now and it has served me well.   I’m not going to brag about  how great this thing runs compared to other firearms, all I’m going to say is that this was the gun I really learned about gunsmithing with.   I recently stripped the gun down to do a repair after the stock came loose and i lost the rear take down pin detent and spring.   I was shooting and noticed that my M4 Carbine rifle stock was starting to unwind and I was a little surprised.  I thought I broke the stock for a moment and then I realized that it was just lose.  I didn’t have a stock tool with me so i just hand tightened it, but then I noticed the rear take down pin was falling out.

Well, I wasn’t in a gunfight, but I did learn that more than just an optic or a magazine can fail you, you’re gun may just fall apart if you don’t pay attention to it.   While I took the gun apart to analyze it a little more I notice that the fore grip that I was using was cracked, it had not broken off on me, but man, did it look like it was close to snapping, there are a great many things to lock down and tighten, spending $1800 on LWRC uppers, doesn’t mean the gun isn’t allowed to have an operator induced failure of some sort or sheer neglect.   Everything that can come loose needs to be checked.

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Sale on Woolrich Elite tactical shorts

The heat wave in the northeast is upon us and it’s time for the lightweight Summer shorts sale.   The Woolrich Elite Series tactical shorts are made of the same 100% cotton rip stop material that the Style 44441 and 44447 pants are made from.  They are close in style to the 4444 pants, but there is no BDU or cargo pocket.   I think this is kind of a bummer, but there are so many people out there that can’t handle the long inseam that would be needed to put this addition on it, but there is an option that is somewhere in between.   The Style 44905 short meets you at the half way point.

Woolrich Elite 44905 is by far the most popular tactical short that we sell.   It’s not too long, but the pocket designs are so useful and the material does not shrink or ride up on you like most tactical shorts do.   If you read through some of the previous blog posts I have had some pretty bad experiences with 5.11 tactical shorts.   It’s a little too late for me to try and pick up Proper or Blackhawk Shorts, but next Summer we’ll probable make a few additions to the product line if we like what we see.   The Woolrich Elite Cargo shorts give you the most versatility.

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Timberline Tactical Knives

I had the fortunate experience to work the Gatco Sharpener booth at the NRA Convention last Spring and it was a very insightful experience.   When I first showed up most of the knives looked the same to me, but after about 2 days of handling them, I was able to distinguish between all of the knives and how they were different.   There are numerous sharpeners from Gatco that are options in sharpening your knife, but some of them are pocket sizes and others are kits.   The Military Carbide sharpener is probable the most straight forward, but since not all knives are straight edge or plain edge.   You may have a hard time getting to partially serated knives.  That’s where the the sharpening kits come in.

We ran a giveaway at the Gatco sharpener booth where we gave away an SOC knife with every kit that was purchased.  Probable the biggest seller for those that purchased the Timberline knives, was the Edgemate Professional Knife Sharpening system.  There is a stone that can be used to get to the serations and it only took a few strokes to notice the difference.  Once you get the hang of using the sharpening system, you can sharpen knifes even faster.   One thing we didn’t see at the show was any blood flow, but I was informed that almost every year somebody cuts themselves there.   Safe handling of knives is something you’ll be practicing whenever you use a sharpening system.

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The difference between lightweight tactical pants

I’ve been wearing the Woolrich Elite lightweight tactical pants for years and never had issues with them,   I’ve been wearing the Eotac tactical pants and didn’t have problems with them.    The 100% cotton rip stop as far as I know really is the lightest weight pant that I know of, and I’m still waiting for the Tru-Spec 24/7 pants to arrive.   The Tru-Spec pants I’ve been told do not wrinkle as easy, but they did feel a little bit heavier to me.   I did not view the Black hawk lightweight pants to be lightweight.  The 65% poly and 35% cotton really makes it for a heavier material.   In hot weather, when you can’t wear shorts, you have to wear the lightest weight apparel that gets the job done.

I do find the pocket designs on the Tru-Spec pants to be very useful because they aren’t giant BDU pants pants.   Something like the Woolrich Elite elite tactical pants in style 44447 are nice if you are hauling and M16 around, but the pockets are too big for every day use.   When it comes to colder weather the product differences are a little easier to wear on a daily basis and then it really gets down to the durability and fit of the clothing.  I’m still not a fan of the cell phone going in the pocket but most tactical pants seem to have been designed around a Blackberry size phone.

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Keep that backpack stuff to a limit, get a good pair of tactical shorts

Something to seriously consider doing this year if you are going on a long camping trip or a hiking trip is to get some good tactical clothing.   People should know that much of what you see in the tactical apparel and clothing world actually started with rock climbing gear.   When you have to climb up the side of mountains having  things hanging off you can cause balance issues and snagging issues.   The deep rear pocket designs you see on many 5.11 tactical pants which were later copied by other companies was for rock climbers.   Stuff doesn’t fall out of them just because of the way the pockets are designed.  Much in the same way that Woolrich Elite and Eotac pants were designed for pocket carry.  The guns will more than likely float around the  pocket before they find their way out even if you are laying on your back.

I’ve found that a 20 oz bottle of water can easily fit in a pair of Woolrich Elite cargo shorts and even their lightweight versions.   If you have to ride a bike you’ll probable have to move the bottle, but it does come in handy to have pockets like this.  Many tactical vests are also designed to hold water bottles and it’s nice to be able to wear tactical shorts that were designed for something like this.  The Woolrich Elite Series tactical vest style 101 has two pockets in the back that can hold a bottle each.   Not only are these Woolrich Elite shorts tactical shorts, they are great for just about any outdoors fun.

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Galco Kingtuk holster review

I’ve been wanted to get a Crossbreed holster for a long time, but they seem to be a little complicated for me to order online and I always wanted to hold one in my hands first before I purchased one.   It seems that as soon as someone comes up with an idea, and a good idea, somebody in the tactical and accessory market tries to copy it.   I’ve heard stories from guys attending SHOT Show that had to chase off Chinese attendees because all they did every year was show up, find out what’s new, and take the pictures back to China and then try and  make a knock off version of it.   We’ve seen this with optics time and time again.

I’m gonna keep my mouth shut on who is copying whom, but since Galco has such a large selection of holsters, and they cover a wide selection of right hand and left hand holsters, we gotta go with the best and most versatile product lines in this industry.   Galco holsters almosot always take a few days or more to break in.   This leather kydex combo Kingtuk holster was no different.   I’ve had times where the leather holsters were so tight that I thought I had to send them back because it was defective product.   I’ve learned to be more patient with leather holsters.   I think  the Kingtuk is a good idea and yes, it does not dig into you like a regular IWB holster, but I find them difficult to get on and off every morning, maybe I need Coffee first.

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Heavy work in hot weather

Sometimes you have a day when the last thing you are thinking about is carrying a firearm or spare magazines.   There have been times that I just wanted to rip my belt off and thrown things on the ground because it was becoming so darn uncomfortable bending over and carrying stuff around while carry a pistol.   One thing that I do like to do at times is take off my gun and thrown it in a pocket.   Something very cool about wearing and owning certain tactical clothing pants and shorts is the pockets are so big that you can stuff a Glock 19 in them and they’ll go all the way down.   Pocket carry with such a large firearm is not something I would plan on doing for very long, but it’s possible.

Now that it’s early July and Summer heat is in full swing, I usually keep my tactical clothing to a simple lightweight pants or lightweight shorts option.   I tried to wear the Blackhawk ligthweight tactical pants, but they were too hot, lately I’ve been only wearing the Woolrich Elite tactical shorts that are standard cotton canvas material, have lots of pockets, but aren’t supper light weight that they don’t support guns and gear.  There is a much lighter weight 4908 short, but it lacks the cargo pocket and that is one of the most useful pockets I use.

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Inseams really matter on tactical shorts

Now that summer is in full swing here in the Northeast, everyone that wasn’t prepared to deal with the weather is calling for the lightweight clothing. We recently had a couple guys that worked in the LEO field and they were talking about jumping over fences and which clothing was holding up to that.   He we go again, another person pissed off that we don’t have the Eotac 302 shorts in stock.   The Eotac shorts were in stock about a year and a half ago and were the first sign something was wrong with the company when they never arrive right before the summer last year.   The funny thing is guys that had them almost 2yrs ago are still wearing them.

The 5.11 tactical shorts that I have tended to feel like brown boxes that were cut around my waist and that silly back pocket strap makes me feel  like I’m in a marching band, but people seem to buy them.   The only decent option left out there seems to be the Woolrich Elite tactical shorts.   The style 4905 are probable the most versatile but some guys don’t like the length on them and really want 7 1/2 inseams.   The only issue we’ve had about the Woolrich Elite shorts is that they do seem to wear out in the crotch area faster than the Eotac shorts.   Mostly because of the way the stiching was done.

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Rogue Elite is now carrying Smith Optics Elite tactical eyewear

Not only have we been organizing the new location to look as cool as it can look, we got an awesome looking Smith Optics display case in our store.   The LED lighting and design of the case makes viewing numerous styles and designs easier.   It was nice to be able to get something like that from a company.   There is a very long history to the Smith Optics production line, but there is a very big difference between Ski goggles and the eyewear that many military contractors are going to want to wear.  Having a turbo fan for our ski goggles would be nice, but if you have a smudge you just take it off and clean them, nobody wants to do that in a combat situation.

There are close to 14 or more designs to choose from that have a level of ballistic protection, glare relief and comfort.   The Max factor tactical eyewear is something that you can use at a gun club or use as military or law enforcement protection.   I’m somewhat amazed at the number of people that are buying the clear Lifestyle glasses from Smith Optics Elite eyewear.   Many of them just want to be able to have a wide angle of protection from blood born pathogens, and flying debris.   If you are not  sure what tactical eyewear you want to use stop in our shop and we can show you.

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