Some say that a shoulder rig isn’t good CCW

Some say that a shoulder rig isn’t a good way of concealing a firearm, but I’d have to say that I think it’s the most comfortable way to carry a medium size auto.   There are considerable differences in the fit of each should rig, but I have actually found that Bulldog and Uncle Mike’s have made some really nice holsters that are very inexpensive.   If you are wearing a good gun belt you won’t have any bunching up where the straps latch on and if you are carrying a firearm in the winter, this can help free up the room around your belt line and give you some other jacket options that aren’t full length.

Galco gun holsters are still making the popular Miami should rig, but I’m not a big fan of the horizontal holsters.   These are banned at most of my CCW courses because it’s hard to actually use the holster and not sweep someone behind you if you are on the firing line.   I prefer to carry large size Sig Sauer pistols when I know I will be wearing a jacket full time and I like to carry them in something other than inside the pants gun holsters. I have recently picked up a Sig 229 in .357 Sig that I hope to get some good practice time in.  I don’t think it’ll be much of a big change from going from a Sig 228 9mm to a Sig 229.   There is a noticeable amount of weight but a whole bunch more punch.

Top

Concealed carry vests that work

I am going to begin counting the days for an upcoming hunting trip to Maine.   This will be my first hunting trip in the New England States and I will be planning for some very cold nights, but moderate temperature days.  Along with toting a Mini 14 for deer,  I will be carrying a sidearm as I normally do.  I prefer to hunt on the move for deer until I find a really good position and then wait for a few hours.   I know I am pushing the limits by using a 75gr A-max bullet in a .223, but I wouldn’t be using this if I know it couldn’t be done.   There are several gun shops in the area that show the deer that were taken and many of those were done with the Mini 14.

Since I own and wear much of the Eotac apparel line, I have everything in my inventory to pick from.   The Style 103 vests are really meant as concealed carry vests and they are not really tactical.  I know that may be just my opinion, but the coyote brown and od green vests look very nice in the outdoors.   Since I will be in a cold environment, I don’t want to constantly take gear off and on, in really cold situations, I prefer to wear base layer clothing with a t-shirt and sweatshirt and then a vest on the outside for concealing my Sig 229 .357 Sig.  I keep a few Mini 14 5rd magazines along with my knife and flashlights in the vest and if I need to ditch some of the hunting ammo, I just take it out to lighten the weight and I’m ready to head into town with my CCW rig already on.

Top

Taking a gun apart is even easier than you think

It was only a few years ago that I thought that I needed to schedule some time with a Glock certified gunsmith so I didn’t have to sit and read a book about assembling and disassembling a G26 which is always a royal pain.  Even though guns are fairly simple, there are always little tricks to holding a gun and knowing how to wiggle difficult parts out, no matter how many times I’ve read my directions for installing computer software or putting my damn kids legos together, a good old instruction video is better.   I  was really happy to see that Otis sends out CD and DVD instructions with their cleaning kits which probable saves there customer service department a lot of headache phone calls.

I have a few AGI gun videos I strongly suggest picking them up, but now in the age of youtube.com it’s easy to find someone who has posted there own instructional videos and I have found some really good ones.   Please be aware that I am not saying that youtube is a great source for valid info because I have seen plenty of poor gun handling skills which I wish would be removed, but as much as there are some bad points about the internet, there are plenty of good ones.   Installing gun parts and accessories if done incorrectly may mean damaging or breaking your gun or the part you are trying to install.   I know a few gun shops that limit the amount of gun accessories that they carry because they are tired of the complaints about how the gun parts were broken when they got them.

Top

Even your shotgun should go in a case

I don’t know what it is with hunters, but when I comes to gun cases, I see more neglict with lever actions and shotguns than other rifles.   I guess some people think that if it has glass on it, you need a gun case, but if it all wood, you don’t need one.   I don’t know how many times I’ve been on hunting trips and see my buddies unload there guns and gear and the  shotguns aren’t in any kind of case.  When they pack, they just load up the bags and gear and then toss the guns in right on top.   Well, one of my second most common reasons for having a gun sock or gun cases, soft or hard shell, is not just to protect the gun from getting banged around, it’s also to keep glancing eyes from noticing what you are transporting.  I have 3 friends that have lost firearms in cars, along with laptops, because they had them in visible sight.

When you are travelling, there may be occassions where you may want to stop and get something to eat or have to run and take a leak.   Smash and grabs are the most common ways that I have seen firearms stolen from vehicles and none of them were in gun cases,  if the criminal didn’t see what was in the car, they wouldn’t know what it was or get the temptation.    There are a few criminals in New York that are walking around or sold a few of my friends Glocks and Browning shotguns.   If you are a gun owner, you may want to consider tinting the windows on your vehicles.   There are also areas in the Country where a bad cop may become problematic if it’s obvious that you are transporting firearms.

Top

Gunsmithing and 1911 reliability

My first 1911 was a Seriea 80 which has a firing pin plunger, but in my opinion that was a good thing to add to the design and IMHO does not take away from the novelty of the firearm.   I have heard from so many of my friends that Kimber makes the best 1911s, but I still have yet to understand why I should bother spending over $1000 on  a firearm when I already own two 1911 handguns that cost me less than $400 each.   Springfield Armory GI models are very well made and I have had zero reliablilty issues with my guns.   I have to admit that I am not one to push the limits on the types of ammo that my guns eat and I think that may be the real reason I don’t have issues with them.

When I first carried for work, I carried a Colt 1991A1 and used hollow points, but I  had an awful lot of malfunctions with the 2nd round.   Not that often, but maybe about 1 out of 75 rounds might not seat all the way and I would have a stoppage.   I was told to polish the feed ramp and I did, and the gun did run more reliabile, but then I did have maybe 1 out of 300rds jam  on me.   I took a good look at ballistics charts and realized that a 45acp FMJ does enough damage and worrying about bullet expansion with such a large caliber was kinda pointless.   I wouldn’t get too caught up in doing too many tricks to get your 1911 to run reliable.   Find the ammo that really does work, in my case, FMJ and try sticking with Wilson combat magazines or Chip McCormick.  I mostly use 8rd mags and although there are some that claim that these are not as reliable as 7rd magazines, I have had zero issues.   One thing I do not do any longer is one up the magazines.  There seems to be some magazines seating issues if I force an 8rd magazine in the guns with 1 round in the chamber.

Top

Deer Hunting in Vermont with a semi-auto

Last year I had the fortunate experience to actually hunt in a State that allowed the use of a semi-auto rifle.    In Pennsylvania we are retricted to bolt actions and lever actions, but I often wanted to take one of my Ruger Mini 14 rifles out to that part of the Country and use it for it’s best purposes.   The Ruger Ranch rifle is a great lightweight hunting Carbine that isn’t bulky and can easily and comfortable hold 5rds in the magazine.   I’ve done enough hunting in the rest of the Country to know that when you really get out there, you really have to be aware of your own safety and having the right kind of ammo with you means that that little .223 Carbine is capable of killing anything from a prairie dog to a black bear.   I have seen pictures of black bear being taken with M4 Carbines in other parts of the Country with Black Hills 77gr, most were taken under 75yds, but that still gives you a realistic view what the caliber is capable of.

There were issues with finding reliable 20rd and 30rd magazines for the Sturm Ruger Carbine, but now that the 1994 AWB is over, even Ruger is selling them for their guns to the open public, but getting back to hunting, the 5rd magazines are more practical because shooting from a rest or cover is easier with a less protruding gun magazine.   I would suggest that with the popular 1-9 twist rate on the Mini 14, you try the Seirra 60gr HP for varmint and go with a 75gr A-max for deer or bear.   Remember that effective range is going to deminish with the heavier bullets and I would not suggest anything over 200yds unless you have a longer barrel bolt action.

Top

Tactical clothing accessories that you shouldn’t forget about

The first thing I noticed when I took my first Carbine Class and got down prone was that the ground was still wet and I could feel every stone jamming into my elbow when I got down in a prone position.  With todays accessorized M4 Carbine with every light, laser and optic configuration, we have to realize that our bodies could use the same ideas when it comes to the clothing we wear.    The Eotac duty gloves are good for the times when you need to worry about hot barrels and flying brass and aren’t very bulk at all.   Elbow and knee pads are something that I have found are very useful, but there are huge variations in the way that they fit on your body, not to mention that most of the time, the only way to find out is to actually try them on.

I have several sets of knee pads, but the ones I find the most useful are the Blackhawk Neoprene, because they seem to just feel more comfortable.   I already have enough worries about snag and movement restriction when wearing tactical clothing and sometimes I really have to watch how I move around corners so my tactical pants don’t catch on things.   The Eotac style 201 pants come with a foam knee pad that works quite well, but the only draw back is for the knee pands in the tactical pants to properly align themselves over your knee caps is to be kneeling on both knees at the same time.   This is something I had to get use to when getting into firing positions.   The Style 202 and 203 lightweight pants also use the same foam knee pads and from my experience they last a pretty long time if you take them out when they are not being  used or when you are doing your wash.

Top

Retiring your summer clothing for your Winter CCW

We got new windows installed on the house this year and for the first time ever, it didn’t feel so cold when I woke up yesterday as it was outside.   I guess all of that green energy improving we did really did make a difference, I guess I’ll know for sure when the heating bills start to come in.   It’s always this time of year that I have to remember to close every window in the house because its warm during the day and it night it gets down to almost freezing and then back through the cycle until Winter comes in full force.   Yesterday I retired my lightweight pants and concealement vests for my new Eotac Style 103 concealed carry vests.   I always have to force myself to wear clothing for awhile to get the real feel and use of each pocket before I really can comment on them.   It was a few years ago that I really started to hate some of my  non-Eotac pants because I always had a heck of a time trying to get my wallet out of them whenever I was driving through toll booths.   When I wore my Eotac pants, it was easy to access every pocket.

I would have to say that the Eotac Style 1o3 concealed carry vests are not heavy weight, but they are not lightweight.   They are also not lined which in my opinion doesn’t matter.  I like the idea of wearing base layer clothing, wearing a T-shirt or polo on top and then the a jacket or vest in the winter, instead of wearing a giant heavy winter coat.   I do not like the idea of basing my concealed carry method around a heavy coat, because there are too many situations in the winter where it can get really hot and keeping my jacket on in those situations can become impractical.   Base layers and vests seem to breath better than all of the winter coats I have.   Although The Eotac vests are being made in the military looking lizard pattern camo, the brown and O.D. Green vests are very outdoor friendly and won’t look too tactical.  I can easily carry 3 full sized Sig 228 magazines in the front pockets as well as a knife and flashlight and the weight does not yank at me.

Top

If you are looking for the ultimate 1911 pistol magazine

There’s a  famous old saying in the world and it applies to all of those accessories and gun parts that you are putting on your guns.   The saying if you’ve never heard it from your grandma goes something like this, “you get what you pay for”.     Long  before I got into the business of selling guns parts and accessories, I remember ordering stock parts and accessory holders that I broke while installing them improperly and then blamed it on the manufacturer.   Then I realized I better pay attention to how I am putting this on and to not force things into place.   The next thing I realized is that expensive version I saw on mounting optics on an AK worked much better and actually held zero while the other part that cost $20 didn’t hold minute of man at 50yds.

Although I do not have combat experience, I have a friends that have served in Iraq and have actually been there and done that.   They claim that they have seen guys take 9 rounds of 9mm ball ammo to take to the ground while it only took 2 or 3 shots from a 45acp to drop them.   Even the military has finally after decades of complaining, agree that 9mm ball ammo sucks and there is a new 9mm ammo that is ballistically superior to the previous one.   Well, for those that have the option to bring their own sidearms to Iraq, they are all carrying M4 Carbines and 1911 style handguns.   If they need lots of handgun ammo, they prefer to use a rifle, if they are clearing rooms they like using handguns.   Don’t take it from me, take it from the guys that are on the front lines and they all swear by the Wilson Combat magazines that are stronger than the standard magazine called the ETM, or Wilson Combat Elite Magazine.

Top

Why you should consider buying the proper CCW clothing

I was told about the coming concealed carry and tactical apparel market exposion over 10yrs ago, but things have really exploded in the last 4yrs.   I have seen several companies fail in this market, but mostly to poor marketing or problems in manufacturing.   I recently read an article about the coming cotton price increases so I know there may be yet another shock to the industry.    I never jumped on the CCW clothing bandwagon until about 6 years ago when I started wearing 5.11 tactical shorts.   I slowly go to understand the need for such pocket designs and then branched o ut to other clothing companies after that.   I am very happy with the pants and vests I have been wearing for the last few years and kind of lost interest  in some of the pants I use to wear, but Woolrich has done a great job of designing outerwear for CCW owners.

The Woolrich Elite Parka is a great Fall and Spring outwear accesory to keep you dry on those rainy days where you don’t want to wear something that will absorb water or make you sweat too much.   I’ve worn the Parka on Sept and October and although I did start to sweat wearing it, it kept me dry and was easy to take off and toss in the car without taking up much room.   Now that we are into full blown winter weather, it’s time for sweatshirts and sweaters.   I don’t CCW wearing sweaters as much as I use to, due to the amount of fraying and strings I seem to notice on sweaters.  I guess it’s seeing too many Glock discharges on Dean Speirs website, but I’ll only pocket carry if I have to wear one.   The Woolrich Elite Polyester Fleece is a new product that is CCW friendly and will secure your spare mags.  I’ve carried spare magazines in pockets before and had bullets come loose because if you have enough bouncing around, the bullets may eventually come loose and may cause a moment of embarressment when  your wife finds doing a load of laundry.   Get the right clothing for concealed carry, it’s out there.

Top
1 … 140 141 142 143 144 … 194 Page 142 of 194