The most useful tool outside of your cell phone

I am not one to promote the fact that I am carrying a knife.   I notice that many in the tactical community that carry firearms are also carrying folding knives and they usually clip them on to their front pocket.   I’m not being paranoid when making the claim that this is usually a dead giveaway that the person is also a CCW holder and is packing a 9mm somewhere.   Not only is the knife a weapon that a BG knows can be used against him, it’s a hint that is not covert.    People are going to do whatever they feel comfortable doing, but try to think about being discreet when carrying anything of the sort.     There are plenty of places where carrying guns is so common, that everyone knows there is a 75% chance that somebody in the building has a gun, so some crimes just don’t really happen that often.

Knives come in all lengths and durability.   I’ve still got knives I had when I was 8yrs old and they are still sharp even though they were neglected.   I’ve had previous jobs where keeping a box cutter in my back pocket was so common that I usually had a pile of them on my dresser because I always brought them home from work and forgot to take them out.   I think a good 2 inch blade is a good average size blade that is long enough for defensive purpose, but very practical tactical knives for the working man.   Since we deal with a lot of UPS boxes every day, it’s nice to know that my everyday carry knife is my box cutter, screwdriver and defensive weapon.    If you’ve got the job that carrying a fixed blade Cold Steel knife, then so be it, but like many of the firearms I have had to carry on the job, I always ended up working my way towards something smaller and more comfortable.

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Improvements to get the feel, right!

I’ll be honesty with you, I would have a hard time given you very many references on places you should go to, to get the answers and avoid a bunch of bullshit when it comes to firearms and accessories.   Gun forums have been around for almost 2 decades now, and even though some are better than others, there is always going to be a lot of BS and drama around certain products.   One of the best analogies I have ever heard when it comes to firearms is that they are just like Golf clubs.  Each firearm is good for its inteded purpose, but you don’t use a putter to drive a golf ball 400yds.  I have family friends that were draft bait in WWII and Korea, and most of them though the M1 Garand was a reliable platform and most said not everyone could shoot them very well, because they were all issued the same gun with the same stocks.    It’s amazing how much modification and stock accessories are out there now, even something like an M14 or M1A rifle can be converted to an adjustable stock.    Everyones length of pull is different and if the gun is too short or too long, it’s going to be hard to get into a good firing position and be proficient.

Mapgul stocks and accessories  are very well made and I have yet to had any of my AR15 rifles break on me.  I’m not one to bash synthetic stocks, and there is nothing wrong with the fixed stock on an AR15, but they don’t work for everyone.  Not only do people have to worry about finding rifle stocks that fit them, they have to think about what if I’m wearing a winter coat?   What if I am wearing body armor and  a tactical vest?   Being able to adjust the stock on your Carbine or rifle by 1-2 inches can be a huge deal as far as comfort.  The Magpul PRS stock will give you a great cheek weld and adjustability.  My personal favorite is the Magpul CTR stock.

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Combat rifle scopes and a backup plan

When you mount your rifle scope, please do some research on how to properly level and mount it.  A properly mounted combat optic should not be over torqued and should have loctite on the screws.  I have yet to see a mount come loose on a gun that used loctite.   When you go out an spend $1000 on a combat rifle scope, ask yourself, what will you do and how will you remove the scope and aim it if the optic goes down.   If one your Trijicon rifle scopes takes a bullet, are you going to be able to see through it and still be able to lay down effective fire if you can’t see through it?  Even if you have a rifle scope that does not allow for co-witness, would it be a good idea to still attach flip up sights to the gun if there is room for them?  Always have a backup plan for your defensive carbine.

The vast majority of M4 Carbines I see at the range have optics that are top of the line.    Aimpoint and Eotech along with the Trijicon ACOG are probable the top 3.   All of these are good for a certain purpose which is mostly for close up fighting.   The Trijicon ACOG is more of a medium range combat optic depending on the type of reticle you choose.   They do have a line of red dot or even green dot optic options, also.   If you are are a weekend warrior and new to defensive shooting and tactical gear, I would suggest you think about this next statement, whenever you attach an accessory to your Carbine, think about what you would do if that accessory mount broke or the actual item failed.

 

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Upgrading to the 6.8 SPC some range thoughts

I remember looking at guns with their AR15s and all of the bragging that went on when I was still plinking away with a $179  russian SKS.   I have memories of that time period when the owners were talking about how accurate their guns were, but when we walked down range, they shot groups that were basically the same thing I shot with SKS.   After several years of walking up the ladder of cheap guns to match grade guns, I realized my shooting skills were actually better than I thought, but it was all about getting the most out of a firearm and not really which one was better than the other.   Now that the AR15 has been in the hands of law enforcement and private citizens there has been a real debate about using the 55gr ball ammo for defensive purposes.

I have a close friend that has witnessed the use of 55gr Federal American Eagle and it was a one shot and drop shooting.   I predicted along with a few other military personel that with the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, we were going to see a chanc in the type of ammo snipers used.   The resurrection of the DMR has also come about.    Since there has been a growing trend towards using retired military in security and contractor forces, these individuals have been choosing their own weapons and many of them have been choosing pistol driven guns like LWRCI AR15 upper receivers.  These guns have a  proven track record of requiring less cleaning and reducing the wear and tear on extractors and bolt carriers.

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gun parts and tools and thinking ahead

I recently got myself into a situation with a CCW gun wear a magazine that was stored for a long time ended up not functioning properly even though the springs in it were fairly new.   I believe the Sig 239 pistol magazine had less than 100rds through it when it was left loaded for approximately 2yrs.   I’ve heard debates about single stack pistol magazines holding up better than double stack magazines,  but I’ve come to the conlusion that it is NEVER a good idea to leave a full loaded rifle or pistol magazine for more than a few months.   It’s best to rotate your carry ammo especially if you are cleaning  your sidearm fairly often.   After about 3 chamberings of any ammo, the ammo really should be used and not loaded back into a firearm.  Bullet separation is something that will eventually happen, and the last thing you want your gun to do in a defensive situation is to blow up.

I highly recommend getting a gunsmithing video on dissassembling or assembling your firearms so that you can familiarise yourself with firearm maintenance.   A big problem I have run into when doing maintenance is having the right tools to actually take guns apart and replace hammer springs and firing pin springs.   A Glock pistol is probable the easier to take apart and for just about $5 you can pick up glock dissasemble tool to replace any Glock parts you think you need replaced.   Do a search on youtube to see if you can find any free instructional videos, but also check with AGI or the manufacturer because there’s a good chance something is posted from the factory reps.

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Zombie tools for survival

This coming October will be another fun filled Zombie hunting adventure.   I will be reviewing and attending several zombie competition events in the Pennsylvania, Ohio, Delaware and New Jersery area.   Everything from pistol shoots to bring your fighting carbine and hike through a 6 stage zombie adventure.   One of the best things to learn from a competition event like this is that hits count especially good hits.  It is a forgone conclusion that to take a zombie down, you need head shots and this isn’t a bad thing to practice.    Various stages that I have witnessed where basically 3 gun competitions and even some of them were airsoft.

The only thing I haven’t seen yet at a Zombie shoot was a crossbow, but I did shoot a stage with a long bow.  A good set of tactical pants will get you through the day a lot easier especially if you don’t have a fancy tactical vest.    The Elite Operator Tactical pants we have on promotion right now are the Digital ACU pants.   The pants are hands down the number one tactical pant you should be wearing if you are toting a carbine.   In all honesty, unless you are wearing a leg holster you should be able to get full use of all of the 6 magazine holders in the pockets and these are easily accessed while in the prone positions.   The digital patter ACU pants have been on sale and we are down to limited sizes, but now is the best time to pick them up for your October Zombie adventures.

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Ass kicking gear

Original SWAT has grown as a company and we’ve been told that production has been way up in the last year due to the demand.   Original SWAT boots are meant for those that are actually out in the streets even though they do have an Oxford dress boot for more office type environments.   The tactical boots are very comfortable and to be honest, the first thing I noticed about them was that they were not as heavy as I thought they would be.   One other thing I really liked about them was the ability to change the insoles out.   I’ve toted an M4 Carbine with about 20lbs of other gear an ammo and after about 6hrs of standing with it on, I could really feel my fit getting sore.   The people at Original SWAT knew that even if the boots don’t wear, the insoles do wear and it’s best to design the product around the ability to swap this part in and out.

When we were at the Atlantic City Police and Security expo, we did a lot of browsing for products we were  interested in carrying in our show room.   We are very happy with the Eotac tactical apparel line basically due to the improvements we saw over the previous product lines and due to our customer responses but we needed to add to it with Original Swat Boots product line.   The Wilderness makes a great belt that our customers love to wear and even our employees.   Eotac has their own logo on some of The Wilderness belts, too.    When it comes to footwear, quality control is extremely important to us.   We’ve seen some pretty bad knock off tactical pants that either fell apart after hard use or were not user friendly.   We did  a lot of research and testing and asked around to our customer base on what type of boots we should carry.  The Original SWAT boots were the winner.

 

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Looking for Zombie killing options

Do search for gun clubs and shooting ranges in your State to find out if anyone is holding a Zombie shoot.   They usually occur in the September to October months.   Having some good tactical clothing that will securely hold your gear.   The Eotac Style 201 pants are my favorite because they hold 6- 30rd PMAGS and they are easy to run in.   Tactical vests like the Style 101 are not heavy and don’t make you feel like you are wearing a flak jacket.   There is a time and a place for different types of tactical vests, but mobility is important.  You may want to try getting your magazines loaded up with all of your gear and then try running 100yds with it and see what it feels like and if stuff starts to fly out of your pockets.   Mobility is extremely important.

There seems to be a new craze in competition shooting in recent years.   I’ve seen more high school boys coming home from class with Zombie survival guides, the recent 28 Days later type movies and the doomsday virus outbreaks.    I guess IDPA has lost some traction to the present generation, but I’ve attended a few Zombie survival competitions and they were very good training events.   The best thing about it was the amount of tactical gear that I watched fail, and the number of really novice mistakes people made.   Out of the 5 stages I attended, there was 1 stage that we saw about 18 firearms go down.   About half of those were AK variants and they were mostly magazine related.  Some guys never knew how hard it was to do a tactical reload on an AK if there was a round in the chamber and a fully loaded 30rd magazine.  People found out what happens after firing off the 1st round and the magazine falls out.

 

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Alternatives to carrying firearms

I’ve been watching the growing trend towards pocket guns and CCW weapons that I would defanitely consider to be minimal.    Years ago the debates were about which was better, 9mm or 45acp for stopping threats.   Now that so many first time CCW carriers are getting into the fold, but they seem to think that a .380 is good enough for them.   We have to balance between our skills as a CCW carrier and what is practical and what can be concealed.   Confronting a nut on PCP at close range may require an FAL in 7.62 NATO, but we may not be fortunate to have one.   In all honesty, there are just some situations where retreating and running full speed away is the best option.

Now that we have been becoming more and more aware of what actually “stops” a threat, we have to get into the realm of less-lethal weapons.   Tasers have been known to kill people, but they are more effective in stopping threats than firearms.   After seeing and reading about some pretty pathetic robberies and hold ups in the Trenton and Philadelphia area, I was wondering if someone just had a can of mace that the drug addict could have been taken down without putting several holes in the ceiling and walls of the stores.  The Kimber Pepper Blaster  is my favorite less lethal weapon  because it has a trigger and its easy to tell which direction it is pointing unlike bottle sprays.  2nd choice is followed by the ASP pepper sprays. I have nothing against people that just want to carry one gun, but I think a firearm, knife and less lethal weapon are my suggestions for CCW 7 days a week.

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Galco ankle holsters

The ankle holster is a very unique method.   It is not easy to draw from when in the standing position, but for those that do a lot of driving, this is an excellent position to draw from while in the seated position.  Shoulder holsters come as a close second, but a high level of practice can probable equalize them both.   If you are considering carrying a firearm in an ankle holster.  I strongly advise that you really think about carrying the lightest firearm you can.   The Kahr P9 and J-frame revolvers seem to be the most popular because you may feel like the holster is moving around on you even if it is not, depending on how heavy the gun is.

The holsters we sell are broken down into two groups, Concealed carry and tactical holsters.   Much of the clothing we sell also fits into this category.   While some undercover law enforcement may use concealed carry methods and Galco holsters has many options, most of the pocket and ankle holsters we sell are for white colar gun owners that need to be as discrete as possible.   A new market seems to have emerged in the last year with the flood of new .380 pistols.    Many of us may have started out carrying the biggest firearm we owned when we first started to CCW, but we found out very fast that certain climates and physical situations can be very uncomfortable if we have a firearm jabbing us in the side.   Galco holsters have a very good reputation of being consistantly made and in the 4yrs we’ve been selling them, have never had a fitting issue.

 

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