More feedback about the Recon sleeping bags

It’s nice to see so many people walk into our tactical store and bring in their kids.   We always have a certain element of the doomsday people that are stockpiling guns and ammo for an impending disaster and although we make money off of them, it’s not a very good way of using survival tools and tactical gear.   The Boy Scout moto of “being prepared” is something that more people in our society should be thinking about.  The more our society becomes technologically dependent the harder it will be for people to survival mentally and physically if they live in urban environments.   Rechargeable flashlights, long term storage food and things like emergency blankets are things that smart people keep around.

The older I get the more I think about the “what ifs” because I have a family that would be dependent on me if something happened.   Keeping an emergency blanket or the recon sleeping bags in a vehicle for long term car breakdowns or bug out situations is something I have done on long car trips.   In a nightmare situation where an emergency evacuation of  a city while being on vacation or business is something that has occurred.   I have a few friends that were traveling to Japan and were luckily prepared to be stuck in an airport and ride out the delays in getting a plane out of the Country.

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Shoulder holsters are not out of style

I know that many gun ranges do not allow people to train for defensive shooting classes with shoulder holsters and I complete agree with the reasons.   I still believe that if you have to carry a full size auto, carrying it in a shoulder holster is the way to go.   For driving in vehicles whether for military purposes or for concealed carry, it is a practical way to defend yourself.  I think the vertical should holster is a much more practical and safer way to carry in a shoulder holster but small or medium size firearms work well in horizontal rigs.   I find the Elite Survival systems holsters to be the best nylon holsters but you get what you pay for.  Some of  my Uncle Mike’s holsters worked well but they are not as comfortable to wear.

There have been some pretty big design changes and I like many holster makers, the contour of the holsters has been modified.   The Miami classic holster from Galco holsters is still a very widely used holster for law enforcement.  This is probable the coolest shoulder holster and with a Glock 19 it works very well.   For winter carry these are above the belt line and are not something that will restrict you with the type of jackets you wear.  We have had some issues with customers buying the Woolrich Elite Algerian Jackets and then not like the length of the jacket.  Our answer is that it’s a jacket not a coat and if you want to wear this you need a different setup.

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Target identification and scanner terrain

There are many reasons to have a good pair of binoculars around whether you are boating, camping, stargazing or hunting, being able to identify things in the water can help you in many ways.   Bushnell Binoculars come in compact or large objective lenses and the Leupold binoculars have the same quality as the Leupold rifle scopes. Zeiss binoculars and Konus binoculars give you a different style and it’s up to you on what you think you need.  There are differences in clarity and light gathering abilities, but it will depend on how much you need and what your budget is.  The real differences are noticed on cloudy days or low light.   There are many smaller compact optics that are very good and have a wide field of view.

I do think it is a good idea for anyone that is serious about hunting to bring a small pair of binoculars.  Many binoculars like Zeiss binoculars may seem expensive at first but peering through binoculars to identify a target is easy and safer to do than using your rifle scope.   Yes, you will be bringing slightly more weight with you but being able to constantly scan your territory might mean more opportunity for taking game.   If you use a good pair of binoculars you may see things in the sky that were just out of  your naked eyes visibility and you may see passing satellites or shooting stars.

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New TruSpec tactical pants coming in

We heard the rumors a few months ago but we finally got to hold the new TruSpec tactical pants in our hands.  These pants are part of the new Gunny approved tactical pants, shirts, vests and gear that will be available in late October.    They are similar in looks to the tried and tested tactical pants and are made of the same material with a polyester cotton blend, but then you will notice the differences.   As a tactical gear and clothing dealer, we have sold lots and  lots of brands of tactical pants and we see the reasons people want to move to something else because it may have some function or feature that they need.   There is no “do all” tactical  pants and much of this comes down to  your price range and preferences in pocket designs.

The new gunny tactical  pants have larger knife or flashlight pockets and this will help prevent the limitation on the size of knife a user can place in them.   The best feature about these tactical pants are that they have a gusseted crotch which was probable the number one reason we lost customers to Blackhawk tactical pants or vertx styles.   In todays standards of what tactical clothing is suppose to do, if it doesn’t  have a gusseted crotch it is going to get a FAIL mark.    Some of the new lightweight vests that are coming out are also very nice and we can’t keep enough lightweight vests in stock already.

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Are you having a hard time finding the AR15 upper that you want?

After seeing about a 4yr increase in sales of firearms, we’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that certain .380 pistol magazines, gun holsters and firearm accessories are going to be hard to get for a few more months.   Much of what is going on is an increase in firearm sales due to the social and political problems we are facing.  We have elected individuals to higher office that do not have traditional patriotic values and seeing them gain power is disturbing to anyone that understands the Constitution. Runs on emergency food storage and ammunition were the next things to go prices have increased with the demand.  We’ve seen more sales of higher end firearms and accessories because the cheap stuff was all gone.

We have backorders for AR15 uppers going back to November for Spikes Tactical, Daniel Defense, Smith & Wesson and many more.  The real issue is that many of the manfacturers are selling more complete guns and making AR15 upper receivers for sale is not something as important as selling a complete gun.  Many gun shops would rather sell guns than uppers.  If you having a hard time getting the uppers make sure you put your email in the “email me when back in stock” option on our website.  We do get in many uppers but the quantities are small and come in sporadically.   It’s a hard time for people building AR15s because there are some waiting periods if you know what you want.

 

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Viridian lasers and Streamlight TLR lights

We have been stocking both products because our customer base has expanded from not just Law Enforcement and civilians using them for handguns or shotguns but also many Special Ops.  The guys that deal with the really bad guys of the world are using the Viridian laser light combos.   Green Lasers have been the trend since so many optics companies have also switched over to offering green reticles.  Whether you are bow hunting or using a Glock 17 in a combat situation, have the green contrast is a proven advantage.   Sometimes guys want to know they the target is identified and in the sights of the operator next to them and you can laser them the same way an air strike is called in.  Identify the target and put the laser on them.

The amount of lumens you might want can vary from person to person.  Some of the surefire flashlights likes the X300 are more money than the Streamlight TLR1-S lights and don’t give you much more power but we have sold many happy customers the Insight flashlights just based on price and power.  Flashlight technology namely the LED improvements have given each operator a large improvement over lighting capabilities and run time.   There’s nothing good about having tons of illumination and then an all of a sudden dead  battery and a non-functional flashlight.  You’d be better off with something lower power that runs longer.  The Crimson Trace Rail master is a small light with lower power but that might be all you need.

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Years of feedback from customers about gunvault safes

We’ve been using them ourselves for almost 10yrs and there have been big changes to the product  line since we started using them.  The buttons have chang, the doors have changed and now they are making some of the best compact or small gun safes.   I guess its due to the bad economy  but we have sold more and more of the Gunvault microvault and nanovaults in recent  months to people using them in cars.  Not only are these good car safes for your firearm, but they are great for locking up and securing cash.  Every township or State is different regarding gun laws and security can vary from bank to bank.  Here in Pennsylvania some banks have metal detectors and you can’t carry a firearm in without setting off an alarm, you have to take it off of you when going in.

There are some criticisms about some of the biometric safes but they run more reliable than firearms.  Depending on which gunvault safes you are looking to purchase, there are battery operated ones and electrical ones.   I would suggest always using batteries and actually hiding the safe in a close and not out in the open.  Many people forget that gun safes that are not properly bolted down can easily just be picked up with a  hand truck or physically carried out of the house.   You can customize the way  you secure your gun safe in a car or a vehicle.  You may want to walk into a store that stocks them because matching up firearms to gun safes is something you want to think about ahead of time before you attach something to a gun and find out the safe doesn’t work for you anymore.

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A product endorsement from Rogue Elite

We rarely go out of our way and tell people “this is the product you want” when it comes to optics, eyewear or gun accessories.  There are so many variables with preferences, and different situations people can be in that they might want to try different things and different times.   Some tactical pants may work for you in one situation but not in another.   It can also depend on price and durability but from our experience most of the products that we sell are of good value otherwise we would have removed them from our product line and stopped selling them.   We have a 3yr track record of selling the Original Swat footwear and all of our employees love them.

There have been some big changes to the  product line and we’ve seen the steel shank tactical boots disappear and a new modernized tactical boot with a nylon shank appear.   All of the tactical footwear we sell from Original Swat boots are for office, street work or military service.   We are now outfitting many of our local SWAT departments with the 1070 tactical waterproof boots because they need the composite toe, nylon shank, and the protection against blood born pathogens.   The new Chase Low boots are an easy sell to all those in the military serving over seas.

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Binoculars in your range bag

I have a pretty good range bag that I keep all of  my sight in tools and magazine conversion kits in it.  All of my hearing protection and sometimes a few loaded magazines.   The one thing I have always kept in there were my binoculars.   I have taught so many people to shoot firearms and there have been times that I totally forgot to bring a rifle with magnification on it when I was teaching new shooters to shoot with a 22LR and iron sights.  It’s good to start people out on iron sights whether it’s with a 22 bolt action or an AR15 A2 style rifle.   If the shooter is old enough and can handle the nose and the recoil the AR15 is a good starting point.

When you try to see those groups at 100yds, sure you can hit a once inch square at those distances and accurately group them, but if your sights are off or you are trying to determine where your novice shooter is hitting, you don’t want to have to call cease fires and check paper.  There are many differences in the light gathering abilities of optics but Bushnell binoculars are reasonable priced and for most practical purposes, they get the job done and won’t cost you hundreds of dollars.  It’s always a good idea to keep your lense clean and this can have a big impact on your light gathering and clarity.

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What type of optic for a DMR 308?

There is about a 10yr record of the M14 and new 7.62 firearms showing up on the battle field because the longer shots needed to be more potent.  I’m well aware of all of the reasons why the military switched to the 5.56 round but that was due to the notion that most combat took placed under 200yrs.   Now that we know that you can’t always call in an airstrike in a fight and sometimes you can see your enemy clearly but you just can’t get through the wall he’s hiding behind and the 5.56 steel core penetrator is just  going to take too long to get through concrete.   From what we hear from the men coming back from Iraq, that was what the DMR’s job was.   To get through things that the 5.56 round couldn’t.

Now that optics are common on firearms, we have pretty much accepted that optics like Leupold, Trijicon and others are well deserving to be on a combat rifle.  One problem we see on non AR10 style weapons is finding good mounts, but LWRC uppers have pretty much taken the top tier of piston driven guns and the LWRC Repr is probable the most comfortable 7.62 gun i’ve fired.   I have to admit that many of the arguments against direct impingement guns are moot, but the ergonomics and quality of LWRC guns, parts and uppers is top notch.

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