All posts tagged SWAT Gear

How many options should I consider when deciding on a paddle holster?

Safariland holstersWe get tons of people walking in the door hear looking for a holster that they can use for their gun with a light attached to it.  The majority of the time it’s the Surefire X300 or the Streamlight TLR-1, TLR-2 or sometimes the TLR-4 light.    Every police department in our area has some variation of those light either on their AR15, G36 or their handguns.    There are a lot of options out there for paddle holsters and in 2014 we will be bringing in more and more of the Fobus gun holsters and the Safariland holsters.  One thing we’ve learned is if you don’t have a Glock, 1911 or a Sig 229, Sig 226 or Sig 220.   You are going to be limited to customer kydex or a very few manufacturers.

We have a large number of customers that want something other than the Blackhawk Serpa and when it comes to light attachments, they are very limited.   There are going to be big increase in the number of Safariland holsters in our inventory this year because so many CCW holders are using them because they are much sturdier than Fobus gun holsters.  They are more expensive but I have yet to have someone walk in the door with a broken gun holster.  Even the local State Police are buying our holsters because they have switched from the Glock 38 to the Glock 21 like many of our local Police have.

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Shopping online or Shopping in a brick and mortar store

philadelphia Law Enforcement suppiesThere are a lot of things we learned in the last year about the Law Enforcement Community and sometimes its the small things that people want in your store and not the fancy stuff.   There are plenty of times we go to places like Youtube.com to watch the products that we sell to try and learn how to use them or to market them.   You can only read so much about a product but if you don’t know how something is used, certain terminology about a backpack might just confuse you.   There are so many differences between all of the bags we sell and sizes are something people have a hard time explaining.   The differences between the Rush 24 and Rush 72 5.11 bags is significant and sometimes people don’t know which one they want until they hold it in their hands.

Police Officers loose handcuffs and handcuff keys all the time and sometimes that 20yrd old holster needs to be retired.    We know have a Law Enforcement inventory and we are doing everything from Blackington badges and whatever else Philadelphia Law Enforcement Supplies like Safariland holsters, Blackhawk Serpa holsters and all of the pepper spray and batons that are used.   We have a pickup on location option on our website and stock a good bit of AR15 upper receivers and Magpul accessories.   Our Smith Optics Elite ballistic eyewear was used in the US Open here in Merrion and we are looking forward to bringing on even more products this Summer and Fall.

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Happy feet even if you aren’t dancing

I remember all of the times I heard my Grandparents or Uncles make comments about getting old and I thought it was somewhat funny, but as I got into my early 40s and listen to my friends, it’s a constant medical report when we get into the “How’s everything going”.   One issue many of my law enforcement SWAT teams have issues with are there feet.   Most of these guys are pretty well in shape, but feet are something that can’t take the constant abuse or neglect without future repurcussions.    In my line of work, I’m lucky if a pair sneakers will hold up for more than 3 months because of the amount of weight and lifting I do.   I tried out the traditonal Dr. Scholls inserts and they worked well for about a month, but then they are shot.   Last summer at a Police and Security Expo we tried some foot inserts that came with a 2yr Warranty and they didn’t last 2 months.   It was somewhat of a shocking failure of a product.

Since we have moved on to carrying the Original Swat boots, if there is the slightest hint that the insoles are wearing out, original swat makes there own gel inserts that work very well.   The Style 1232 Air 9″ give you extra support for hopping around on concrete and hard surfaces.  I have not had to swap out or put any gel inserts in this style of boot and we’re going on over 4 months of 6 day a week use.   I started wearing these at the end of the summer months so it’s hard to say if they are going to be really comfortable to wear in hot environments, but I’m still impressed with how lightweight they fell on my feet.

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