Tactical Pants and real CCW
I have been trading back and forth between 5.11 tactical clothing, Woolrich Elite Series and the much newer Eotac brand. I will admit that I understand that many of these brands may be personal preference, but there are huge differences in the fit and feel of the pants. If I just take the covert pants from 5.11 and the Woolrich Elite 4909 pants vs the Eotac pants. Woolrich and Eotac look similiar, but none of them fit the same. While I find the 5.11 pants to fit more like normal fitting jeans, the inside the waist pockets are not very useful if you are going to be sitting down a lot. I can carry a small j-frame revoler inside the pants without a holster, but the locations of the pockets aren’t very comfortable.
I took a Sig 239 9mm 8rd magazine and put it in the rear pocket and when I sat down it, was not comfortable to wear at all. I think these pockets lend themselves more towards putting a wallet or handcuffs in them than a firearm and accessories. Next I tried putting a Streamlight Scorpion in various positions and none of them worked. I tried to pocket carry and inserted a Smith & Wesson 38 Special I had around and it could not be concealed in these tactical pants at all. They were in 5.11 tactical pants, but not these? With both the Woolrich Elite 44909 and the Eotac 205 jeans, these were not the traditional straight leg jean, and the fit was different for each. I personally like the Eotac color, Woolrich pants were too purplish and baggy. Both pants were pocket friendly and my vote would go for Eotac by far. I do think the rear ID pockets are a little over done when you keep the water bottle pocket below it. That strikes me as a little too tactical and not discreet.
The lightweight 100% cotton ripstop pants are very comfortable, but in 90F+ weather I’m always going to go with shorts even if they are made of heavy material. Protecting your legs from bug bites is also something to consider when wearing shorts and clearing out woodlands because you never know what is going to be swarming around you when you start sweating up a storm. There are some bug repellents that can be worn on a belt, but with the work I will be doing, I prever to bring a spray bottle with me and store it on the cargo pockets. Since I am also always carrying flashlights, radios, guns and other items, not having enough pockets means putting more on the belt line. I find wearing too much on the belt being a real pain when having to do a lot of lifting so just about everything except my Glock 26 is stored in my Woolrich Elite Pants.
When it’s that hot out that your risking dehydration, you seriously need to consider the type of clothing you are wearing. Those wearing body armor or carrying more gear than the usually CCW gun owner need as many pockets as possible. Trading your tactical pants in for tactical shorts that have almost the same pocket designs is hard to find. There is also a very diverse opinion on the inseams of the shorts that people wear and there’s no real in between.
Most of us that are in the industry are wearing some sort of tactical pants or ccw pants for most of the year. When it gets into the summer months we have to think about losing some of the accessories and gear or having to sweat it out. For most of the year, lightweight pants are a good option even if we know we’re going to be sweating it out, it’s good to have pants that can protect you from poison ivy or bug bites.
Woolrich entered the tactical apparel market several years ago, as well as Blackhawk gear, Proper and Tru-spec. Most of these clothing companies have good aspects, but recently we’ve seen another Tactical apparel company making very well designed clothing. Eotac is the short version of the Elite Operator Tactical clothing line. Their tactical clothing line has been on the market for barely a year, and some products only a few months, but the design and durability seem to be putting them in the heavy hitter category. The 201 Operator Grade Pants have the best designed ACU tactical pant on the market.
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