Archive for the ‘Tactical Equipment’ Category
The term “Tactical Pants” sounds odd to me every time that I say it. I have a bit of trouble convincing myself that trousers can be tactical. Nonetheless, I shelled out $50 U.S. for a pair of “Blackhawk Warrior Wear Tactical Pants.”
I hadn’t seen these before I ordered them. I had seen 5.11 Tactical’s Tactical Pants and I wasn’t terribly impressed.
Now that I have these, and now that I have these on, I am fairly impressed. These feel like what I would imagine BDUs would feel like if Dickies make BDUs. The pants are made of 8.5oz cotton canvas. This means that one square yard of this material weighs 8.5 ounces. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s a heavy and durable canvas duck material. These definitely aren’t lightweight jungle BDU’s.
BlackHawk’s Warrior Wear Tactical Pants come with reinforced cuffs and pockets, and also double knees. I was surprised to find a heavy metal zipper instead of the more traditional buttons. To be fair, there was also an inner button and an outer rivet, giving the pants a sort of “belt and suspenders” durability.
Elastic webbing in the cargo pockets is a nice touch. It’s designed for magazines, but should work to hold down a wide variety of items. This will prevent the annoying sound and motion often associated with carrying heavy items in your cargo pockets.
The waistband features an innovative expandable feature which manages to work very well and also remain hidden. The waistband also includes a thin rubber grip on the inside to keep your shirt tucked in. Clearly, the boys at BlackHawk are as interested in looking good as they are in performing well.
The pants have 10 pockets. You might not want to use all ten, but they do give you a lot of options. The opening of the front hidden wallet pocket is a bit small for my big club-like hands. If a 1911 feels too small for you to hold comfortably, you may experience the same issue with that pocket.
If ten pockets aren’t enough for you, BlackHawk also provides Strike webbing on the back of the pants and a 550 cord loop on the front. If you need more equipment than this, I might recommend that you carry a CFP-90. 
Personally, I would feel better with drawstrings in the cuffs. Those were probably left out to improve the look of the pants with regular shoes.
Overall, I am extremely impressed with the amount of thought and care that the team at BlackHawk has put into these pants. If you have the option, I highly recommend that you order yourself a pair for testing.
I just ordered another Bianchi Accumold magazine pouch.
These really are the best mag pouches manufactured today, for several reasons:
- Very effective pressure retention — no flaps to get in the way and no snaps or Velcro to make noise.
- The ballistic weave exterior is extremely durable and looks good even after years of abuse.
- The simple construction is more sturdy than many of the popular “plastic” mag pouches.
After using the Bianchi Accumold magazine pouches extensively, I can recommend them without reservation.
Shooters from all across the country are complaining about an ammo shortage — and no one seems to know why.
Consumers can’t get ammo from dealers, because they aren’t getting it from manufacturers and distributors and there is as yet no explanation of the sudden shortage.
Calibers Affected
This shortage started in the .308 caliber (7.62mm) and for a long time that was the only caliber affected. Then .223 caliber ammunition started becoming difficult to find. Now people are starting to complain about 9mm ammo being more difficult to acquire.
Is it a coincidence that these are the top three small arms calibers employed by the U.S. Armed Forces? The military purchased the vast majority of it’s ammunition from Alliant Techsystems, which manufactures it at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence.
Because of this, shortages in the military and civilian ammunition markets do not generally effect each other. However, shortages in raw materials could affect both markets.
The Impact of Emerging Markets
India, China, and other emerging economies are experiencing a huge demand for metals such as copper and lead. These metals are also used to manufacture ammunition. The price of these materials has tripled over the last few years and some ammunition manufacturers may be experiencing a supply shortage.
Does OSHA Share the Blame?
OSHA is currently working on new rules that will reclassify ammunition as “explosives.” This could make it prohibitively difficult for your local Wal-Mart to sell ammunition. The OSHA regulations, as written, would require every Wal-Mart store to be evacuated during thunderstorms.
Ammunition manufacturers have to look at bureacratic idiocy like this and consider how it will affect their ability to sell ammunition in the future. If they believe that their ability to sell ammunition will be limited in the future, they will not invest in plants and equipment today.
The way the U.S. Presidential elections look today, we could soon see the Bill Clinton Gun Ban of 1994 replaced with the Hillary Clinton Gun Ban of 2009. That can’t look good to anyone who is considering an investment in an ammunition company.
Most luggage is designed for infrequent trips within the civilized world. If your travel takes you off the beaten path, you need luggage that can survive in that environment.
I have been using Tumi luggage. It is soft-sided, but those soft-sides are built of ballistic nylon. My Tumi luggage shows a lot of wear, but it has yet to fail me.
I just purchased a Hardigg im2500. This hard-sided case is manufactured with injection-molded plastic. It’s also waterproof. This case will protect itself and whatever you put in it.
Very conveniently, the case is the maximum size allowed by FAA regulations for carry-on use. This is the toughest carry-on that you will ever own.
Hardigg doesn’t sell to end-users, so you will have to go through a reseller to purchase this case. I tried to purchase one of these a few months ago and the reseller never shipped it. Luckily, I found a good reseller this time, John at Deployable Systems. John saved me a lot of money on this case, as he sells it for only $109.
The only downside to the case is it’s carrying capacity. Due to the design, it is noticeably smaller inside than my Tumi carry-on. With this case, you will have to pack lighter than usual — but what you pack will get there safely.
It is a bit odd that I am now highly recommending a shirt from 511 Tactical. My first experience with a 511 Tactical shirt was horrible. That shirt was 100% cotton and after the first wash (in cold water!) the shirt was already showing considerable fading. The shirt required extensive ironing (which it didn’t get) to prevent it from wrinkling so badly that it showed the inner lining on the outside.
However, I recently found myself looking at 511 Tactical’s new TDU Shirt and it looked good enough to give it a try. After several weeks of testing, I bought five more of the new shirts.
The shirt is made of a poly-cotton rip-stop material which does not require ironing. It has been through many wash cycles and still looks the same as the day I bought it. There is no noticable fading or wrinking. The material is also Teflon-treated to further enhance durability.
The heavy shirt material is sewn with triple stitching and a padded double elbow. Initially, I thought that the elbow padding might become a nuisance. However, after extended wearing I can comfortably report that the padding never gets in the way — except when it should.
The shirt features hidden document pockets on the front, pen slots on the sleeve, pocket bellows on the breast pockets, and sleeve keepers on the sleeve.
The picture below does not do justice to the shirt. In the picture, the shirt looks like a BDU shirt — but the shirt does not wear like a BDU shirt. The shirt can be tucked in and the look is similar to any other high-quality casual button-down shirt. This shirt is as comfortable with blue jeans as it is with BDU pants.
If you have the option, don’t buy directly from 511 Tactical. You can find much better pricing from resellers. I used Froogle to find a great deal at Code-2.
At the Joint Services Small Arms Systems Annual Symposium, Exhibition and Firing Demonstration, Adam Foltz of the US Army ARDEC gave a presentation on the 5.56mm 30 Round Magazine Improvement Program.
Magazines have long been one of the top causes of failure-to-fire conditions in M16/M4/AR15 type rifles.
Mr. Folzts presentation describes three areas of improvement for the magazines:
- Improved follower and spring for current 30rd magazine
- Redesigned composite magazine
- Magazine feed lips inspection tool
Individually and together, these improvements will save the lives of American soldiers in the field while concurrently reducing the cost of magazines.
Civilian magazine manufacturers will also benefit from the Army’s research and development efforts, which will give civilian shooters access to lower-cost and higher-quality composite magazines. Plus, we will also be able to refit our existing magazines with the higher-reliability springs and followers. In addition, we will be able to test our magazines feed lips to know when we can use an aluminum magazine and when we need to repair or replace one.
I recently purchased a Spectre Gear Tactical Thigh Holster.
This holster is a great improvement over my old thigh holster, for several reasons.
One is that the velcro belt attachment makes it possible to attach the holster without undoing my belt. This is a significant enhancement to convenience.
Another is that the vertical strap is more adjustable. I prefer to wear my thigh rig very high. My previous thigh rig just couldn’t get that far up.
A third advantage is the rubberized strips on the thigh straps. These help to prevent the pistol from moving around when you run or dodge. This makes the Specter ear Tactical Thigh Holster much more comfortable than my old thigh holster.
I prefer to use a pressure-retention system over a retaining strap, but I could not find a thigh holster with that design.
I am pretty ambivalent regarding the extra magazine holder on the front of the holster. It’s not my favorite placement, but it hasn’t seemed to get in the way.
This is one of the very few thigh holsters I could find which were offered in a left-hand model and supported a full-size HK USP. In fact, the Spectre Gear holster is available in more colors and options for more pistols than any other thigh holster I have come across.
