Archive for November 9th, 2010

Tactical clothing accessories that you shouldn’t forget about

The first thing I noticed when I took my first Carbine Class and got down prone was that the ground was still wet and I could feel every stone jamming into my elbow when I got down in a prone position.  With todays accessorized M4 Carbine with every light, laser and optic configuration, we have to realize that our bodies could use the same ideas when it comes to the clothing we wear.    The Eotac duty gloves are good for the times when you need to worry about hot barrels and flying brass and aren’t very bulk at all.   Elbow and knee pads are something that I have found are very useful, but there are huge variations in the way that they fit on your body, not to mention that most of the time, the only way to find out is to actually try them on.

I have several sets of knee pads, but the ones I find the most useful are the Blackhawk Neoprene, because they seem to just feel more comfortable.   I already have enough worries about snag and movement restriction when wearing tactical clothing and sometimes I really have to watch how I move around corners so my tactical pants don’t catch on things.   The Eotac style 201 pants come with a foam knee pad that works quite well, but the only draw back is for the knee pands in the tactical pants to properly align themselves over your knee caps is to be kneeling on both knees at the same time.   This is something I had to get use to when getting into firing positions.   The Style 202 and 203 lightweight pants also use the same foam knee pads and from my experience they last a pretty long time if you take them out when they are not being  used or when you are doing your wash.

Top

Retiring your summer clothing for your Winter CCW

We got new windows installed on the house this year and for the first time ever, it didn’t feel so cold when I woke up yesterday as it was outside.   I guess all of that green energy improving we did really did make a difference, I guess I’ll know for sure when the heating bills start to come in.   It’s always this time of year that I have to remember to close every window in the house because its warm during the day and it night it gets down to almost freezing and then back through the cycle until Winter comes in full force.   Yesterday I retired my lightweight pants and concealement vests for my new Eotac Style 103 concealed carry vests.   I always have to force myself to wear clothing for awhile to get the real feel and use of each pocket before I really can comment on them.   It was a few years ago that I really started to hate some of my  non-Eotac pants because I always had a heck of a time trying to get my wallet out of them whenever I was driving through toll booths.   When I wore my Eotac pants, it was easy to access every pocket.

I would have to say that the Eotac Style 1o3 concealed carry vests are not heavy weight, but they are not lightweight.   They are also not lined which in my opinion doesn’t matter.  I like the idea of wearing base layer clothing, wearing a T-shirt or polo on top and then the a jacket or vest in the winter, instead of wearing a giant heavy winter coat.   I do not like the idea of basing my concealed carry method around a heavy coat, because there are too many situations in the winter where it can get really hot and keeping my jacket on in those situations can become impractical.   Base layers and vests seem to breath better than all of the winter coats I have.   Although The Eotac vests are being made in the military looking lizard pattern camo, the brown and O.D. Green vests are very outdoor friendly and won’t look too tactical.  I can easily carry 3 full sized Sig 228 magazines in the front pockets as well as a knife and flashlight and the weight does not yank at me.

Top
Page 1 of 1