All posts tagged Concealment Vests

Tru-Spec uniform shirts, tactical shirts and CCW Shirt reviews

Tru-Spec shirtsI’ve worn a lot of clothing that was designed for the tactical crowd and there are things I love and things I hate about various brands.  There are slight differences between some products and the way the fit your body and there are others that just flat out don’t work for me.   The first thing we had to settle on when picking a stocking tactical polo was it had to be widely accepted not just a personal preference.   The Tru-Spec tactical polos have gotten very good responses from our customers because they were lighter than the Woolrich Elite Series Tactical polos.   Some people like lightweight shirts and others prefer a cotton canvas shirt.  Much of it has to do with the temperatures that an Operator or Instructor is working in.  The performance polos were very well excepted here for Office work and that they were a wicking shirt.

The Tru-Spec combat shirts are what all of our local tactical teams use and are better priced than the similar 5.11 Tactical shirts.   Tru-Spec has ventured into marketing products to the civilian concealed carry crowd and for under cover Law Enforcement with the new Tru-Spec shirts like the CCW Shirt, and the Tru-Spec holster shirt.   All of these can work in the officer or in deep cover or backup gun scenarios.   We’ll be testing out more shirts from Blackhawk this summer while we try to pick products that we know our Eotac and Woolrich Elite customers want.  Less  Poly/Cotton ripstop products and more cotton canvas and 100% cotton ripstop products.

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Concealed carry vests that work

I am going to begin counting the days for an upcoming hunting trip to Maine.   This will be my first hunting trip in the New England States and I will be planning for some very cold nights, but moderate temperature days.  Along with toting a Mini 14 for deer,  I will be carrying a sidearm as I normally do.  I prefer to hunt on the move for deer until I find a really good position and then wait for a few hours.   I know I am pushing the limits by using a 75gr A-max bullet in a .223, but I wouldn’t be using this if I know it couldn’t be done.   There are several gun shops in the area that show the deer that were taken and many of those were done with the Mini 14.

Since I own and wear much of the Eotac apparel line, I have everything in my inventory to pick from.   The Style 103 vests are really meant as concealed carry vests and they are not really tactical.  I know that may be just my opinion, but the coyote brown and od green vests look very nice in the outdoors.   Since I will be in a cold environment, I don’t want to constantly take gear off and on, in really cold situations, I prefer to wear base layer clothing with a t-shirt and sweatshirt and then a vest on the outside for concealing my Sig 229 .357 Sig.  I keep a few Mini 14 5rd magazines along with my knife and flashlights in the vest and if I need to ditch some of the hunting ammo, I just take it out to lighten the weight and I’m ready to head into town with my CCW rig already on.

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Think about the magazine holders before you buy

I was at a Zombie competition over the weekend and I have to say that this was by far the most professionally run competitions and some of the best tactical gear and firearms I have ever seen on a firing range.   There were several shotgun courses which meant there were plenty of people showing up with shotguns and gear, part of the fun of the competition is that every that competed in this everyone that was there had to lug the gear that used with them at all times.  Even though you still have to see a lot of Made in China on the gear, the designs of holsters and magazine holders has improved.

There were a few tactical vests that I got to see that were specifically designed for shotguns.   I’m doing a little research on what kind of vests these were, but it was impressive.   Uncle Mikes and Fobus make kydex magazine holders which work very well for IDPA or competitive shooting, but they are not the most vesatile for real hard use.   Eventually these holders will get a little loose with hard usesage and you will hear a rattle when moving fast.    Carrying magazines that have straps on them are not the best for competition or CCW because I personally think it’s one more thing to have to flip out of the way.  For combat these work fine and for some competitions they work, but I strongly recommend the use of the Blackhawk single and double stack holders.

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Lighweight vests for summer

Woolrich Elite VestsFor those of us living in the part of the Country where we get all 4 Seasons of weather, our concealment options usually will change atleast 2 times a year.    There are enormous numbers of ways you can conceal a weapon, but for those of us that carry full size weapons, the warmer the weather the fewer the options.   I carry a full size Beretta 92F while at work and one of my favorite ways of carrying this firearm is in a Fobus paddle holster.   For only about $20, I’ve gotten more than my moneys worth and have never broken the holster.   I’d have to say that if I was rolling around in the dirt I would defanitely prefer to have a Serpa holster.

The Woolrich Elite lightweight vest is made of a 100% cotton ripstop material that is identical the the Woorlich Elite lightweight pants and shorts.   These make carrying gear and concealment tolerable in hot weather.   These Woolrich Elite Vests are very popular with the IDPA crowd and being cut generously on the sides give great concealement, especially for those carrying full size autos.   We’ve had a few goofy complaints from customers that have stated that these vests are not good for concealing firearm if you put them in the pockets, and we would agree, these are basically made of the same type of material that your T-shirt is made out of and your gun will most likely print if you put it in the front pockets.   The concealed carry vest is meant to be a concealment garment and not a firearm retention device.   There are other concealment vests out t here that cost 3x’s as much money and can be used to hold firearms, but those are not lightweight.

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