Archive for September, 2011

Flashlights with variable power settings

The Streamlight PT 2l flashlight is now my favorite CCW flashlight and has easily replaced my Streamlight Scorpions.   I have had the Streamlight Scorpions for a long time and even had them when they were all Xenon bulbs before LED.   LED Flashlights probable took a big chunk away from the battery industry.    From what we are seeing the CR123 batteries are also out selling AA battery flashlights almost 2 to 1, but sometimes the AA batteries are popular because AA batteries are all over the place.   After the Northeast got  hit by a hurricane, it was funny to see what was left in the gun shops and Home Depots because the flashlights that were left were all the old fashion D and C flashlights.

The great thing about the Streamlight Professional Series flashlights is that they are variable powers.    Click it once for full  power, click it 3 times and hold and you’ve got your low-power setting.   Streamlight Flashlights have really put themselves in a very broad spectrum of the market.   Tactical lights, CCW lights, emergency lights, rescue lights EMS lights, Firemen lights and even key chain flashlights.  While there  are plenty of competitors out there, it’s easy to find a local dealer and show up and hold them in your hand without having to travel a 100  miles to find someone that stocks and ATN tactical light.

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Bring out the 45acp’s for the Zombie Shoot

This weekend will be the 2nd Contagion Zombie shoot at the New Holland rifle and pistol club.   It often amazes me at the selection of firearms that you see at these events and one of the most common things I do see is an increase in the number of 45acp guns.   Shooting steel with 9mm guns can be a lower knock down rate.  It’s kind of funny how people say the energy is the same form a 124gr Nato round vs a 45acp, but when it comes to hitting steel, they are not the same.   The 45acp especially the 1911, Sig 220, Springfield XD and Glock 21 are the most common and every once in awhile we do see a few H&K firearms.

When it comes to shooting a 45acp,  I personally think American Eagle ball ammo is probable the best round to carry, even though some may say that HP ammunition has improved so much that it’s a better option.   I have never felt like carrying ball ammunition in Wilson Combat Magazines meant that I was going to be punching holes through every wall in the house because from my experience the 45acp does not penetrate as much as the 9mm ball ammunition.  There are so many 1911 guns out there that I could not say that the 1911 is a dated firearm that can not handle various types of ammunition, but you do have to be careful about the GI versions of the gun and hollow point ammunition.

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Zombie Shoot this weekend

Come out and see us at the New Holland gun club this Saturday.   We will be bringing a small sample of our inventory including Original Swat boots, tactical gear, gun magazines, tactical apparel, Smith Optics Elite and ballistic eyewear.   There is always a very limited amount of gear we can bring but its a fun chance to meet our customers face to face and show our face at one of the best gun clubs in Southeast Pennsylvania.

We will be bringing in a large amount of gun accessories, but we will also be sponsoring the Contagion 2011.   We are one of the largest tactical clothing suppliers and tactical pants and tactical eyewear suppliers in Pennsylvania and we will be announcing our new tactical gear shop in the coming weeks.  Come out and see us at this Zombie shoot and have some fun walking the grounds at the New Holland gun club.

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Is a 6.8 SPC worth getting?

That is a question we get quite often around here and we always throw a question back to a customer.   People call or show up wanting us to give them advice but there are a lot of liabilities in telling people what to get or do.   So much of gun accessories and firearms has to do with the job at hand and a persons gun skills.   I’ve heard people claim that you can’t shoot long range with a 5.56 gun but I see it done all the time at local gun clubs.   Sure there are instances of high wind where a 5.56 bullet isn’t going to do very well, but sometimes only a 50 bmg is going to get the job done.

Even the trusty and reliable Mini 14 is an often over looked hunting Carbine, but I’ve seen white tails taken up in Vermont with 75gr expanding rounds.   The 6.8SPC would be a more powerful round than what the military is using today but it’s not really going to solve all of your problems.  Most of my friends that own them are using them for hunting rounds and not even for Carbine training ect.  The only problem you may run into when changing uppers in with the gun magazines.  The 5.56 round is better than any handgun round if you use the right kind of ammunition and the AR15 platform gives you lots of caliber options that are really best for upgrading your gun for better hunting.

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Want speed and lightweight holder options?

Try the Don Hume Jit holsters that are just belt through and don’t add on very much weight.   These are quickly making grounds on my Fobus gun holsters because they don’t jab into my side like a paddle holster and they are as fast as a paddle holster.    The only draw back from what I can see is they may leave some marks on your gun and leave your gun exposed to get rubbed against, but what the heck, it’s a firearm not a piece of jewelry.   It really bothers me to this day that some people can be so concerned about the guns that they carry that they get upset about wear and tear that they are always tickering with them.

The guy that needs to break out his gun blue kit every time his gun is dinked is probable the guy that is damaging his chamber because he’s over cleaning his firearm.  I’m a big believer in having atleast a Don Hume Jit holster or a paddle holster of some sort, the Fobus gun holsters are always a great open carry or training holster but there are better things out there.   Blackhawk Serpa holsters have an edge for secondary firearms because you need a level of restraint.   Backup guns don’t need to be in your hands, but be close by.   Concealed carry holsters are not always the best for military or law enforcement.

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Get with the program with modern flashlights

Recent we had an earthquake and a category I hurricane hit the Northeast and it made many residents scramble for flashlights and batteries.   One issue that I have seen some of my friends run into is they did not have many local options for CR123 batteries.   CR123 are becoming very popular in the tactical community but the only downside is they are not as common as AA batteries.   Rechargeable batteries and flashlights are improving, but for long deployments, you need batteries rechargeable or not.

The Professional tactical flashlights are one of my favorites because not only are they small, but not too small, they have different power settings.   The strobe feature on many of the Streamlight flashlights can be useful in some situations, but a low power options in my book is even better.   Too bad the Streamlight Scorpion does not have this option, but it would cut battery consumption considerable.  Remember that some crisis creep up on you and  only having a few hours of battery usage when you might be out of power for a week.

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Magpul gun parts and magazines

Magpul gun parts and accessories as well as the famous Pmags are outstanding gun parts.   There are so many modifications that you can customize your M16 or AR15 variant in multiple color patters or configurations.    Everything from gun grips, rail skins or rail covers, trigger guards ect are high quality and combat worthy if you install them properly.  Because of the numerous accessories that you can put in an M4 you can’t really just buy 3 rail covers and expect them to fit in the accessory pattern that you want.   Some of the accessories might cause  you to need medium covers or full length.  Sometimes the quad rail configuration is useful, but if the job does not need all of the lasers or light attachments why carry the weight.

There are several patterns of rail covers and there are several companies out there making good stuff but just remember that you are carrying a combat weapon and the more you attach, the more things fall off.   Magpul pmags are the number 1 rifle magazine in our book and we highly recommend them to all of our fellow shooters and customers.  The 30rd magazines with the windows seem to be very popular but in my opinion I don’t think it’s that necessary to know if you have 8rds left in a magazine or not.   The answer is to carry enough mags to know a tactical reload is possible instead of looking to see you have 8 left.

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Rogue Elite now has a retail location

We are proud to announce we have moved from being an online E-commerce business to having a retail location.   We will be expanding our inventory and our location in 2011 but many of our customers in the Northeast have been asking us to open something in this area and we finally gave them what they were looking for.    Our  tactical clothing lines from Eotac, 5.11, Woolrich Elite and Tru-Spec.   Buying clothing online can be difficult and when people live an hour away from you sometimes they just want to drop by and try something on.   We have a pickup location and if you call for an appointment we can arrange to have the items you are looking for available to try on.

We are a showroom account for many tactical gear and tactical accessories.   Eotech, Trijicon and many gun optics will be in stock at our Broomall location.   We will be supplying many products for Philadelphia Police Supplies and regional demands.  Shooting accessories and some hunting gear along with ballistic optics and eyewear.   Blackhawk gear from the Blackhawk Serpa and other Warrior Wear products will be in house in the Fall of 2011.   To setup an appoint call or email us by looking up the Contact us part of our website.

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Fall is around the corner, don’t get caught in the cold

This is one of those times of year that you have no idea if you should be taking the air conditioners out of the window or leaving them in.   Usually you decide to pull them out if after you wake up in the morning and it’s 45 F in your bedroom because the temperature dropped in the middle of the night.   There are also seasonal changes at this time of the year in the Northeast where you walk out the door and freeze until your car warms up and then by late morning you are sweating and have to take off your jacket or a sweatshirt that you thought you had to wear all day.   One way to avoid the shocks in the season changes is to stick with lightweight pants until it get’s really cold.

The best deal we have running on tactical clothing right now are the now obsolete Eotac tactical pants.   They are going for $29.99 for all sizes and colors and these are the lightest weight tactical pants that you can find.   Some people don’t like the fact that they can wrinkle but if you hang them up after washing them, they really aren’t a problem keeping wrinkle free.   100% cotton ripstop material is something invented during WWII for our soldiers serving in the Pacific where bugs and heat exaustion were a problem.   Going from wearing tactical shorts in the summer to where heavy weight pants in the fall and then sweating your you know whats off isn’t fun and the lightweight tactical pants are the way to go.

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Red vs Green reticles

Last fall i picked up my first crossbow which was a Horton Vision Crossbow.  I got it at Cabelas for about $850 as a Combo with a nice optic with an illuminated reticle and bolt compensator.   This was a very unique crossbow and definitely the most quiet.    At first the illuminated reticle seemed to be secondary to me, but it had an option to be green or red.   I didn’t understand the level of thought put into the optic until I started using it in the woods.   The green reticle was probable the best one in the brown and yellow woods I was in and I stuck with that for the entire day.

The newest and probable best selling optic we have right now is the Trijicon 1.5×16 ACOG.  This is a Mini ACOG and will can be used with traditional ACOG mounts, but there is a smaller more appropriate mount for it.   Trijicon ACOGS tend to be a medium range optic, but these 1.5×16 give you a minimal amount of magnification, but zero battery use.  There are other reticles available besides the red ring and the green ring, but the green ring reticles are now the most popular selling although many of our LEO are still using the red reticles.

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