Archive for July, 2013

The Importance of and liabilities of certain retention holsters

Blackhawk Serpa HolstersThere are so many modes of carrying a firearm and not everyone is going to like carrying in a certain manor.   We have guys that stop in here that can’t complain about the Blackhawk level 2 retention holsters and then there are others that hate them.  I’ve watched all of the holster videos on Youtube that talk about all  of the bad things that can happen when using your Glock 19, Glock 21 or Sig 229 handgun in one of them.   The military has adopted these for their M9 pistols and some hate this because now and dirt can cause the holster to not function.   Safariland holsters have a very popular history with Law Enforcement but some guys still don’t like that thumb/ flip carry style.  Level 3 holsters are gaining ground and Safariland and Blackhawk have them.

Carrying a flashlight can cause you to have limited choices for your standard sidearm but there are some new Level II and Level II holsters from Blackhawk this year.   We have primarily Glock 21 and Glock 22 handguns being issues by local police departments but many detectives are using the Blackhawk Serpa holsters because it’s a little lighter and not as hard on your wallet.    Recently we had a few detectives turn in their Fobus holsters and switch to Blackhawk Serpa holsters just for the ease of mind of knowing that if you are in the middle of struggle and trying to handcuff a suspect you get an extra second or more to react to them if they reach for your firearm.  Recently here in Pennsylvania a police officer was attacked by a mob that

Top

Red Dots on Handguns, Really?

Trijicon RMR sightsThe first time I saw an RMR sight on a handgun I laughed about it because I thought it was pathetic that someone would put an optic so big on a handgun,  then a reality check hit me, and I realized, what’s wrong with cheating when  your using a firearm to protect yourself or someone else?   We use fancy advanced weapons when we play video games but for some people they think putting certain technological devices on a firearms is over complicating things.  Well, given that the life of a red dot RMR sight is a very long time, there isn’t the battery issues that you might have if you were running an Eotech type of sight.   I do like Eotech sights, but the RMR is more compact and I have seen several people run them on shotguns.

You really have to watch your weight  on shotguns because they naturally tend to be heavy and rarely do people use slings on something like a Remington 870.   There are several different mounting systems that you can use with the Trijicon RMR sights and the new RMR sights are now coming with the green reticles.  There are many things in the tactical industry where you really just have to find out what your preferences are and use them  in the most proficient ways possible.   There are several different MOA dots, 3.25 and 6.5 are probable the most common but there are 7 MOA red dots and 12.9 MOA dots.  You do have to be careful that you don’t get too big on dot sizes for AR15 rifles because it can hinder your ability to see targets very quickly.

Top

truspec softshell jackets

Truspec softshell jacketsWe rarely get tactical clothing in our store that can be used in more than a few seasons because the notion of wearing an article of clothing in the Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer isn’t going to be that common.   Other than socks and underwear, what don’t you change up?   Sure you can wear a t-shirt through most of the winter but you’d probable freeze to death if your car broke down and you had to go outside.  Their are some really nice Parka type items like the Woolrich Elite Parka but now that that has been discontinued, we’ve moved on to stock much of the Tru-Spec tactical apparel.  Their softshell promo with the discounts and sales have helped customers discover something new and useable.

We’ve noticed that a lot of our Law Enforcement like loose fitting clothing and others don’t mind tight fitting clothing and this usually applies to people that are in shape vs out of shape.    The Tru-Spec Softshell jackets are  not loose fitting, they are specifically designed to be type around your body but the multiple zipper pockets give you access to gear around your belt.  These work very well in 4 Season climates where you might get lots of rain on a cold but not freezing weather, or in Spring Weather where getting wet means getting sick.   These jackets would be considered rain gear even though they do have a very athletic and tactical look to them.

Top

Frisk gloves, are their any new options?

Turtleskin glovesWe started out selling tactical apparel and tactical gear about 9yrs ago and much has changed since we first started.  Their were XENON bulbs in just about all of  our Streamlight Flashlights and now there are LED lights everywhere and XENON is a thing of the past.  The technology has so dramatically improved in the flashlight industry but now body armor and protective clothing has also.   Turtleskin gloves are made by a company called Warwick mills, they have a long history working for the Space Program and making Astronaut suits, so dealing with protective clothing and puncture resistant materials.  They make all sorts of gloves and not all of them are big and clunky like lab gloves or things that Apollo 11 had on.

Many working in the EMS world are very much aware of Hepatitis C and HIV, and sadly there have been a lot of Police and Ambulance personnel that have lost their lives or had life altering things happen when contracting these.    There are 2 styles of Turtleskin gloves that we are selling and they have quickly outsold the Hatch gloves that we were selling a few years ago.  The Alpha and Bravo gloves do feel very different and they are almost a 2 type of season glove.   We realize nobody is going to wear these all  year long but it’s nice to know that the Bravo Turtleskin gloves have a much more comfortable feel in hot weather and Alpha is better suited for colder weather.  See our online store for sale, discounts and promos on these items.

Top

Backpacks, range bags, and customizing.

5.11 bagsI have so many brand names of nylon gear in my house it’s not funny.   I don’t even know some of the manufacturers names because they weren’t tagged very well.  It seems with the number of sales calls I get every year, there are about as many nylon makers as there are custom kydex holster makers.  There are certain things that we just push off to other companies because it’s too time consuming.   People are very particular about the type of bag they want and they will know it when they see it, but the problem is they want to hold it in their hands.    There are different points of placing molle straps and sometimes a bag has too much and sometimes too little.   There are is an endless supply of so called “tactical” backpacks, but unless you have the time to travel, good luck trying to find a store that  has evertything.

One of the main reasons we opened up a tactical store was so that our local customers could check stuff out before they purchased it.   5.11 tactical is a monster of a company and they have so many cool products that many of our Police and EMS personnel prefer the 5.11 bags primarly the Rush products.  The Rush messenger and Rush 24 and 72 are extremely popular with paramedics and ambulance companies.  Some military guys have been buying just about everything that we sell in multicam which makes the 5.11 Rush 72 backpack very popular.   We normally stock all of these items in our Broomall, Retail store so stop in and check them out.

Top

People with bad feet might want to look into wearing these Original Swat Boots

original swat bootsI’ve had bad feet for several years, including years of treatments and then 2 surgeries on the same foot.   The year after the last surgery I had my sales rep walk in and show me the Original Swat footwear companies tactical footwear line.   Several Employees and I got free stuff and instantly love the feel of the boots.  I was instantly won over with the style 1232 boots that had a bubble on the bottom that gave extra shock support.   Many Police Officers and even school security like the Style 1261 boots because they are a lower cut boot with the same foot support.   These boots are very light and the biggest shock was how well priced they are.   We have a  lot of Police Officers come in here on their clothing allowances and are always pinching pennies trying to squeeze as much of their duty or tactical gear into that budget.

These boots are polishable and there are composite toe and waterproof boots.  Along with the extra foot support are the 1234 Original Swat boots that are almost identical to the 1232 but are waterproof.  I usually get about 9 months out of them before I feel the support start to go but these boots are worn 7 days a week because I needed the support to get through a work week.   I’ve had customers tell me they’ve gotten 2yrs out of them.  This year there will  be a lower 5 inch waterproof boot which is something many of our customers have been asking us for. We also have some really good blowout sales on the Original Swat footwear line from styles that were discontinued after newly improved designs came out.

Top
1 2 Page 2 of 2