All posts tagged Carbon Fiber

Carrying rifle magazines off a tac vest

A well designed tactical vest is almost always the best place to to carry your gear, but the gear should drive the mission.   The reason Molle vests are so popular is simple putting it, you don’t always need the same gear to get the job done so why expect the vest to already be designed for everything.  Sometimes to many attachments is the real piss off and you want simplicity.   There are still times when all a guy needs is a vest for flash bangs or grenades.   Those can be important roles for achieving a mission accomplished.

The tactical clothing market is easy 1000 times bigger than it was 6yrs ago and quality and cost are one thing, but the other is about usefulness.  One tactical pant that catches the eye are the Woolrich elite tactical pants in Style 44447.  These pants were designed after the ACU style pants are are probable the most popular carbine operator pant.   There pants are lightweight cotton ripstop and can hold up to 6- 30rd pmags in or any AR15 30rd magazine for that matter.   If you aren’t in a situation where a tactical vest is appropriate, the Woolrich Elite pants make getting gear easy in the prone positions.

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Some talk about the USMC adopting the Blackhawk Serpa Holsters

I just got done reading several news articles, gun blogs and yapping on facebook about the USMC adopting the Blackhawk Serpa holsters.   Many of them were fact and experience driven but I still see a lot of over reacting.  There are several videos floating around of the holsters being jammed up from dirt or snow and guns being locked into place inside the holster and the release button not working.   Well, try doing that same thing with your AR15 and you’ll probable end up with a jammed firearm.    I think the argument is definitely there and there may be a slight modification to the gun release button, but I think the Blackhawk Serpa holster is a good holster.

Your cell phone and firearm can jam or even explode if  you don’t treat them right and anyone knows that getting dirt down your barrel and obstructing a bullet means a doomed barrel.   Every mechanical device whether  Blackhawk Serpa holsters or a Galco leather holster can malfunction.   Even Fobus holsters were the recipients of some pretty harsh internet durability and reliability video.   This argument can go all the way back to wood rifle stocks vs plastic ones.   I would expect that the military may ask for a slightly improved version of the holster, but I wouldn’t worry about the ones you have on  you right now.

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Why you should still consider a locking system for open carry

Open carry discussions have been banned from several of the gun forums that I use to dwell on because they became so full of “what ifs” that people would always find a way to tear the other persons logic down and if you were a Moderator, it go annoying really fast.   While Open Carry is legal in many States, all you have to do is look at the statistics for the number of Police Officers that have been killed by their own firearms.   The snap button system works for it’s intended purpose, but it is an old way of doing something. When you are carrying a full size handgun, paddle holsters tend to be a more comfortable option.

You should always be aware that you may run across an expert criminal, but from my experience, many robberies ect. are not really the best tacticians.  If you are open carrying, remember that you firearm is a liability to you know if you are not aware of your surroundings.   There are several new locking systems but the best that I know of are the Blackhawk holsters.   The Blackhawk Serpa system is more reliable than a thumb snap and it’s easier to put your firearm away.   This system prevents you firearm from flying out in a ground scuffle and it also slows down someone that is trying to get your gun from you.

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Putting a safety on a firearm

There are many things to concern yourself with when you choose to carry a firearm.    People training to  hit holes on paper and maneuver themselves around a firearm range, but if the shit hits the fan, not everyone is mentally prepared for a fight.   Many that have become victims of crime tend to be the most proficient at my training courses because they know what the receiving end of crime feels like.   Having that feeling is not something the less experienced will easily learn to know.   I have personally witnessed people freeze up in hostile situations that I would normally think would be fighters and sometimes people can just become off balance and loose themselves.

Everyone has a different reason for carry the firearm that have chosen to carry and that is your personal choice.   I have issues with carrying firearms that are high maintenance, but to each his own.  One thing to consider when carry a firearm out in the open though is to have some level of retention device.   I am not big on using these for CCW, but for open carry, it’s wise to have something like the Blackhawk holsters that have a locking device that is easy to release but a BG that tries to grab a hold of your gun in a fight will have extra fiddling to do if they want to get a hold of your Sig Sauer, Glock or Springfield XD.

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When the world turns upside down

My biggest  pet peeve when it comes to certain types of holster manufacturers is that I do not like to have anything covering my spare magazines while they are in a mag holder, but many of the mag holders I use to use did not fair very well for CCW or for real training.    My first experience with a magazine holder that failed was on a long road trip where I had to put the seat back to sleep and woke up with someone sitting behind me that was holding my spare mag.  I decided to ditch the magazine holder I was using and go with the Blackhawk double and single stack magazine holders.   They have a build in magazine retention design so even if you are hanging upside down, they won’t come loose, but have just enough retention to do this and easily come out if and when you need to reload.

 

 

Like many in the gun community, we’ve all got a starting point for training or experience.   One of those starting points usually involves make poor mistakes on the carrying methods or for choosing gun holsters or gear that awas inappropriate.   I have been happy with the holsters that I have been wearing in recent years, but I only rarely run into situations where I break a holster and there is a shortage and I have to find  alternative gun holsters or another firearm combination to carry.

 

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Observations in training and gear Pt 3

Blackhawk holsters Along with some of the other things stated in the previous blog entry is that anything not held down, will come loose.    We are aware of that when we mount our optics and tighten things down so they won’t come loose and we also use things like loctite to bond it even more.    This is something will really make a difference at the range, the folks that don’t use loctite and put 1000rds through a gun in a weekend may find out the hard way.   We’ve talked a little about firearm retention, but the next common thing to think about is magazine retention.

Chest rights and tactical vests are great ways to carry spare mags.  Practice using them so you know how to release and close the pockets or flaps.   I see guys using their CCW gear on ranges and that is not always the best option.   We hope that the gear we use for daily carry is good enough, but when we have to think about running and jumping under cover, our bodies are doing movement and so is our gear.   I could probable open up a small gun shop for the amount of gear I’ve seen dumped on live fire training sessions and it would probable be  a lot of pistol mags being sold.  Blackhawk holsters makes a cqc magazine holder that gives you a level of retention without using a flap or lockdown holder.   I hightly recommend these.

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Observations in training and gear Pt2

Blackhawk HolstersWhen I was at this range and watching students,  I saw the gun industry very well represented, everything from Blackhawk, Safariland, Uncle Mikes,  military surplus, East German  gear, holsters, chest rigs, speed loaders on the students.   The military surplus stuff all work and was simple to use, but it wasn’t as fast to use and much of it wasn’t too pretty and very much for the weekend warriors.   For serious gear, do some research before you buy and try and find a gun shop or gun show where you can actually feel and wear it before you buy.   Many firearms owners have a pile of holsters in their closet for all the ones that really weren’t that comfortable, and blowing a bunch of money on chest rigs and mag holsters, tactical vest ect. that really don’t feel right is going to cost more than many holsters.

I’m biased, I  have to admit it, Blackhawk holsters are my favorite tactical holster.   If i land on my side or bang into something, I’m more concerned about bruising myself rather than “did I break my holster”.    There are some useful $20 holsters out there, but they’ll break if you start rolling around in the dirt with them.    Another observation I had on all of the students, was that the majority of them seemed very awkward in transitioning from Carbine to Pistol.  Many of these students had CCW permits, but they were using paddle holsters and tactical vests that they weren’t use to.    It’s a really good idea for you to think about where you would like to carry a sidearm before you spend money on a tactical vest.   Some tactical vests will have a pistol holster and some will not.

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