Range day with the Colt .22LR Rail Gun

Colt/Walther .22LR Rail Gun

 Got a change to go to the range today (took the Sunday School class along for fun).  I actually purchased this pistol probably six months ago, I just haven't had a chance to get to the range and shoot it.  Since my primary concealed carry and full-size defensive pistol are both Colt 1911s, this was the perfect companion training pistol.  It isn't my first .22LR 1911 - I have a Kimber conversion kit - and I've had issues with cheap .22LR, including Remington and Winchester bulk boxes, so when I found some CCI Mini-Mags, I grabbed 300 rounds or so.  I'm glad I did, because it's gone now, as I'm sure everyone's noticed.  The CCI functioned perfectly, and as illustrated below, was very accurate.

10 rounds @ 7 yards, rapid fire

The pistol itself is well executed.  I prefer this particular model over some of the other .22LR 1911s out there, mostly because all of its external operational controls are exactly the same as the real Colt Rail Gun. You can accomplish all of your shooting and immediate action drills on this pistol, and they translate directly over to your .45ACP. As advertised in their literature, aftermarket parts such as thumb safeties, triggers, sears, and hammers will fit into this pistol.  You could actually do a trigger job on your .22LR just like you can on your .45ACP.  Obviously, the slide parts do not interchange with your standard .45, nor does the magazine.  Another nice feature of this firearm is that the lower seems remarkably heavy compared to a .45.  It works out, however, because the slide is aluminum and a lot lighter than a steel slide.  Overall, the total weight is pretty accurate when compared to the Rail Gun, as opposed to the slide conversion kit I have, which ends up being a hair lighter.  Also, because this gun is designed from the ground up as a .22LR, it doesn't have some of the little twitches a .45 converted to .22 might, such as failures to feed and extract.
While .22LR is currently pretty hard to find, if you happen to have a stock and don't want to shoot up your .45ACP, this gun is perfect.  I highly recommend.

-Woody

SOD Gear Operative Field Parka Review

 Initial Review

                I’ve been looking recently for a good jacket/concealment garment to wear year round in Virginia.  The un-tactical tactical vest is a bit passé to me (not quite so much as the fanny pack, but I digress), so I tried to look other directions.  My criteria were simple:

• Wearable in a variety of weather conditions, from summer heat to winter cold.
• Suitable for service as a windbreaker, with water-resistant properties.
• Capable of concealing my firearm (Glock 19 at the time).
• Capable of carrying a load, ie, blowout kit, small survival kit, magazines, cell phones, or water.

Most civilian jackets that I researched seemed sole-purpose, designed solely for warmth or keeping the wearer dry.  Pockets seemed to be ancillary, designed to warm hands or hold keys.   I’ve always been a fan of smocks, probably for nostalgic reasons, but as I researched their history and intent, I realized that they have uses in civilian life as well as their original military purposes (covered here).

                This is actually the third smock I’ve owned.  I previously had a SORD USA smock, which I sold due to some disappointments with quality and the country of origin.  I currently own a DropZone Tactical in Multicam, which I utilize as part of my cold weather layering system at work.  I had considered a DropZone smock for my civilian wear as well, but was not a huge fan of the twill they use for their non-camouflage colors, believing it too heavy for year-round wear.  After much research, I found the Italian company SOD Gear, the only manufacturer I could find that advertises non-camouflage jackets in the same 50/50 NYCO ripstop that they make their camouflage patterns in.  Knowing that smocks typically fit a little larger, I communicated with them through their Facebook account.  Despite a little bit of a language barrier, they were very glad to talk me through selecting a jacket.  I ordered online, and received the jacket within a week via DHL.

                My initial impression is that this is a very well-made jacket, with enough pockets to fulfill my every need.  There are 14 external pockets and two internal pockets.  By location, the jacket has:

·         Two zipper pockets on the upper arms,

·         Two zipper pockets on the lower arms,

·         Two button pockets on the chest, with

·         Two zipper pockets behind the button chest pockets,

·         Two button pockets on the lower front,

·         Two button pockets on the sides,

·         One large button pocket on the lower back, with additional zipper access, and

·         Two internal zipper pockets on the upper chest.

The hood has two drawstring adjustments, and the waist and hem have drawstrings as well.  The cuffs are   Buttons are NATO style, with fabric strips securing them to the jacket.  Fabric is 50/50 NYCO, with a tight enough weave to block the wind and provide light water resistance.  The jacket is cut roomy, allowing for another layer for warmth underneath (I’ve fit both the Army’s new Gen III Layer III and a Mountain Hardwear Monkey Man jacket underneath).

Velcro adjusted, and the front is zipper closed with a button wind fly.

I’ve carried a lot of stuff in it (probably too much at times).  I’ve carried blow-out kit (my full size one, not the one from the EDC pics), my S&W 442, survival kit, keys, phone, and wallet.  Oh, and I concealed my Glock underneath.  Overall, I’m very pleased with the jacket, and as the weather gets colder, I’ll probably go back to wearing it daily.  It makes a great windbreaker during the fall, and with the Mountain Hardwear underneath, it’ll keep even a biting wind in the 40 degree range off your core.

-Woody

Chest pocket showing taped button and fold over pocket

Rear pocket showing top and left side access

Chest pocket showing zipper pocket behind button pocket

Arm pocket with hook and loop patch

Lower sleeve pocket

Elbow reinforcement and pad pocket

Mesh underarm vent

Lessons learned from a natural disaster

The desk I was at when it hit, and the door I spent the quake in

In January of 2010, I was sitting in my room in the Hotel Caribe, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti sipping on a Coke.  Haiti hadn’t experienced an earthquake in over 50 years, and all the risk assessments my team had done prior to our arrival had indicated that the greatest danger to us was from street crime or riots.  My team had personal cell phones, and an Embassy-issued radio on the net operated by Post One.  I won’t go into details concerning the quake, as a Google search can provide you with that information, but I would like to share several things I learned:

The rest of my room and the door to the bathroom

Lesson 1.  Have a plan, practice it as much as you can, and don’t count on someone coming to save you.  Emergency services in a catastrophic event (those that aren’t affected by the event) will be focused on the most severe injuries or most severely damaged areas.  My team was required to submit a mission plan that included procedures for what to do in an emergency.  To be honest, I didn’t do the best job of sitting down and thinking about what could happen.  I blame it on personal complacency.  By this point, I had completed 2.5 years of mobile training teams on 5 continents.  Nothing had ever happened, and I was in the mindset that nothing ever would.  My plan for everything was the same: call the Embassy.  When the earthquake hit, the initial panic and injuries among personnel resulted in Post One having to assume control of the net and regulating traffic.  If you weren’t severely injured, you weren’t getting through.  We had a vehicle, but didn’t know how to get to the Embassy, and we didn’t have a map.  We also had no weapons.  If you read the news, you know that you don’t necessarily wander around certain parts of Haiti during normal daylight hours, much less when all security and social services just disappeared.

Lesson 2. Know your equipment and how to use it.  My team was issued a medical kit from Adventure Medical Kits, designed to treat everything from a hot spot to a gunshot wound.  Nobody on my team, myself included, had ever opened the kit to actually see what was in it, or read the field medicine guide that it contained.  My team also had Ultimate Survival Kits in a bottle.  Like the medical kit, we had never opened those kits, and we found ourselves digging through them in the dark trying to find the batteries to put in our flashlights.  Our satellite phone required a password to use, and we had rarely used it outside of checking to see if the battery was charged.  Under stress, the password was forgotten, and we ended up locking the phone out.

Lesson 3. Be prepared for a total communications failure.  Due to the massive damage to the infrastructure, all cell phone service was lost.  We locked out our satellite phone in the chaos, and the radio network was jammed with people needing assistance.  The military teaches you to plan for a primary, secondary, and tertiary method of communications.  We lost all three in a matter of minutes.  During another natural disaster, Hurricane Rita, I was in Houston for the evacuation.  As over 3 million people attempted to leave the city, all cell phone communication went down.  The only comms that would go through were burst comms such as text or the old Sprint push-to-talk phones.  And this happened before the hurricane even came ashore.

The hallway outside my room

Lesson 4. Stay calm.  I know this sounds a little ridiculous, because you’ve been told this a thousand times.  I can tell you that it is imperative, and a lot harder than it sounds.  Once the world stopped shaking, the only thing I could think about was getting us out of the hotel.  There were two exits from the hallway, one into the lobby, and one into a stairwell.  The exit into the lobby was partially blocked by fallen debris, including what appeared to be electrical wiring.  The exit toward the stairs was only slightly better.  I was preparing to head down the hall toward the stairs when one of my guys pointed out that we were only on the second floor, each room had a balcony, and there was a landscaping feature that reduced our drop from the balcony to less than 5 feet.  That little fact made our exit significantly safer, not to mention easier.  After we realized that we weren’t trapped, it made it a little easier to calm down, which allowed us to prioritize the equipment we needed to take with us.  We initially escaped with our med kit, survival kits, water, some snacks, and our sat phone.  As the evening wore on, we eventually had to go back to get some clothing to share with other hotel guests, but our initial evacuation left the three of us pretty equipped to make it through at least the night.

Looking back, there were many things I could have done differently, and even though my event occurred hundreds of miles from home, it has application here as well.  First, know the threats – be they hurricane, tornado, earthquake, etc.  Make a disaster plan.  Make your disaster preps.  FEMA has several resources at www.ready.gov.  Get together with your neighbors and incorporate them into your disaster plan.  One of my biggest pet peeves is watching Doomsday Preppers and listening to them talk about how they have prepared and they’re going to watch as everyone else who didn’t prep suffers.   Golden Rule aside, that’s not a good plan.  Almost no single person, or even single family, is going to survive very long in a disaster by themselves.  Make sure you include trustworthy people with needed skills (Ham radio, medical, security) in your planning, and practice operational security with people outside your circle.

Hopefully this has been useful to you, and my mistakes can help you be more prepared.

5k Heroes Run in Hyde's Pathfinder BDU Pants

So as my follow up to my earlier post, I ran my 5k today in my new Pathfinders.  I have to say, they are nice and roomy.  They feel like there is a little less spare fabric in the crotch, but it doesn't negatively affect the fit at all.  If anything, it's a positive, because I feel they are a little less baggy.  I carried a 16 oz water bottle in one of the rear pockets while going back for some teammates, and found that it easily fit into the pocket, and rode pretty snug against me, keeping it from flopping and banging on my leg.  Also had my iPhone in a pocket throughout the 5k, and had no issues with flopping or the iPhone escaping.  No pressure points were noted in the waist (just a worry I had with the waist adjustment string).  The fabric felt very similar to issued BDUs (expected, as it is 50/50 NYCO), and performed similarly with sweat absorption and drying.  Overall, no negatives to report, still very satisfied with my Pathfinders.  I will definitely be getting another pair when they start production.

First time across the line

Second time across the finish line

Also wanted to credit the other gear manufacturers I utilized today:

Shellback Tactical Cobra Riggers Belt
Rocky S2V Boots
London Bridge Trading Coyote Tan Slick Plate Carrier
Team Wendy ESAPI Non-ballistic Training Plates
Domari Nolo Low Profile Fitted Cover
The Patch Panel Patches

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Why post random pics of guns?  Because I can...

FN Hi-Power in 9mm (Israeli surplus)

FN Hi-Power in .40 S&W (equipped with Safe Fast Shooting system)

Hi-Power in action onboard BNS GODETIA off western Africa

Viper Headwear Snake Eater review

Following in the theme of PenCott, Domari Nolo is selling Viper Headwear "Snake Eater" fitted ballcaps in Greenzone and Badlands.  I personally love Viper ballcaps.  They're Made in USA and worth every penny.  Plus, you can customize the hook and loop on their standard line (not on the Domari Nolo version, which is a special run and only available through them.)  I tried hard to convince my last unit to issue Multicam Snake Eaters with no luck.

The flag and nametape were produced by The Patch Panel, and are laser cut from webbing and backed with IR material.  They have quite a few different designs.

Back with laser cut nametag

Front with laser cut American flag

Domari Nolo

The Patch Panel

Hyde Definition Pathfinder BDU review

I've been following Hyde Definition's PenCott family for probably a year now, and from all the reviews I've seen, it's a very impressive pattern family.  The unfortunate part is that if you want to get your hands on a uniform in PenCott, you're pretty much stuck with ordering from someone overseas.  Now, there are some very good manufacturers overseas (I'm kind of partial to SOD Gear and DropZone Tactical), but I'm always looking for something Made in the USA.  Imagine my excitement when Hyde Definition announced they were making a limited run of their Pathfinder BDUs right here in the US (Massachusetts to be precise).  I can't lie, I jumped on that one.  Rachel at Hyde Definition was incredibly helpful, and my Greenzone BDUs arrived on Tuesday.

Initial impressions:

The bad: my Pathfinder shirt had no hook and loop on the sleeve pockets, despite what the advertised design said.  I assume they will be fixing this on production runs.  As it is, I will probably pick up some color matched hook and loop from OC Tactical and have a local tailor sew it on.  I was also hoping that they would have taped buttons vice the standard US BDU style.  I shouldn't have been surprised that it had standard buttons, but still a bit disappointed.  It's a weird personal preference.

The good:  far outnumbers the bad.  First off, pockets.  They didn't play around with the pockets on these BDUs.  They advertise that the rear pants pockets can be used as dump pouches.  Believe me, they can.  If you use these pockets for your wallet, not only will you be wasting a ton of space, but you'll never find your wallet again.  The thigh pockets are large and will easily hold a blowout kit, MRE, or other larger items.  Instead of going with the tilted pockets that other uniform makers have used, they simply put a zipper on the front of each thigh pocket so that you can access them while sitting. The pants also have calf pockets ala the ACU.  The bicep pockets on the shirt are large and close with zippers.  Each pocket also has a pen pouch behind the pocket.  Chest pockets are angled outward slightly and close with hook and loop.  They seem easily accessible, but I almost never put anything in my chest pockets anyway, so it's a bit of a moot point for me.  Other features - the belt loops are large enough to run a Cobra Rigger's Belt through without dis-assembly, which was not possible with BDUs, ACUs, or the Crye I was issued once upon a time (the picture shows a Shellback Tactical belt being threaded through).  Very few things are more annoying than having a belt with a buckle that you have to remove to put on.  The waist adjusts with a drawstring like the ACU, and the pant legs have have shock cord instead of the grosgrain ribbon from the BDU.  For the shirt, the collar can be worn up or down, but doesn't have hook and loop or zipper to close it, a feature I happen to like, since every time I ever tried to close my collar with one of those methods, I always felt like I was being choked.  The uniform itself zips up like an ACU, and the sleeve cuffs adjust with hook and loop.

Overall, after pulling it out of the wrapping, I'm pretty thrilled with the possibilities.  I'll give it a wear test on Sunday during the Heroes Run 5k and report back.  Just from my initial impressions though, as soon as I can save up, I'd love to get another set, probably in Badlands.

If you are interested, the manufacturer's site is http://www.hydedefinition.com/bdu.html

Belt Loops

Thigh pocket with button flap and zipper

Calf Pocket

Shock cord blousing band

Detail of front/rear slash pockets and belt loops

Bicep pocket

Chest pockets and zipper

***UPDATE*** I was informed by Lawrence from Hyde Definition last night that the lack of hook and loop was due to this batch being a pre-production run.  The actual production Pathfinders will have color matched hook and loop. - Woody