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Archive | 2011

Patch Collecting: Ti Element Patch

By on September 3, 2011 in Patch Collecting, Tactical Gear

If you are a member of the Usual Suspect Network, you know C who is a member there. If not, you may know C from PeskyHumans.com. C has made patch making into an art form – literally. He occasionally turns his pop art paintings into amazing limited edition patches.

One of his patches that isn’t based on a painting is the Ti Element patch. As you well know, titanium makes everything cooler. That goes for patches too.

This patch features Titanium as it appears in the Periodic Table of Elements. The atomic symbol, atomic number, and atomic weight are all there. It’s like you ripped the patch right off of a Period Table of the Elements and stuck it your hat, or backpack, or whatever you decide to stick it to.

Sadly, this patch is sold it out. But you may still be able to find one on the secondary market. If there is another run of them, I will let you know.

Customize Your Kits

By on September 2, 2011 in Survival

The compact size of the nanoSTRIKER makes it a good choice for compact kits.

Buying an off the shelf survival or first aid kit can be very convenient. Purchasing one of these kits can also save you money since they are often less expensive than buying all of the individual components separately. However, once you have a kit, you aren’t necessarily as ready as you can be. These kits can almost always benefit from customization by adding, removing, or replacing various components.

There are a number of reasons to customize a kit. The two reasons that I customize a kit most often are to make it more complete or to make it more specific to me, my location, or my activities. Off the shelf kits are the kit designer’s idea of a good kit. It may be that their kit will work for you, but it is more likely that you will need to add or remove items to better reflect your idea of a complete kit based on your training and personally tested techniques.

You can add functionality without adding weight. Look for compact, multi-functional tools like the SAR Global Tool ECLIPSE Signal System.

If you purchase a blowout kit and find that it contains a bandage that you may not be familiar with in your training. It would make sense to replace that bandage with a similar product with which you are familiar. Maybe the kit lacks a tourniquet or extra gloves. Survival kits can be enhanced by adding gear and information that is specific to your location like a small map and magnetic declination statistics. You may want to add redundancy by including another fire starting method. The scenarios are nearly endless.

Don’t be afraid to tear that newly purchased kit down and rebuild it with different items. Your end goal is to make the kit work better for YOU.

Triton from X-Concealment

By on September 1, 2011 in EDC, Flashlights, Guns, Tactical Gear

X-Concealment is a relatively new Kydex bender. I am thoroughly impressed with their “C” Series Holster which I reviewed recently. They recently introduced a new modular magazine/flashlight pouch called the Triton.

The Triton pouch is modular so that the user can configure it to carry as many as 3 Glock magazines or 2 magazines and a flashlight. The backing plate is what actually attaches to your belt and the the pouches are attached to the backing plate with 4 screws per pouch. Since the pouches are modular, you can decide how to position them. That means that you can run your magazines and flashlight in any position on the backing plate.

The magazine pouches are only available for 9mm/40SW/357SIG/45GAP Glocks at this time. They have adjustable tension. Their design allows them to be completely ambidextrous.

The flashlight pouch is designed to hold any 1″ diameter light (Surefire G2, G2L, G2X, etc) in the bezel up position. It has a self-tensioning design with a relief cut that should allow it to be a bit forgiving of lights that are slightly larger than 1″.

The spacing between the pouches is fairly generous. In fact, it may be too generous for some but it should make the magazines very easy to grasp.

You can check out the new Triton Triple Magazine Pouch on the X-Concealment website.

Give Terror the Axe Patches and Wrist Bands

By on August 31, 2011 in Other

You may remember the Give Terror the Axe Foundation that I profiled recently on this blog. You can read more at the link but basically, Give Terror the Axe is a foundation that raises the funds necessary to provide the axes and tomahawks that our Special Forces groups want and need. Now in an effort to raise funds, they have released a limited edition patch and a silicone wrist band. Purchasing these items not only raises funds for the foundation but awareness as well.

The patch is limited to 100 pieces. It features an ACU gray and black flag design with an axe graphic and the words “Give Terror the Axe”. 100% of the profits will go into the foundation. The patches cost $15 and are available through the Usual Suspect Network (This link requires a premium membership on the USN.

The silicone wrist band is made from 100% recycled silicone. It features a foliage green and black swirl color scheme and the words “Give Terror the Axe” embossed on the band. The wrist bands cost $10 and are available through the Usual Suspect Network (This link requires a premium membership on the USN).

If you are not a premium member of the Usual Suspect Network, you can get in touch with Give Terror the Axe on their new Facebook page. Go to the “Info” page to find Shawn’s email address (he is the founder of the foundation).

 

TAREINCO CSK (Compact Surival Kit)

By on August 30, 2011 in EDC, Survival

It seems like everyone and their brother offer a pre-assembled survival kit. It takes a really good idea to set your kit apart from the crowd. The TAREINCO CSK has that really good idea.

The CSK uses many of the same off the shelf components that other high end survival kits use. You will recognize many of the items like Wetfire Tinder and Aquamira water purification tabs. This isn’t a bad thing. It can often be cheaper to purchase these kits as a starter for your own custom kit than it is to purchase all of the items separately. Many of these items are used in kit, after kit, after kit, for good reason – they work.

What really sets the CSK apart is the way three simple elements are brought together to make a really well thought out case.  Para-cord, an ITW Whisteloc, and an Otter Box case used together to make a case that can be attached to just about anything, can be used to signal help, and can provide cordage for survival tasks like shelter building. Three elements that are common in just about every kit (signalling, waterproof storage, and cordage) are melded together into something that is more functional than just the three items separately. That is pretty clever.

You can read more about the CSK on the TAREINCO website.

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