Cincinnati, Ohio – Vertx®, a leading manufacturer of low-profile tactical apparel and accessories, is excited to announce the launch of its Guardian 2.0 line of EDC shirts. First launched in 2018, the Guardian 2.0 is revamped and refreshed for 2020 with new fabric, colors and updated features. Both short sleeve and long sleeve styles are now available online at vertx.com and in-store. Customers can find their nearest dealer using the Vertx® store locator at vertx.com/store-locator.
“The most important thing we can do for our customers is continue to update and improve our lines.” said Denny Bogard, GM/VP of Vertx®. “Continually changing up colorways and fabrics makes it a lot easier for guys to blend in when they go out into the field. Better yet, the Guardian 2.0 isn’t just a great functional piece, it’s comfortable enough to wear casually as well.”
The Guardian 2.0 is styled to emulate a casual button-down but includes EDC-compatible features that make it perfect for any mission. Constructed with a built-in WeaponGuard™ underlayer that’s designed to be tucked in and features 37.5® technology, the Guardian protects the skin from gear worn at the waistline while actively working to keep the wearer cool, dry and odor-free. Updated from the 1.0 styles, the communications pass-throughs were moved from the front and back of the WeaponGuard™ underlayer to the left and right side seam to more easily hide wires and cables. Refreshed fabrication in a wrinkle-resistant Polyester/Cotton/Spandex blend with all-new solids and plaids help the Guardian 2.0 blend into the crowd. Learn more about the Guardian 2.0 and the rest of the Vertx® line at vertx.com.
About Vertx® Vertx® is a premier tactical and outdoor brand for the modern day Prepared Professional™. Vertx designs world-class apparel, bags and packs that are created by the best-in-class designers to combine a low visual profile with superior functionality. Since its inception in 2009, Vertx® has earned trust among the nation’s top operators for exceptional performance, fit and durability. Vertx® is a brand of Fechheimer, a Berkshire Hathaway Company.
Pinning your own gas block isn’t necessarily hard… if you have the right equipment. If you don’t or you just want to save some time, it can be nice to purchase a barrel with a pre-pinned gas block but options are few and far between. Fortunately, Faxon Firearms is now offering a selection of their AR-15 barrels available with pinned gas blocks already installed.
FRS radio communications can’t be private… can they?
The rechargeable battery packs in some of my older FRS radios gave up the ghost recently so it seemed like a good time to update. FRS radios haven’t seen much innovation in the last several years so I was surprised to come across the Motorola T800 and T801 Talkabout radios with a feature set that is actually quite innovative and very useful.
These radios can be paired with a smartphone to serve as a sort of off-grid, FRS based modem for sending text messages and other info. So… do they work? The short answer is yes, but they come with all the shortcomings of FRS radios with which you are likely already familiar.
Overview
The T800 and T801 radios are identical except for color and the T801 radios come with some additional accessories. These are fairly typical FRS radios with 22 channels and 121 privacy codes. They feature access to NOAA weather radio and ca be configured to give weather alerts. They come with a rechargeable NiMH battery pack but can also be powered from 3 AA batteries. Per the FCC listing, these radios output 750mW (FRS max is 2W but power makes almost no difference with these radios for a variety of reasons).
The housings are weather resistant but not submersible. The quality is typical Motorola which is to say it is quite good. They feel sturdy.
Finally, the feature that sets these apart is Bluetooth connectivity. This is used to pair the radios with your phone in order to integrate with Motorola’s free Talkabout app which contains the connected functionality. It is not used for wireless headsets or anything along those lines.
Observations from Use
As FRS radios go… these are typical. If you have ever used FRS radios before, you are familiar with their limitations. Radio manufacturers often claim ranges of 30+ miles but that rarely (if ever) works out in the real world. I tested these around my home which consists of low hills, lots of timber, and few structures. These are hardly ideal conditions but they are a good test. My testing consisted of placing one radio inside my home with my wife while I walked around our area and attempted to contact her along with general usage on our acreage.
I was able to have reliable voice connections regardless of conditions within a 1/2 mile. At 3/4 a mile, voice calls were generally fine but I could put myself in positions where I was too low or there was too much timber to make contact. Generally, I could make contact easily out to 1 1/2 or 2 miles as long as I was intentional about my positioning. This is fairly typical of any decent quality FRS radio that I have tried.
In my experience, the connected features of these radios work well with one very annoying caveat. Before I get into that, I’ll outline a little about how these features work. The radios may be paired with a smartphone via Bluetooth. Once connected, they may be used in conjunction with Motorola’s free Talkabout app to send individual or group texts and share locations via maps as long. All of the connected features are handled via the app with the radios acting as a sort of modem.
Each user is registered to the app which adds a useful layer of privacy that is lacking with FRS voice communications. You can send texts to a specific radio user or blast them out to anyone who may be in range. This privacy is perhaps the best feature of these radios.
The data range is shorter than the voice range. I was able to send texts from almost 1 1/2 miles but I also had texts that failed to send at 3/4 mile. Like voice communications, it will be heavily dependant on your conditions but is generally reliable within a 1/2 mile.
Now for the annoying caveat: You can turn off any and all tones on these radio for silent operation… except for one. Whenever the radio connects to or disconnects from Bluetooth, there is a fairly loud tone. It can not be turned off which is unfortunate because, like many Bluetooth devices, these can and will drop their connection at inopportune times. Sometimes just having your phone on one side of your body and the radio on the other is enough to interrupt the Bluetooth connection resulting in a surprise tone. This is obviously not ideal for hunting or home security applications but it can be mitigated by turning off Bluetooth or only using it intentionally. Using an earpiece may also eliminate the tone, at the external speaker at least, but I have been unable to test this.
Wrap Up
FRS radios are, in my view, the foundation of almost any emergency communication plan. They do not require a license to operate and, chances are, your neighbors already have some compatible radios. They are not without limitations but they are the first rung in the ladder.
The Motorola T800 and T801 are solid, typical FRS radios with the useful addition of off-grid text messaging and location sharing. They expand your communication options in a useful way when you are out of range of a cell tower or in emergencies. Perhaps most importantly, they add a method of communication that is more private than voice communications over FRS frequencies.
I purchased 4 of the T801 Talkabouts from Amazon for my own use. If you are interested, you can check them out at Amazon.com (affiliate links to follow):
I bought my first AK more than a decade ago. At the time the Colt 6920 was the standard for AR’s. They were hard to find in stock and expensive. The wealth of information available regarding quality manufacturers outside of Colt was not there. Exotic offerings such as the FAL were even more expensive to purchase and much more expensive to feed. AK’s were plentiful, cheap, inexpensive to feed and, from a novice’s standpoint, simpler to learn. The decision was easy for me.
Fast forward a few years and my how the markets have changed. Colt 6920’s are plentiful and downright cheap. The amount of other manufacturers bringing duty quality rifles to market continues to grow. Ammunition prices have dropped significantly for 5.56×45 as well. Sanctions have stopped several once readily available AK’s from ever being imported again. Prices have climbed dramatically. The days of the $350 WASR are gone forever. Prices for 7.62×39 have climbed so close to 556 that it’s nearly a wash between the two. The pallets of cheap 5.45×39 that had been flooding our shores have all vanished. These days the financial differences are gone. I still run an AK because I choose to.
So what issues have I faced being that Special Snowflake with the Commie Rifle? Well, good gear was one of them. Surplus Chicom was and is still readily available but very utilitarian. Russian gear is available as well but way overbuilt and overloaded for my tastes. There is even surplus Bosnian/Serbian gear available. It has more features and comfort than the Chicom stuff. It wasn’t until I found the HSGI Taco that I had halfway decent kit to use. Luckily guys like Extreme Gear Labs exist that know and run the AK and what is required to properly tote those curved mags. VTAC and VCAS slings were readily adaptable to the AK once I was shown the wonder that is the two point adjustable sling.
How about accessorizing that Barbie? Well the market for quality AK accessories has done nothing but grow. One just has to navigate the low-end gear and find the good stuff. Krebs Custom has always been my first stop for upgrading the AK. The MKVI Enhanced Safety and a FCG Retaining Plate are on every rifle I own. The last few years Magpul jumped hip deep into the AK game with furniture. You can choose modern handguards from RS Regulate, Krebs Customs, SLR RIfleworks, Troy Industries, TDI Arms and Midwest Industries. Stock adapters are available from Definitive Arms, Meridian Defense, TDI Arms, VLTOR and JMac Customs. Seemingly everyone now makes at least one AK grip. The most promising of such being the “Eighty Five” grip soon to be released by Echo Nine Three. Even ALG Defense and CMC Products have come to the rescue with outstanding drop in triggers for the AK. Definitive Arms, KNS Precision, JMac Customs and Rifle Dynamics have all created ways for dealing with the AK’s over powered gas system and tuning for running suppressed.
Iron sights on the AK are an acquired taste. Although there are improved front sight posts from KNS Precision and XS Sights available. Krebs Custom, XS Sights, GG&G and Circle 10 AK sell improved rear sights. Running optics is pretty standard on any modern carbine today. Initially the Ultimak was the only option outside of surplus mounts/optics. Luckily most ballistic/zeroing information for 300BLK is readily adaptable to the 7.62×39 round. This means more optics compatible with the 7.62×39 ballistics. Trijicon does make several ACOG models with 7.62×39 BDC’s currently. Modern mounts from RS Regulate, Midwest Industries, Texas Weapons Systems, Attero Arms and Sabrewerks make running anything from a Micro RDS to LVPO a breeze. I actually run an ACOG more than anything these days using RS Regulate mounts They have held zero well enough to get consistent hits out to 300 yards.
A semiautomatic rifle isn’t much good without a quality feeding device. Getting started there were two options, Combloc steel or ((10)) Waffle mags. So you had heavy and sharp or really expensive. Oddly the super tough steel Combloc mags have been the source of the only non-user/ammunition malfunctions I’ve experienced. All it takes is a little dent (barely noticeable even) and the magazine follower can get stuck. Nobody made a “pmag” equivalent until a few years ago when Magpul finally started making AK PMags. Initial teething issues gave way to a very reliable, and gear friendly, magazine that’s pretty inexpensive. I have six classes in the books with AK PMags and no complaints. If only they’d make a D60 for the AK. Are you reading this Duane? Now XTech Tactical has jumped into the fray with a modern waffle pattern magazine. It is available with or without a bolt hold open feature and soon they will offer a fully steel reinforced version meant for hard use.
What you feed it is important. There is still a huge amount of range grade ammo imported from Wolf, Barnaul, Golden Tiger, Fiocchi and Sellier & Bellot. SGAmmo is importing 8M3 into the US again after a long hiatus. It is the only imported JHP that actually performs like a JHP on a consistent basis. The Barnaul 125gr JSP under the Silver/Brown/Golden Bear labels consistently acts like a traditional cup and core soft point. Premium ammo is available in the form of Hornady SST, Federal Fusion, Winchester PDX1 and Corbon DPX. Engel Ballistic Research, Atomic Ammunition, Detroit Ammo Co., Barnaul (Brown Bear line) and Prvi Partizan/PPU currently produce commercially loaded subsonic 7.62×39.
What’s the most neglected aspect of firearms proficiency? Training! Now this was and still is the hardest issue to deal with as an AK Guy. There isn’t a lot of AK specific training available outside of former Spetsnaz or instructors we won’t name. Tiger Valley, Larry Vickers, Steve Fisher, Cause & Effect and Ken Allen Training all offer or have previously offered AK specific classes. There are other instructors out there for sure. I have been flat out told “No AK’s” more than once and several others said everything but “no” to make sure I was discouraged from signing up. The instructors that said yes ranged from “I’m sorry I don’t have anything AK specific to offer you” to “I don’t care what you shoot, I’m here to teach to you to use it better”. I can say my experiences training with Sage Dynamics, CSAT, Presscheck Consulting, SOB Tactical and Ken Allen Training have all been positive. I do get odd looks at nearly every class. The questions from other students vary from genuine intrigue about the platform to disgust that I would bring such an abomination to class.
I kind of get it. Pretty much every procedure for the AK is vastly different from the AR. Double feeds for example. Upon recognizing a dead trigger I bring the gun back to the chest palm up, I remove the magazine with my support hand, I re-grip the handguard with the support hand, I use my firing hand to pull back and hook my thumb across the back of the receiver to keep the bolt back and then stick my first two fingers into the magwell to dislodge the stuck rounds. Once cleared I grip the handguard with support hand again and release my grip on the bolt handle, letting it go forward. I re-acquire a grasp on the pistol grip; my support hand reaches for a fresh magazine and rocks it in. Support hand reaches under the gun to rack the bolt, hopefully delivering a fresh round to the chamber. My support hand goes back to the handguard, so I can shoulder the rifle, assess and fire if necessary. Depending on the instructor that might mean a little extra time spent not shooting for the class to be able go over special instructions with me.
Start with a quality rifle. AK’s are like AR’s in that build quality matters. The much maligned WASR and Romanian/Cugir variants get a ton of hate. While some of it was well earned years ago the Cugir factory in Romania has tightened up quality control and improved their product. The guns built in the last 6-7 years have improved fit and cosmetics. The XXXXX-XX RO indicates a totally new production gun and year of manufacture. No more are the demilled guns remanufactured and resold. Arsenal has had a fairly solid reputation. VEPR’s once readily available are banned from future import but still out there. Older Norico MAK90’s still hide in pawn shops and estate sales. Despite all this you need to know what you are looking at. There are several good YouTube videos on what to look for before purchasing an AK. Rivets, magwell fit and alignment of rear sight block, gas block and front sight block are all very important. Rifle Dynamics and Krebs Customs both put out high end AK’s with an attention to detail. They do some things a little differently than the imports and aren’t for everyone’s taste or budget. Definitive Arms is putting out some excellent traditional and modern builds for customers. Sharps Bros even offers a modernized milled receiver for builds. The Galil ACE is an AK at heart and offers a solid option in 7.62×39, 5.56×45 and 7.62×51.
There certainly are some AK’s on the market to avoid. My glass is half full so I’m going to stay positive with this article. Do your research about which imported guns have had repeated issues with poorly heat treated receivers. Read up on which American built AK’s have had issues with cast trunnions failing and poorly heat treated bolts losing headspace and becoming dangerous.
What have I learned after eleven thousand rounds through the AK? Well the AK is more accurate than most people believe. I had a clean run on the CSAT Scrambler using an Arsenal SAM7SF with Trijicon TA33 and Russian steel cased ammunition. The AK isn’t infallible. Bad primer, dented mag or loose nut behind the trigger will certainly induce a malfunction. There are great guns available. There is aftermarket support for them. Quality is there, but you have to pay for it. Overall I still enjoy the AK enough that I don’t see a change happening anytime soon.
Brandon Hizak is a former police officer and now full-time paramedic. His hobbies include fitness and firearms, especially AKs, revolvers, and big-bore rifles. You can follow Brandon on Instagram to keep informed on his latest adventures.
The new Belt Pouch, from Tuff Possum Gear, is a belt warn pouch that is designed to be slick enough to work as an internal pack organizer as well. The 1.5″ wide webbing belt loops can accommodate belts of up to 2″ wide and they lay flat against the pouch when not in use. The 5″ x 4″ x 3″ pouch has a half zip design to provide access to the contents.
The Belt Pouch pouch utilizes 1000D Cordura Nylon and other durable components like #8 YKK zippers. It is made in the USA.
