Archive | Tactical Gear

Rite in the Rain Notebooks

Rite in the Rain is famous for their paper. While most paper turns into a mushy mess in the rain, Rite in the Rain paper remains intact and you can still write on it even when it is soaked (if you have the right writing utensil). This paper is amazing stuff.

I have been using Rite in the Rain’s pocket notebooks for years. I used one most recently to record distances, azimuths, and pace counts on an orienteering course. There was a threat of a rain all day and while little more than a sprinkle ever fell on us, the Right in the Rain notebook handled it easily. These notebooks are a must whenever I am outdoors. It seems that I am always finding a use for them. I often use them in carbine training classes to record information and take notes. The notebooks also have rulers and map scales printed on the plastic covers. The rulers often come in handy on the range.

If you need to write in the outdoors, there simply is no substitute for Rite in the Rain products.

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BSA Hot Spark – Ultimate Keychain Fire Starter

Many of you are familiar with ferrocerium rods (aka ferro rods and firesteels). It is basically a rod made of a special alloy that creates a shower of hot sparks when scraped. The advantage of something like this over a lighter is that it never runs out of fuel. These have become very popular with outdoorsmen everywhere.

The Boy Scouts of America Hot Spark is essentially just a scaled down ferro rod. It is small enough to keep on your keychain but still large enough to be very functional. If you are practiced at recognizing and using natural and improvised tinders, you will have no problem starting a fire with a Hot Spark.

I have used these for years and they never let me down. I would definitely rather use a larger fire steel, but you can’t beat the convenient size of the Hot Spark. I keep one on my key chain, in my laptop case, and stashed just about everywhere else. You will never know it is there until you need it. I have also used a ranger band (just a piece of bicycle tire inner tube) to lash these to my knife sheath.

At $2.99 these are an amazing bargain. Add one to your keychain soon!

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Good Stuff From Other Blogs

The Machete: To Lanyard, Or Not to Lanyard – Armed & Christian – On the occasions that I do use a lanyard, this is how I do it.

Protecting Against Home Invasions – ITS Tactical – ITS Tactical has done a lot to tear down the illusion of security that many people have by showing how easy it is to pick locks, escape handcuffs, etc. Now they are offering some no nonsense tips for protecting your home.

Negligent Discharges vs. Accidental Discharges – Vuurwapen Blog – All too often these two terms are used incorrectly. It is time we started calling a spade, a spade. 99.99999% of the time you hear a news story about an accidental discharge, they are actually talking about a negligent discharge.

Bayonets for NAA Mini Revolvers – The Firearm Blog – Check your calender. Mine must be wrong. Is it April 1st?

A-TACS Nylon Cordura Fabric, Webbing and Hook and Loop Now Available – Soldier SystemsThe components needed to build gear with the interesting new A-TACs camo scheme are now available.

Cocoon Grid-It

A friend of mine passed me a link to the Cocoon Grid-It organizers and I was extremely impressed by the clever design. It is sold as an organizer for laptop bags, messenger bags, briefcases, luggage, and the like, however I think it would make a great organizer for an EDC bag. I could even see it holding magazines for a truck gun in a Bug Out Bag. There are several sizes available and the prices seem pretty reasonable to me.

Battle Arms Development Ambi Safety Selector

This is a pretty clever new take on the AR-15 safety selector. The Battle Arms Development, Inc. Ambi Safety Selector is an ambi selector that allows the user to choose between several different sizes and shapes of selector lever on both sides of the rifle.

Click to enlarge.

There are good reasons to have an ambi selector even if you are a right handed. For instance, you may have to switch to your weak side in order to clear a corner or you may lose full or partial use of your strong hand. The nice thing about this lever is that you could put a short or slim lever on the side that you do not typically use so that it is out of your way or you could put a larger lever on your weak side to make it easier for your weak hand to manipulate.

If I were to install one of these, I would give the screws a good dose of Loc-Tite and I would suggest that you do as well. Screws always make me nervous and they certainly could be a downside to gear like this. Shooters should always weigh the pros and cons carefully if they ever choose to replace a simple part with a more complicated one.

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