The new Gun Control t-shirt from Sage Dynamics will have the anti-gunners in your life saying “Hey, wait a minute…” I suspect that wearing this shirt and gauging reactions to it would be a great way to separate the peppercorns from the rabbit turds at your next friendly get-together.
I have really seen the light when it comes to hook backed, elastic loop side saddles/shot shell cards for shotguns. They just offer so many more ammo management capabilities with less weight and lower cost.
One of their biggest advantages is the ability to remove and replace them quickly as they become depleted. That sounds good but you still have to work out how you will carry the spares. You have options like sticking a spare or two the loop field on your plate carrier or chest rig(if it has one). You could also carry the cards in AR-15 magazine pouches which works reasonably well. However, if you want a dedicated solution, you might consider something like the new Detachable Shotshell Carrier Pouch MKIII (DSC) from S&J Hardware.
The DSC is a pouch that is purpose built to carry 3 (included) shotgun cards. One of the cards is carried on the front of the pouch where it is always ready. You can think of that one as a speed reload in a sense. The other two are secured inside the pouch. The pouch is closed via a zipper and it features a large pull tab on the top so that it can be ripped open easily with one hand. It is MOLLE compatible with a footprint that is basically the same as a standard M4 magazine pouch.
This looks like a very well thought out solution and a heck of a deal considering it comes with 3 shell cards. Check out the S&J Hardware Detachable Shotshell Carrier Pouch MKIII.
Strike Industries (SI) just unleashed an EMP. Don’t worry though, I’m not talking about the survivalist’s wet dream type of EMP. I’m talking about their new Extended Magazine Plate.
The SI EMP is a drop-in replacement for the standard baseplate on a Magpul Gen M2 PMAGs (a version for Gen M3 PMAGs is in the works). It adds 2 rounds of capacity, some additional gripping surface, and is designed to be a stable platform when using the magazine as a monopod.
The SI EMPs are available individually and in packs of 3.
The Beretta 92/96 series of handguns has enjoyed a hard earned reputation for reliability. I owned a beat up police trade-in 92F for years that I upgraded with several parts from Ernest Langdon that really made the gun sing. It served me all and I still regret selling it. My biggest gripe with it at the time was the slide mounted safety which was too easily bumped into the safe position when manipulating the slide in common ways. I trained around it but in the end, it was just easier to standardize on a different handgun.
Ernest Langdon is still working on Berettas though now he is doing it through Wilson Combat. One of their initial product releases deals specifically with the issue I mentioned above. The Wilson Combat Custom Carry Lo-Profile (Single) Lever Safety is a single sided lever (not ambidextrous like the factory part) and features a lower profile lever. By removing the lever on the right side of the gun and making the left side lever lower in profile, the risk of inadvertently activating the safety is reduced. A safety lever like this has been a long time coming. I wish this was around when I still had my 92F.
Check out the Wilson Combat Custom Carry Lo-Profile (Single) Lever Safety.
A handful of manufacturers have made 13.7″ AR-15 barrels for several years now. They have been predominantly used with a permanently attached Noveske KX3 Pig Brake to bring the total length to a non-NFA 16.1″ but that configuration never appealed to me due to the weight of the KX3.
Weapon Outfitters has found that the excellent BE Meyers 249F flash suppressor is long enough to fill the same role as the KX3 but it weighs significantly less and is one of the few flash suppressors out there that can come close to taming the flash on a short barrel. This configuration has a lot of potential for a compact, lightweight AR-15 build.
Weapon Outfitters offers the barrels separately or they can build a custom upper for you.
