The Eighty Five is a new grip from Echo Nine Three that is inspired by the SVDS grip (and modern AR-15 grips). It’s basically a completely modern grip in terms of function but a real throwback when it comes to materials and looks.
The Eighty Five features a more vertical grip angle than most AK grips (85 degrees in relation to the bore… hence the name). The grip is tapered slim through the upper part to allow clearance for the thumb and trigger finger. It swells out from there to fill the rest of the firing hand.
These grips are made from Baltic Marine Birch laminate or Beech wood depending on the selected finish. They are available unfinished for DIYers who want to match their existing furniture or in accurate Russian Red and Chicom Orange shellac finishes.
TOPS Knives just released two new designs. The Bull Trout and Nata are both knives that we’ve seen before at trade shows but they are finally available for purchase.
Bull Trout
The Bull Trout is a result of TOPS 3rd annual contest where employees are encouraged to design a knife that will be put into production if chosen. This year the winner was Martin Murillo for his EDC fixed-blade design. Martin is an avid fisherman, so the Bull Trout had to excel at that. It’s got comfortable burlap Micarta handles with a stainless 154cm blade and a simple, classic chocolate leather sheath. But you don’t have to be a fisherman to enjoy this knife. It’s just a great all-around EDC blade.
Many useful tools have come from the Japanese over the years. The Nata (hatchet) is one that hasn’t received as much attention as some others, but is an excellent tool nonetheless. The TOPS Nata is Leo Espinoza’s take on a very old gardening tool. The handle and grind have been changed from traditional designs to fit TOPS/Leo’s style. It’s also full tang with grippy burlap Micarta handles and a nice leather belt sheath. Have brush that needs cleared, branches that need pruned, or are you just in the market for a small chopper with an interesting design? The Nata might just be your next tool.
Prismatic optics with 1X magnification are an attractive alternative to red dot sights for many shooters. These optics often feature a diopter adjustment to fine tune the focus and an etched reticle, both of which help mitigate astigmatism and other common vision problems. Prismatic optics are even being used to wring out a little bit of extra precision in competitions like the Tactical Games where a 1X optic is required.
Swampfox Optics has released some details regarding a 1X prismatic optic that they are working to bring to market. We already know many of the basic details of the optic. The reticle will apparently have a large ring with either a central dot or chevron aiming point. If it is a chevron, it will likely be larger than the one used on the Primary Arms Cyclops and the reticle will likely forgo any ranging features.
The illumination will be powered by a single CR123A battery which is located beneath the optic. This will create a fixed lower 1/3rd cowitness mounting height on an AR15 (or similar). Swampfox Optics is planning to offer it in both “shake awake” and “auto-off, push to reactivate” configurations.
Swampfox Optics Marketing Director, Mike Branson, states that one of his design objectives for the optic is to have a larger forgiving eye box. In his words, “I want eyebox, eyebox, and oh yeah more eyebox.” If this optic is to be a true red dot replacement, it will need plenty of eye box.
As of the time of this writing, there is no estimate for when this optic will be available. Details on the production optic may change before it actually makes it to market. Stay tuned for more information.
Electronics have become an important part of many people’s backcountry experience and safety. In this series, On Foot, Off Grid, we cover the electronic gear that power your backcountry adventures along with some strategies for their use. The series will cover plenty of gear options and explore ideas for dealing with cold weather, streamlining your power needs, and more.
We covered the use of a power bank as a central, or even THE central component, of a portable backcountry power setup in the first installment of On Foot, Off Grid (read it HERE). Now we are going to take a look at an item that lets us access the electricity stored in the power bank to charge other loose batteries – the Olight UC Magnetic USB Charger.
One of the main reasons I purchased an Olight UC Magnetic USB Charger is the form factor. It looks more like earbuds than a battery charger. It is extremely compact and extremely lightweight yet it is a surprisingly full-featured charger.
There are other chargers with a similar form factor on the market which brings me to the other reason I chose the Olight version. It is the only one I found that was smart enough to charge both lithium-ion batteries like 18650s or 16340s AND NiMH cells like the Eneloop AA and AAA batteries that I prefer.
Using the Olight UC Magnetic USB Charger is extremely easy. You simply plug it into your USB power source and then attach the magnetic leads to each end of the battery you want to recharge. Polarity doesn’t matter because the charger is smart enough to detect it automatically. An indicator light at the base of the wire will let you know what is happening – blinking red means standby or a charging error, solid red means charging, and green means that your cell is done charging.
It is very well designed and well made. The cord is the flat type that will not tangle. All of the components are encased in anodized aluminum. The magnets in the leads are appropriately strong and the leads are shaped well for use with both flat and button top cells.
I strongly suggest you try this at home before you bring it into the field. One, it is nice to get a sense of the speed that it will charge your batteries. It isn’t the fastest but I have found it to be completely acceptable for recharging AA and AAA batteries in the field. Two, you want to be sure it works with your intended power source. I have used it with Anker Powercore power banks and a Nitecore F1 Charger (more on this in later installment).
Here is the bottom line: The Olight UC Magnetic USB Charger is easy to use. It packs as small as a set of earbuds and weighs just .72 oz. It charges both 3.7V lithium ion batteries and 1.2V NiMH batteries. While it only charges one cell at a time, this hasn’t been an issue for me as I have taken steps to streamline my electronics to include items that only require a single cell. This is an incredibly lightweight, compact item that can be an important part of any backcountry power setup.
The Amazon page also features a full list of compatible lithium ion cells.
Do you have a gear or concept recommendation that fits the On Foot, Off Grid series? Tell us about it in the comments below or drop us a line on the Contact page.
Shield Arms is known for making a number of magazine extensions but it looks like they are also trying to bring a new magazine to market. The S15 is a metal magazine with a 15 round capacity and that fits flush in Glock 43Xs and 48s. That’s right… 15 rounds, flush-fit.
Glock magazines do not usually make very good use of space due to their polymer over metal magazine body construction. The 43X and 48, in particular, have a lot of unused space inside the magazine well. It has been shown online that steel magazines with a 15 round capacity like those from a CZ Compact do in fact fit in the 43X/48 magazine well so the concept of a flush fit, 15 round magazine is not far fetched at all.
The Shield Arms currently shows these magazines at out of stock (not released yet) but they list pricing at $39.95. They have stated that they are working toward a summer release for the S15 mags. If they can pull this off, it may turn into one of those cases where the popularity of an accessory drives the sales of the gun instead of vice versa.
