Raining Brass,
Hey brother, glad to see that I am not the only one that sees black chicken and others making a bundle off 9/11 while contributing to the trade deficit. They out market the quality manufacturers you mention with money they save by stealing their designs and producing an inferior product with slave labor. Unfortunately, slick advertising is mistaken for quality product.
SOF magazine will have some articles in future issues (3-6 months) that give credit to the quality tactical gear guys.
About 5 years ago, tire iron and USMC03 got me started on SOE gear. Prior to that I had purchased a complete set of BH 782 gear for $110 (belt, Y-harness, two canteen covers, 4 triple 30-round mag pouches and IFAK cover). I listed it for sale and was offered a new digital Fluke multimeter that listed for $300. Only BC I ever owned (and never wore). The meter is better than what my reactor control technicians had in the early 80’s. It still works.
What about an article that would eju-ma-cate some of the younger/newer guys on BH practices…they are the Philip Moris of gear companies! Someone needs to write that article asap.
…I’ll do my best to spread the word(between building my Nuke shelter:D )
I can tell you this… due to my job I was able to see some very interesting sides of many companies in the 72 hours that followed the WTC Attack, some company’s actions were sickening.
But let me share one very positive thing… this is a great chance to say this. Within hours of the second plane hitting, I got a phone call from Galls, it went basically like this:
[i]Galls: We’ve put a stop on everything, you guys are the first priority. All of our staff is in, trucks are backed up and ready to head to you, what do you need on them?
Me: Blah, Blah, Blah
Galls: Roger, we’ll just load up all of what we have and get it on the road tonight.
Me: Great! I understand we have emergency funding, but I have no idea who the contract official is or how to bill the stuff out.
Galls: Right, like I said we need to get humping to get the stuff out to you guys tonight… if you need anything else just let us know. God Bless you![/i]
Trucks were there the next day…
There were lots of other great things that happened in that three days, but this one really stood out.
I’m no Shakespear myself, so I’ll just list the good stuff I got out of the magazine:
I bought the magazine (at Kroger’s) soley for Larry Vickers’ article. I think it has inspired me to complete three LMT uppers that have been languishing in my safe into “Vickers style” uppers. Nothing extraneous.
An added bonus was Zak’s article on slings. Very informative. I’m sure his article on reading the wind was good too, but my father will have to confirm that. He’s the F-class shooter, I just crank the elevation knob until he tells me to stop.
The article on eye-protection by Duane Thomas was fairly good. It was nice to see the side-by-side shots of all the different lenses. Could have used more details on the RX inserts. (ie, what is the max. level of sphere & cyl corrections that will fit in each insert, which inserts are approved for US forces, can you get the RX lenses through the glasses mfg or do you have to go to your local lab, etc.)
I have the same issue and the article written by the above author made me chuckle. Sure he’s a LAPD detective and Civil Affairs dude but that guy is way too clean in the photos to be doing anything worth while. That purdy black BH drop leg pouch doesn’t look like it has one speck of dust on it and his “well used Surefire tac light” looks like it just came out of the box. I especially liked the one guy with the M16A2 and Burris optic with a CIB sticker on his buttstock…what an a**hat, my section made fun of guys like him. I earned my CIB too and so did the rest of my section but we sure as hell didn’t parade around with it on our buttstocks in country. There are a bunch of other misquotes and funnies in the article so I would advise anyone reading it to take it with a grain of salt.
Being a lefty he’s probably developed a “revolver speedload” type technique where he switches the weapon to his right hand and loads with his left.
Wait- there’s another article here for next months BlackChicken FauxTac Illustrated: Mastering the “Sapper Speed Load”
Someone post the pic of Mr. Sapper wearing that saggy armor carrier with only “sapper” plates.
We had the worst time trying to get gear from them. Two of our SNCOs ordered the same rig for their pistol and received two very different models. After writing back and complaining about it they promised to make it right but that day never came (and we still had more than 3 months left in-country). I would never buy anything from them for many reasons but mainly because they showed that when we depended on them they we not willing to work with us. There is a magnitude of other gear companies that you can go with with much better products.
Well I received the magazine (Thanks Templar - big thumbs up for that and I will not attack the Ak for a week for that )
I was looking forward to getting it due to the discussion level here.
I can’t say I was disappointed – since anything new to read is great.
However the general quality of the articles and the knowledge levels of the authors was disappointing.
The Kit article was disgusting – I’m really tempted to start writing for magaiznes. Written by a pogue and it came off as something I would have started at by “this one time at band camp”. The pic of Ben and Travis with the two Aussie SASR’s and Navy guy had nada to do with the entire article – other than try to go for cool by association. Unfilled pouches and asshat loadout methods – not to mention the stupity of some of the other stuff – I’ve ranted on someother forums about loadcarrying and gear choice, all with the caveat that its based on my experiences and certain absolutes (you still need to be able to fight from the prone - cuz sometimes its a good idea to hide)
Not trying to diminish the authors service – but there is something called staying in your lane – and he took an on ramp to a road that he was not qualified to drive.
LAV-- he ended the article, and I was like WTF, where is the rest.
FN FAL article – lol please, its dead lets soldier on.
“Tactical” Lighting article – woefully underdone.
I disagree with Zak Smith on the 1 and 3 pt slings (I despise 3pt’s and think anyone running one is a fool) – but at least the article was well done and many of Jeff’s toys too…
The articles on bug out gear and lighting were weak at beast PAt is a great shooter and good gunsmith but…
the Lav article was ok abrupt.left me going ahhhh ok more.
the Zak’s article on wind was on spot, the sling article well… sorry i still find use for single points in some area’s (no big deal its all choice) I run singles and vickers and BFG on my rav’s
the sapper plates thing enough said… biggest waste of money to date next to a fobus holster i all ready emailed them and told them how unhappy i was
I have the same issue and the article written by the above author made me chuckle. Sure he’s a LAPD detective and Civil Affairs dude but that guy is way too clean in the photos to be doing anything worth while.
I’m no fan of the “kick 'em while they’re down” approach, but I have to agree.
Over and over I kept thinking “whoa … I wish this guy had realized how far overreaching his article was going to come across.” I was actually embarrassed for him – and GA’s editors – by the time I reached the end of the article. Perhaps the text would have stood a better chance of being taken seriously had it not been for the “here the author wears his combat-tested Fruit-Of-The-Loom underwear” photo expose. That certainly didn’t do much to help.
Our Civil Affairs (CA) troopers do a fine job, but sometimes I think folks get a bit confused about their status under the special operations umbrella, and start thinking of CA assets as some kind of para-commando force. That’s just not so, and more than a decade of soldiering at Bragg has presuaded me that CA troopers compare more favorably with service and support troops than with combat arms “meat eaters.” They often have an interesting and diverse mission, but let’s reserve our collective awe for the real killers out there. Unfortunately, MSG Kolesar just didn’t come across very convincingly as one of them.
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