Professor Prepper ®

UKW Survivor Knife: Utah Knife Works’ update of the infamous Tracker Blade

2020-01-22T07:19:00.000-08:00

Origin stories are always interesting. Whether the first life on earth, or the beginnings of a Super Hero, the origin story starts the character arc. In the case of a knife, for some, the origin story can be as important as the actual blade. The Bowie Knife, for instance, or the Puukko. Some like the Fairbairn-Sykes might not carry household name recognition, but anyone in the knife-know would quickly say, “Oh yes, I know that knife.”

There’s another knife popularly known as the “Tracker.” It’s a unique shape, or rather combination of shapes that are baked into a single blade design. While the knife has a documented history that dates back to the 1980s, the uniqueness of the overall knife silhouette really hit the big screen, the actual real big screen in the 2003 movie “The Hunted” starring Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Toro. Although the knife in the movie was promoted as a combat blade, the actual Tracker was a dedicated survival knife.

Through documentation and primary sources, the initial design of what will become the famous Tracker Knife, or more specifically, the Tom Brown Tracker, had its roots with Robb Russon whose son Mark runs Utah Knife Works and produces a Tracker variation named the Survivor. The story about Russon and Brown would make a fine Hollywood movie on its own. Here's some backstory from Mark Russon himself:

By any measure, the Survivor Knife is a beefy blade. Built of 9CR18MoV stainless steel, and almost a quarter-inch thick, the starting slab of steel of the Survivor is plenty for anything hand-operated. Six main features of the Survivor knife jump out on first view. Forward of the handle is a flat knife blade followed by a strong curved front end, The point of the spine has aggressive and offset saw teeth, and behind that is a cutting hook that doubles as both a seatbelt cutter and sharp gut hook. Rounding out the features is a distinct flat hammer face protruding from the back end of the handle.

The famous profile of the knife shape is mainly the transition from a somewhat inset flat blade to a separate curved blade profile with saw teeth of some sort gracing the front end. In the case of this Survivor Knife, the presentation is about a foot long, and in a bright stainless with black glass-reinforced canoe-shaped nylon scales each fixed in place with three bolts.

Other versions of the Tracker knife use high carbon steel, powder coated blades, and various scale choices. There are even larger and smaller versions being sold. What they all have in common besides an ancestor from Utah is an obvious shape; the shape of the Tracker.

In the field, the Utah Knife Works Survivor produces results. The first thing you would notice when hefting this blade is the heft. It’s substantial at a full pound. The six-inch blade doesn’t get any thinner until the final half inch of tip. And care needs to be taken given the top of the blade also cuts both with saw and hook.

The initial two-and-a-half inches of straight blade just forward of the grip is steeper flat grind with its six covered by a solid thump ramp with melted jimping. The flat blade works as draw knife and batoning face as well as a traditional cutting blade. And when batoning, care is needed because you don’t want to strike the saw teeth. Instead, you can go easy and aim just in front of the teeth where a small tip platform is open space, or you can strike to the rear of the gut hook on a sloping plain of steel directly above the straight blade. Of course you will quickly exceed the girth of the blade but at that point I’ve found I can often twist the knife handle counter-clockwise (right handed) further splitting the workpiece.

There’s a hard stop to the blade before it transitions into the frontend curved blade. There’s no drop on the point, and given the forthcoming safety hook as one follows the blade edge up and around, the tip of the Utah Knife Works Survivor is more of an upswept ending easily inline with the top of the grip or maybe a touch above it.

Cutting surfaces on the Utah Knife Works Survivor do their job without complaint. When making feather sticks, the straight blade works wonders. And as a batoning section, it works well up to its full length. Given that it is a portion of the overall blade length, you can use its entire dimension to baton branches and section larger wood.

As a chopper, the Utah Knife Works Survivor performs, but not at hatchet-level. The weight-forward blade has the mass and edge to hack wood, but being at the end of the blade, it also curves up rapidly leaving only an inch or two of chopping surface. Chopping with the straight portion of the blade sacrifices much of the moving mass.

The cross-cut saw teeth address the first two inches back from the point, and they are aggressive. Making more of a grinder than a saw, the teeth are exceptional at carving notches, short-throw sawing, and producing more sparks off a fire rod than you can imagine. Trying to saw a branch with the teeth is questionable. The short throw of the saw means you have to use it more as an oscillating tool.

The cutting hook is the most factory-sharp surface on the knife. Second is the straight edge, and the third is the curved edge. The cutting hook can be used for domestic survival chores including cord and strap cutting along with linear slicing. On the homestead, the hook will quickly delimb small branches with efficiency, and provide a precision carving surface for making pointed sticks. As a gut hook it is more of a gut cutter that works great for initial skinning, and, well, gut cutting.

The black leather sheath is a single-stitched, two snap, belt loop design. The unique shape of the Utah Knife Works Survivor all but demands an unconventional sheath design. It works well. A nice touch in the future that would also accent the “Survivor” nature of this blade would be to sew a firesteel loop onto the sheath.

Another one of the appealing features of the Utah Knife Works Survivor Knife is its price. Retailing for $150, the knife is a strong contender for a bug out, planned or otherwise.

Our Podcast. Listen or die.

2019-11-25T16:22:00.001-08:00

We are podcasting as well. So join Professor Prepper, aka Doc Montana, through the wonderful medium of the spoken voice. Enjoy!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/survival-cache-podcast/id1450318606

Solo Stove Lite: The Ultimate Bug Out Wood Burner

2019-10-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

The Solo Stove design is a stainless steel can-shaped wood-burning container of numerous sizes from easy carry for backpacking, to a monster that needs two people to lift it. For this review, we will take a look at the Solo Stove Lite, the smallest of the Solo Stove offerings. Part 2 will address a larger Solo Stove stove, and a campfire-sized Solo Stove.

The Solo Stove Lite is a beautifully engineered and executed stainless steel wood stove not much bigger than a can of beans. But what does raise eyebrows is the price; about $70. And even more surprising than the price is that those who use it absolutely love it! So much so that the price drifts into the ether becoming a non-issue after only a few uses.

The Solo Stove is a dynamic option for those comfortable with placing their cooking needs in the hands of wood. And I am one who does. The Solo Stove is a trifecta of physics, engineering, and materials. On the physics side, the flow of oxygen to the Solo Stove’s main fire chamber follows a dual route “from the bottom to the top,” to quote the Talking Heads. As air enters the base of the Solo Stove through external holes lining the lower parameter, it carries ambient oxygen to the lower vent, and also to upper openings in the main chamber. The oxygen level in air is far above the O2-starved fires inside the stove. So much so that it appears as if flames are flowing out of the upper parameter holes into the main flow of flame. It truly is both inspiring and mesmerizing. You’ve got to see it to believe it.

Air begins its journey under the main fire due to a wire grate that delineates the base of the burn chamber from a sub-chamber that doubles as an ash trap. As the combustion gasses ascent to the upper levels of the stove, they are heated before pouring into the chamber through the holes lining the upper reaches of the inside of the inner wall. The hot air offer an abundance of oxygen causing a gasification effect that takes the tradition campfire wood heating to amazing levels.

An additional benefit from the dual airflow system is that there is extremely little smoke from the stove when burning efficiently. Like none. Of course there is plenty of smoke on both ends of the time you use the stove, but a large part in the middle burn time when cooking and campfireing are done has no noticeable smoke. There is still plenty of wood fire smell, however. One time from a bit of a distance, I thought my stove was pouring out the smoke only to realize as I neared that it was spraying steam like a train whistle out of a snug fit pot lid. And no smoke.

When burning wood, you don’t have to be diligent about the stove’s operation. You can add some wood and walk away. If it burns down, you add more. If your water boils, then good and it will just boil longer. But the Solo Stove completely removes the worry about conserving fuel. And once you get into the Solo Stove mindset, you see fuel everywhere and in abundance.

The Solo Stove Lite is a wood stove on the smaller side that punches well above its weight class. The Solo Stove is made of 320 stainless steel which just means that its made of the most common stainless steel. But stainless steel nonetheless. The welds between the two “cans” are impeccable, and a thing of beauty. A mesh grate of nichrome wires cross-crosses the inside bottom providing a limited but ample supply of air to keep the coals humming along while allowing gravity to remove the spent wood. Sometimes a minor shake of the burning stove tidies up the fire by cleaning out the carbon from the fire.

There are two pieces to the Solo Stove, a main dual container consisting of the two layers of steel, the ash basin, and plenty of holes above and below main chamber. The other piece is a ring of steel with a lip that can either dip into the main can for storage or fly above it as a pot support and doorway for adding more fuel to the combustion chamber.

The riser is essential for cooking over the stove. Without it, a pot or pan would sit flush on the Solo Stove blocking the flow of hot gasses. But there is no need for the riser if just using the Solo Stove as a campfire pit. The riser can easily be added or subtracted from the system with a fire blazing. In fact, it is much easier to get the stove started without the riser.

I’m not sure if it's right or not, but I’ve extinguished my Solo Stove Lite simply by dumping water on it. The water does run out the bottom holes carrying with it plenty of smaller pieces of wood and charcoal. The stove, when dry then clanks like a baby rattle until you dig out all the pieces of detritus rolling around in between the stainless walls.

Being a wood stove, the Solo Stove Lite will get dirty. And depending on how loose you are with the wood input, your pot might just have a black bottom, or the entire pot will become jet black and sticky with creosote. I’m happy to report that the Solo Stove made it through the normal cycle in my dishwasher. I can see the potential for rust however as stainless means less stains, not rustless. But it was nothing more that what I noticed after using the Solo Stove Lite for a few rainy days on a backpacking trip.

In use, I had a boiling quart of water in 10 minutes plus or minus. Usually plus. I used a commercial fire tinder to fire up the stove quickly, but you can use traditional tinder and firesticks to launch this rocket. Some of the benefits include no real concerns for fuel. The only time I ran into a fuel shortage was when I was over 11,000 feet in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana and there was literally no dry cellulose around large enough to burn. I did try to burn mountain goat dung in the Solo Stove Lite, but just couldn’t keep the flame long enough to boil water. Yak dung maybe? Just fresh out of yaks around here.

Even at 10k feet I located plenty of material primarily in two locations. The first was in natural microstream channels where the rain piled up small sticks at congested areas between rocks and narrow water pathways. The second was where small animals had made a home using locally sourced building materials. And in one case, where I knew I was headed to a high spot, I just grabbed a few inch-to-inch-and-a-half thick branches, stripped and resized them, and slid them into my compression straps on by backpack. When arriving at camp, I just processed the branches into Solo Stove-sized fuel. I got about two quarts of boiling water out of each three-foot branch.

I have a 900 milliliter titanium pot and small fire making kit I carry with my Solo Stove Lite. The pot is made by Snow Peak and I use an MSR titanium lid from another cooking kit to cover the pot. My fire kit includes a Bic lighter or two, some matches, a firesteel, some commercial tinder/fire starter, and a tiny saw that I considered a joke until now. The Solo Stove Lite fits neatly inside the pot, and the whole kit fits into a mesh stuff sack with is important to reduce the sharing of black carbon with the rest of your gear.

I am so enamored with my Solo Stove Lite, that it has moved into my primary camp stove position. And I have a dozen or so other stove choices. During a bug out, any liquid or compressed gas stove has a short life. However, should you want to run a liquid fuel in your Solo Stove Lite, there is an optional alcohol can with adjustable lid available for burning fluids. So if you can get over the price, the Solo Stove Lite is an exceptionally useful, efficient, and potentially life saving tool for fun and survival. I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending the Solo Stove Lite.

The Benchmade 200 Puukko knife review

2019-09-23T19:42:00.001-07:00

Whether Buck, Bolo, or Bowie...Kukri, Kris or Katana, iconic knives are alive and well. Even as the world seems to spin faster by the day, age old knife designs still have a rock solid grip in our hands. The centuries of knife use has honed blades and handles into a near-perfect blend of design features to maximize its symbiotic relationship with humans.

As one moves from the poles towards the equator, the food gets spicier and the blades get bigger. At least that’s what it seems like. So the most recognizable Scandanavian blade, forged far from the equator, is the humble Puukko, a knife with a blade that barely crosses a man’s palm. But oddly, given the near featureless design of the Puukko, knife aficionados and blade historians alike find ample content to argue over and plenty of ammunition from all kinds of sources. So when Benchmade jumped into the Puukko, two things would happen. First, Benchmade would make a very fine knife, and second, it would cause esoteric arguments about the undefined nuances of the Puukko concept. The camping knife lineup at BladeHQ’s website highlights the diversity of knives in that category. From the Otzi neck knife that will make you smile, to the El Chappo cleaver that will make you cringe, the immense number of choices will make you applaud the simplicity and tradition of the Benchmade Puukko 200.

When I see a Puukko in the wild, I generally assume the best about the user. And the opposite when a Bowie is unsheathed to gut a deer. Puukko knives just ooze utilitarian efficiency, design minimalism and general confidence by the user. Which is exactly why it’s so hard to get excited about the Puukko. Kind of like the thrill driving on new tires. The truck owner is thrilled, but the rest of us are underwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of mundane utility.

Is that a Knife in your Genes?

That said, Puukko knives are primitively attractive. Deep down in human DNA shared through a thousand years of breeding has planted the seeds of the Puukko into our knife desires regardless of how bland and uneventful the design. Of course that means the Puukko has to try extra hard to capture our attention in the knife store. With no flashy pommel, bolster, guard or inlays, the humble Puukko is little more than a handle with a blade. Or perhaps a blade with a handle.

Benchmade jumped into the Puukko last year which is surprising either way you look at it begging the question, “Why?” And that would be “why so late to the Puukko party?” Or “why bother at all” given the saturated Puukko market? My guess is that the Benchmade’s answer is somewhere between this being the 21st century and there is room for Puukko improvement. And Benchmade makes knives and the Puukko is a knife. No matter the reason, the Benchmade 200 Puukko is here, and I for one am very glad it is.

Diverting from the ancient and traditional, the Benchmade 200 Puukko employs a thermoplastic elastomer handle rather than the usual birchwood. And a blade steel of semi-stainless 3V is a departure from traditional high carbon steels. The subtle differences in edge profile and grind are more a matter of splitting opinions rather than splitting hairs.

The grind is not the traditional scandi, but a slightly more complex high flat grind with secondary bevel. The scandi grind is a simple machine that is easy to sharpen. But while the purists will sing the praises of the scandi, most blades that started as true scandi grinds slowly deviate to a more convex bevel as variations in human motion while sharpening gradually rounds the metal. Either way, the real question is does it cut?

On the handle side of things, Benchmade used a Santoprene material that is extremely common in many other industries for many other purposes, but not that common in knife making. Frankly, reading the rich resume of Santoprene, it sure should be on more knives. The handle color that Benchmade calls Ranger Green, is a nice flat dark earth variant that I fell in love with on my Benchmade Bugout knife.

How Much Longer?

Overall, the Benchmade 200 Puukko is eight and a quarter inches long with just under half that in a drop point blade. It’s a full enclosed tang design with usable lanyard hole at the rear. The 0.14 inch thick blade is plenty of girth for anything this knife can do. Of course that’s circular logic, but in reality the size and design of this knife is an example of truly balanced engineering, with nothing missing and nothing extraneous. Anything you should do with this knife, you can do with this knife.

The grip swells in two dimensions around the center of the palm giving a positive handhold shape on an already grippy grip. While not totally enough comfort to comfort those wanting some sort of physical guard between blade and handle, its well within specs of the Puukko. Thrusting, stabbing and fast poking are not what the Puukko is for so do so at your own risk. The Puukko is a utility knife that excels at cutting, carving, slicing, drilling, and other blade chores on the lower end of gross hand movements. Keep looking if you want a knife for fighting, prying, hacking, chopping or stabbing. In other words, the Puukko is exactly what you need for what you will be doing but not maybe the best single choice for wandering the dusty, sun-drenched post-apocalyptic hellscape of the future. But should you find yourself in need to stab with the Puukko, just roll your palm around to cover the butt of the handle that that should keep your hand from sliding onto the business side of the knife.

Steel This Knife

The choice of CPM-3V steel is interesting. On the Benchmade website, I get exactly four types of knives they produce that use the 3V steel. And oddly, there is very little in common among them, from a knife standpoint anyway. They include the Boost, the Bailout, the Outlast, and the Puukko with the Puukko as the only fixed blade in which Benchmade uses 3V steel. On the BladeHQ website, over 475 knife and tool choices are listed that use 3V steel with nearly 150 of them in stock and ready to ship.

So what is 3V? In yesterday’s world it would be a full fledged member of the supersteel family, but today it’s more of a entry-level superish steel. Oddly, human civilization is often categorized into time eras named for the material used in cutting tools. Stone, copper, bronze, iron, and… now what? Steel? Supersteel? Super-duper steel? Basically we are splitting steel hairs over a few years compared to the absolutely massive leaps in cutting material technology over many centuries. So the differences we perceive between blade steels today are miniscule compared to those other civilizations experienced. All that said, the 3V choice made by Benchmade was a very good one. While not quite tradition of an original Puukko, it is a worthy choice for a Puukko knife that will likely still be used in the 22nd century.

CPM-3V steel, as a near-stainless steel has some stainless characteristics, but not enough to ignore care and feeding. The knife strengths of CPM-3V steel include toughness and edge retention. Where 3V scores average in with ease of sharpening and corrosion resistance. Not a bad choice set when your lowest score is average and your best is perfect. Beyond its high grind, the point of the drop point (not the purpose but the actual point) makes a quick taper to its end allowing for a maximum retention of strength through thickness until the blade absolutely has to end. And that end is a very usable Puukko-quality tip that’s great for drilling, poking, tip slicing, and minor prying.

Hold Me Tight

The sheath Benchmade includes with the Puukko 200 is actually much better than I expected. Benchmade has a mixed reputation on sheaths. I’ve had every one of Benchmade’s dive knives and exactly zero have good sheaths, with a couple downright dangerous disasters. The Puukko’s sheath is a single-stitched black leather slip-on with a firesteel loop. The standard belt loop is integrated, and an additional leather strap is included to make the sheath dangle for added comfort when sitting. Since the dangler loop is secured by a single snap, I chose to use the dangler strap with the snap wedged between belt and pants to give some added protection against loss.

For reference, the Puukko’s sheath is a modified dangler. A pure dangler has dangling as it’s only carry option, while other sheaths have an included D-ring for an optional dangler strap. The difference actually may have more to do with the position of the knife in the sheath than the sheath attachment. The Benchmade Bushcrafter has a dangler option, but sits very high in the sheath causing extraction issues when dangling. A proper dangling sheath like that of the Fallkniven Jarl addresses much of the knife including the handle usually requiring a two-fingered pommel grip to slide the knife free enough to wrap a few more fingers around it. The Puukko falls much closer to a pure dangler thus committing more to it’s Puukko roots.

A plastic insert inside the sheath adds protection to the sheath from the Puukko’s blade, as well as a smooth hang-free insertion. The friction fit of the sheath snuggs up around the palm swell. Depending on your carry scenario, the sheath-grab may not be enough for your needs. In that case you can easily spend more money than the buck-and-a quarterish that the Puukko costs on a new fancy-smancy custom bushcraft sheath, or you can add some retention to the included sheath by either a O-ring addition to the belt loop, a horizontal strap to belt loop or dangler loop, or use the lanyard hole on the Puukko’s handle to string an additional rope or bungee cord. On mine, I tied in a short knotted lanyard that assists in retraction from the sheath. It works thus far, but I can see a length or loop adjustment in the future. Not sure which way just yet.

Part of a Balanced Diet

Using the Benchmade Puukko 200 is a treat. The balance point is slightly handle-heavy where the knife will titer at about one inch back into the grip. This keeps the knife leaning into your hand which makes a solid footing for all the necessary tasks the Puukko excels at. The spine of the Puukko 200 is flat, as it should be, for additional thumb and palm pressure as needed. However, traditionalists might find the edges of the spine a fraction too rounded to efficiently scrape a firerod. The Benchmade Puukko 200 will throw sparks in its current configuration, but not with the ease of its sharp-spined brethren. A light spine grinding to sharpen the corners are fine if that floats your boat. However, the cutting edge throws sparks as well as anything, and pushing on the spine will likely happen much more often than the need to scrape a firerod. Err on the side of most-use.

Probably the most surprising aspect of the Benchmade Puukko 200 is its price. BladeHQ advertises the Puukko 200 for only $127.50 with free shipping which is about the price of a Griptilian, often described as the affordable entry into the Benchmade lineup. The Puukko is an excellent example of how we can look to the past for help with survival in the future.

Magpul M-LOK Rail Covers: Tactical Lego Fun and Function

2019-08-04T16:12:00.004-07:00

As much as I like to be practical with my tactical, there is some room for fun, especially when color options are a required choice. And nothing comes closer to tactical color fun than playing with Magpul’s M-LOK Rail Covers.

Magpul M-LOK Rail Covers, type 2 to be specific, are textured polymer squares that snap into M-LOK holes on most aluminium M-LOK handguard rails. There are limitations in that the Magpul M-LOK Rail Covers do not fit properly with Magpul MOE M-LOK, nor the Magpul SL and SGA foregrips. The Magpul M-LOK Rail Covers lock into place with a second rectangular plug that provides a near seamless surface of contoured textured grip surface. And I've found that just a bit of grinding on the center section pillar can make the rail cover fit where a gas block limits the clearance.

The Magpul M-LOK Rail Covers sit barely over 1/8th inch above the rail, and use a snag-free design that covers the rail considerably more than most other options. At about two bucks a rail section, adding some custom color to your AR has never been as affordable or functional.

Technically, Magpul makes five different colors including black, flat dark earth, grey, olive drab green, and pink. Since each piece is actually two pieces, and an average handguard can take five covers in a row, that’s five times five times five or 125 different rail combinations possible. Thus the Lego comparison. For my “needs” i avoided the pink and focused on the remaining four colors which left me four times four times five or 80 different possible combinations. And with three rail sides to cover, that would expand the available rail cover color combinations across my rifle to 240.

With all those choices, I first needed to add some system to my thinking. By laying out the and inserts, I could organize my choices into visible comparisons. Some additional factors I considered included contrast, other colors already present on the AR, and my love of certain tactical colors.

After a solid half-hour of mixing and matching, I decided on a set of rail cover colors. Moving from the staging area to the rifle, I quickly realized I needed some specialized tools to rapidly remove the rail covers to avoid settling for a color combination out of laziness. I found that a Snap On angled pic and a Snap On nylon smoothing pry bar worked wonders for rapidly removing the rail covers with no risk of scuffing to cover or handguard.

Of course, being Magpul, the design of the M-LOK Rail Covers allows easy adjustment with nothing more than the tip of a 5.56mm bullet. .223 rounds work just as well, but when safely home, the Snap On tools work better, in my humble opinion.

My Magpul M-LOK Rail Covers playhouse for most of this review was a Noveske AR15 with a Noveske M-LOK handguard filled with M-LOK holes in need of M-LOK rail covers.

The Magpul M-LOK Rail Covers come in packages of six for a total weight per six of under one ounce. So covering three M-LOK rail sections with five panels each will only add 2.3 ounces to your rifle, yet customize it in a breathtaking way that’s sure to both make you smile and make your gun nearly invisible through custom camouflage. Nearly.

I mixed and matched variations and thought about the pros and cons of that particular color scheme. After an hour of trial and error, mostly trial, I settled on a couple designs. From there I took the combination into the wild to see how it fared. Frankly, it seems like pretty much any combination of the Magpul’s M-LOK Rail Covers is a win-win.

Like Legos, it’s fun to play around with different color combinations, and Magpul, whether intended or not, provided an effective rail cover solution that goes so far beyond traditional rail covers that you might just rethink your handguard in order to use the Magpul M-LOK Rail Covers.

The Magpul M-LOK Tripod Adaptor: Essential Hardware for Serious Shooters

2019-08-02T15:08:00.002-07:00

If only the speed and dexterity of camera tripods could extend to rifle stability. Ahh, but there is a saddle-like apparatus that snipers have been using for years. But the three drawbacks of the saddles include price (good ones exceed $300), weight (good ones hover round one pound), and the saddles completely consume the tripod head thus preventing it from quick use with other attachments including spotting scopes, cameras, rangefinders, and the like. Enter the Magpul Magpul M-LOK Tripod Adaptor, a tremendous solution that solved all three problems in a one ounce $50 plate that seamlessly integrates the rifle into a stable support platform that is common across photography, and it follows the massive number of photo-oriented stability options.

Stable shooting platforms are not rare. From sticks and sandbags, to fence posts and pickup truck hoods, standard rifles smoothly slide around providing the shooter an optimum position. Then came the popular bench rests like the Caldwell Lead Sled. Now I love my Lead Sled for traditional rifle stocks, but the AR15 with its plethora of handguard configurations and accessories, tactical stocks, and especially the magwell filled with a stick up to a foot long. Further the stock-to-handguard alignment of an AR platform rifle tends to make it sit quite high in traditional rests. But what if you could just snap your AR into a tripod with the ease and security of a DSLR with large telephoto lens? Obviously you can since that is the point of this article. Enter the Magpul M-LOK Tripod Adaptor.

Bolting onto the underbelly of your handguard, the Magpul M-LOK Tripod Adaptor is barely apparent until it’s needed. In fact it makes are reasonable good handhold upgrade although not as efficient as Magpul’s own AFG.

The CNC machined aluminum plate is designed to integrate with the popular Manfrotto RC2 and Q2 interfaces. The small footprint of the plate provides ample strength to the system. With the average balance point of a typical AR15 somewhere around the magwell, the Magpul M-LOK Tripod Adaptor, mounted just forward of the magwell, safely and secures an AR platform rifle easily up to and over 10 pounds, in my estimation anyway. And that’s based on a quality tripod with an equally quality tripod head.

And speaking of tripod heads, a popular choice for the Magpul M-LOK Tripod Adaptor is a ball head tripod head, in specific one of Manfrotto’s heavy duty choices. A quality ball head allows both freedom of movement and adjustable drag giving a fluid (but not literally fluid as with fluid-head video tripod heads) motion.

One of the amazing aspects of using a Magpul M-LOK Tripod Adaptor and tripod support is the extreme diversity of shooting positions, heights, and angles. Basically, any direction a camera on a tripod can point at, an AR15 or AR10 can as well.

Depending on the particular tripod, from ground level to seven feet plus is possible, and pretty much any angle that allows the rifle to remain balance is possible as well. Many quality (and I mean quality) tripods have legs that can spread far beyond the usual 66 degrees or so. And speaking of tripod legs, I fully recommend metal or carbon fiber over anything plastic. And of the metal, I suggest round aluminum over rectangular or channeled aluminum. Of course you can use whatever you like, but it will be a rude awakening when you start popping off shots only to have your lightweight tripod collapse, twist or bend.

For those with more extensive needs, Magpul makes solutions for a popular railed tripod mount that not only mates with more advanced tripod heads, but slides back and forth for additional balance preferences. Magpul’s Dovetail Adaptor chassis rail for RSS and ARCA tripod head interfaces is the next step for those with greater stability needs. If the future for rifle tripod adaptors looks bright, Magpul just makes it blindingly bright.

The Benchmade Bugout Knife

2019-02-04T16:11:00.002-08:00

Benchmade makes plenty of great bugout-worthy knives, but for Benchmade to actually name one of their blades the “Bugout” must mean something more. I had heard of the bugout Axis folding knife before I ever held one, which was precisely five minutes before I bought one. And as an FYI, Benchmade writes bugout as one word rather than two words, so I will follow their naming convention.

The Benchmade bugout Axis Folding Knife, known in Benchmade circles as the 535, is much lighter than what I thought Benchmade would call a bugout knife. I was thinking something more along the lines of the Benchmande Adamas folding knife . But I guess they already have that. And so do I. The Adamas is a tank of a knife. A buttery smooth tank, but still one nonetheless. So during my initial testing of the Benchmade Bugout, I also packed along the Benchmade Adamas for reference.

The Adamas is in a completely different class than the Bugout. As a folder, the Adamas wanders deeply into the territory and performance of a stout fixed blade knife. The Bugout, however, has very little in common with its fixed blade cousins. Things the Bugout does have in common with include air, invisibility, stealth, and svelte.

The Benchmade Bugout Axis Folding Knife is a very light knife. It is slim in its design and minimized where possible. And also maximize where possible. The 3.24 inch blade, which is the true guts of the knife, is forged from the supersteel known as S30V. The supersteels used today are different from the blade steels of the past in that they were specially formulated specifically for knife blades of various duties. They are not repurposed tool steels, or ball bearing steels, or spring steels pounded from old truck leaf springs. In a nutshell, the Benchmade Bugout Axis Folding Knife, like many Benchmade cutting tools, is handsome, elegant, tough as nails, and state-of-the-art. But does it live up to the name “Bugout?”

Well, I guess that depends on what “Bugout” means to you. My initial thought before handling one was that the bugout folding knife would be a stout piece of hardware that could stand up to excessive abuse so much so that you could tow a car with the blade or chop your way out of a burning 747. Instead, Benchmade seems to have taken a different philosophy on the term bugout, and one I now agree with. The Benchmade Bugout Axis Folding Knife is exceptionally light. And that is compared to aggressively light blades they produce advertised and marketed as light. At under two ounces, the Benchmade Bugout Axis Folding Knife shocks the first-time holder. It’s weightlessness is startling to the point of causing bugout confusion. The Benchmade Bugout Axis Folding Knife begs the questions, “How can a bugout knife be so light and why?”

The answer is found in both the philosophy and the engineering of the Benchmade Bugout Axis Folding Knife. First of all, there is absolutely no compromise with the blade. And that is essential given that anything labeled bugout must double team as a last blade as well. Benchmade cut massive weight in the Benchmade Bugout Knife by using internally milled-out scales, and a ⅓ length steel liners. Topping it off is a shortened and hollowed steel pocket clip.

Just how non-massive is the Benchmade Bugout Knife? It tips the scales at under two ounces. Only 1.85 ounces according to Benchmade’s website, and according to my digital scale, 1.86 ounces. That difference could easily be pocket lint from my daily carry. Compare that to the 3.88 ounces of the full-sized Benchmade Griptilian or even the 2.8 ounces of the Mini Griptilian.

The reason I mention bugout philosophy with the Benchmade Bugout Knife is that I always assumed a bit of pre-planning would be possible when it comes to bugging out. That would afford me and you the time to choose a major knife ready for whatever bugout action the particular scenario calls for. So an ultralight nearly invisible pocket carry blade was not on my menu. At least at first.

Having put the Benchmade Bugout Knife through my daily domestic and outdoor chores for a couple months now, I am actually thrilled with the Benchmade Bugout Knife. Seriously. As long as one considers what it takes to make this ultralight bugout knife and exercises a bit of restraint with non-cutting tasks especially prying, chopping and twisting, the Benchmade Bugout Knife will slice and dice well above its weight class. And due to its weight and svelte, the Benchmade Bugout Knife will be with me always.

The Benchmade Bugout blade came razor-sharp from the factory. The version I’m working with has a smoked gray, chromium nitride coated S30V blade with a wonderful eve- so-slightly textured feel. The thinness of the Bugout blade works very well with the grind Benchmade chose for the Bugout. It’s a classic drop point blade with flat grind, well slightly more of a high flat grind to be specific, with a mild unsharpened swedge on the tip.

Thumb studs grace both sides of the blade, and the obvious Axis Lock lever also offers an opening option by a retraction and wrist flip. Because of the light weight of the blade, there is little mass to put into motion so it might take a few dozen openings to get the Bugout properly seasoned for wrist-flip Axis opening. But when it does, its plenty good.

The handles are more handles than scales since scales usually screw onto metal liners, but with minimal liners the scales are the handles. Either way, the Benchmade “Grivory” material is a polyamide thermoplastic synthetic resin in the nylon family. It has great heat tolerance, durability, strength, electrical neutrality, and tremendous chemical resistance. Plus with the right texture, it’s darn grippy. And the Benchmade Bugout Knife has the right texture.

Rounding out the aft end of the Benchmade Bugout Knife is a generous lanyard hole. Triangular in shape, it is both functional and weight saving. The knife is just under seven and a half inches open, and just under four and a quarter closed.

Due to the light weight and minimalism of the Benchmade Bugout Knife, aggressively scratching a firesteel, especially a big one like I carry, is better served by leaving the blade inside its shell. Keep the knife closed and strike the spine of the blade down the length of the firesteel. By keeping the blade closed, any blade-bending lateral force is held within the pocket limits of the scales. The pivot point up front is a solid anchor, and the tip of the knife will push up against the inside edge of the Grivory handle forming a solid scraper. Frankly, the blade-closed striking is a great idea for all folding knives.

There are two main versions of the Benchmade Bugout Knife, one with a shiny uncoated stainless blade and sky blue scales retailing for $140 (#535), and for $20 more, one with a fully-coated in chromium nitride dark grey blade and Grivory scales colored somewhere between flat dark earth and olive green; a color Benchmade calls “ranger green” (#535GRY-1). Adding a finer blade choice, there is the option for a partially serrated blade in addition to the classic continuous edge. And for those well-heeled but still bugout curious, there a $750 Gold Class version of the Benchmade Bugout Knife (#535-191) complete with “Munin pattern Damasteel and ghost carbon fiber handles are coupled with smoked gray physical vapor deposition (PVD) coated liners…” Not sure if I should drink it, smoke it, or eat it? Needless to say, I won’t be reviewing that particular Bugout Knife anytime soon. Or possibly I will since I did review a Rolex Deepsea watch.

Back to reality, the Benchmade Bugout Knife uses the famous Benchmade Axis locking system. A horizontal bar moves back and forth with a thumb stud to allow the blade to either swing freely or lock solidly in the open position. Many Benchmade knives allow blade deployment by simply flicking the wrist with the Axis stud retracted, usually with both thumb and index finger at the same time for grip security. My Benchmade Bugout Knife, however, seems a little stiff to do the wrist-flick-thing. I could loosen up the main pivot bolt, but have chosen not to because the minimal hardware inside the knife is better served by a snug fit than a fast deployment. Further, the 0.09” thickness of the blade (not too thin, certainly not too thick), is fairly low in mass so the flick needs to be precise or aggressive with a clean snapping stop. So as mentioned above, get used to the thumb studs on this one as well.

The concept of an actual bugout is one based upon assumptions and predictions. And with the sharp blade being at or next to the most important single bugout tool, essentially the tool that makes the other tools, then the knife must be of sufficient standard to move seamlessly between and across bugout scenarios. A solid build, a fine steel, a flawless edge, and a rock solid reputation for quality simply gets a knife through the door for an interview. From there it is up to the user and his/her skill to make the final decision. So at the risk of a pun, I am confident the Benchmade Bugout Knife will make the cut.

So whether or not the Benchmade Bugout Knife is a true bugout knife depends on your interpretation of a bugout knife. This is Benchmade’s offering, and while I was surprised initially, I now have a complete appreciation for the feature set of this knife, and consider it essential bugout kit...along with some other bigger Benchmades of course.

The Magpul BEV Block AR Tool: Essential AR Kit

2019-01-02T20:51:00.002-08:00

The Magpul BEV Block is the second in Magpul’s two-deep lineup of armorer’s tools. The other tool, Magpul’s Armorer’s Wrench, is an exceptionally well designed and executed tool that works equally well for the professional and the weekend armorer. At over 11 ounces, the roughly 4.5” x 2.25” x 1.25” block weighs twice what a basic Delrin plastic mag well vise block does.

BEV stands for Barrel Extension Vise and is specifically designed for use with the AR15/M4 platform rifles and AR pistols of the .223/5.56 variety due to mag well and bolt size. The multipurpose Magpul BEV Block can be used as a standard magazine well vise block, but its real advantage is as a upper receiver vise block. Regardless of which end is in the rifle, the other end must be secured into a bench vise for maximum stability.

The Magpul BEV Block has a unique other end. And on that other end are two unique other ends. The Magpul BEV Block mimics the AR bolt on one end by meshing perfectly with the barrel extension splines. Opposite the barrel is another mating point where a bolt carrier sans the bolt, cam pin, firing pin, and firing pin retaining pin. The bolt carrier is inserted like normal with the charging handle locking it in place.

The combined fore and aft security of the Magpul BEV Block with the base seated in a vice provided phenomenal upper receiver stability for serious work. But where the Magpul BEV Block really shines over more traditional clam-shell designs that grip the outside of a forged milspec upper receiver is that the Magpul BEV Block doesn't get anywhere near the top rail meaning any optics or other accessories can remain untouched. And reading between the above lines, billet and other custom upper receiver millings and forgings may keep the clam-shells from working at all.

For upper receiver work, the Magpul BEV Block locks into the forward takedown pin uses an o-ring to hold the BCG onto the BEV Block. Depending on the BCG, the fit can be quite tight and necessitate a bit of muscle to seat it. Although the block part of the Magpul BEV Block is polymer, the splines that lock into the barrel extension are solid steel as is the bolt post.

In use, the Magpul BEV Block as a lower receiver vice block rocks as well as any other I’ve used. The narrower profile of the upper receiver mating components keep them out of the vice jaws when inverted for lower receiver work. With an MSRP of $49.95 and a street price as low as forty bucks, the Magpul BEV Block sells for as much or not much more than a single function magwell vice block that works only for the lower receiver.

If you’re shy about pulling apart your BCG, the Magpul BEV Block may work fine with or without the added security of the bolt carrier. There will be more play and the upper receiver is tilted a bit, but as long as no receiver work pushes or pulls the barrel forward, the Magpul BEV Block with barrel-only seating works fine.

The Magpul BEV Block works great holding the upper receiver in one position, and the lower receiver either right side up or upside down. The upside down is for when you might be working on the grip and need to keep the safety selector detent and spring under the control of gravity. Or when playing around with the trigger guard. And of course, right side up allows full access to the lower receiver guts including trigger, safety, and buffer tube.

In practice the Magpul BEV Block is essential for many tasks including torquing the barrel nut, snugging the castle nut, and loosening and retighting muzzle devices. And it makes most other AR tool tasks easier and safer including trigger work, anything to do with the buffer tube, and installing or removing handguards whether free floating or delta ringed.

The debate about the AR 15 as a first choice survival or SHTF rifle is just as lively now as last year. Opinions often diverge when it comes to the number of moving parts, especially springs and fasteners, of the AR platform compared to traditional bolt action long guns. While spring numbers don’t lie, the fear of springs that many bolt lovers have may be rooted in a low comfort level with the clockwork of an AR 15.

It is hard to appreciate a design when the nuances of the mechanism can shoot springs across the room, or have detents slide out into oblivion when a receiver is rotated, or require more tools than a screwdriver. But for those of us who appreciate the AR15 and all its idiosyncrasies, the more we can tinker with our rifles, the better. So the value of a solid tool ike the Magpul BEV Block is amplified through repeated use. Good tools encourage quality work. Great tools encourage confidence and understanding. And the Magpul BEV Block is a great tool.

The Burley COHO XC Bug Out Bike Trailer

2018-12-27T15:46:00.000-08:00

A majority of SHTF scenarios hit a bottleneck with mobility. The bug-in crowd solves it by staying put. The bug out vehicle crowd will just drive over the huddled masses. And the lone wolves will run for the hills scoping nightscape through a rifle-mounted thermal imager. For the rest of us, we need realistic gear solutions that address actual needs, and have a proven track record of performance. And we also need authentic solutions to move our gear. The Burley COHO XC Bike Trailer is a serious piece of hardware what scores at the top of its class across all categories whether for recreation, lifestyle or TEOTWAWKI.

Bicycles are the most efficient form of mechanized transport and can easily carry a human and gear over a hundred miles in a single day powered by nothing but bananas. Rolling along a flat road at easily over five times faster than a normal walking pace, the bicycle excels as a bug out vehicle. Add some cargo to the rolling equation and the mobility options presented by a bike and trailer can easily rival any other bug out vehicle. With a suggested capacity of 70 pounds, the Burley COHO XC can quickly exceed the gear hucking of even a Recon Marine. And that’s while still maintaining that 12-15 mile per hour pace!

There is a strong overlap between backpacking and bugging out And there is a significant overlap between the bug out trailer and a popular outdoor activity called “bikepacking.” the difference between bikepacking and traditional bicycling touring is that bikepacking uses the bike to carry the load whether riding the bike or not. Preferably the former. Bikepacking is like touring as road tripping is like overlanding. There is just something so different about piling on the gear and heading out anywhere, especially off road. And moving your heavy gear to a trailer has many serious advantages including an overall lower center of gravity, the ability to carry large single gear pieces such as a backpack, the advantage of ditching off your gear in one quick motion like unsnapping and dropping your backpack, centralizing your gear to maintain the front end handling of your bike as it was designed, and especially increasing your overall gear-carry capacity.

The bike and trailer combination can move near silently on and off road, and stop on a dime, turn on a quarter, and quickly be disassembled for portage over rock, water, and obstacle. The entire system can disappear into a bush, be hidden in a lake, or buried under dirt and leaves. It requires no gas, no oil and no electricity, and will run to the point of failure without a single complaint. The only real drawback is that you are the engine so your health and fitness is what keeps the bike and trailer system alive.

The serious single-wheel bike trailer was popularized by an early adopter called the B.O.B. Trailer. It’s heavy metal frame, complex yoke attachment, and low ground clearance opened the door for innovation. Other companies joined the quest for the perfect single-wheel trailer including the original B.O.B company, but until the Burley COHO XC arrived on the scene, all bug out options were a compromise given just how good a single-wheel bug out bike trailer could be.

Some of the major accomplishments of the Burley COHO XC bike trailer include an adjustable width yoke that fits up to 29-inch tall wheels and three-inch wide tires. Although the Burley COHO XC bike trailer requires a dedicated axel, there are enough choices to fit most bikes, and the variable-width yoke keeps the COHO XC engaged in the bug out across almost all realistic bike frames.

The COHO XC uses a wonderfully simple hitch mechanism. At the edges of the replacement axle are two spherical knobs that seat into matching cups on the trailer’s yoke. The curved nature of the knobs allows a spring-loaded capture/release catch to lock the ball into the cup. In the center-top of the yoke’s handle is a lever that operates the catch mechanism.

Because the lever and handle are integrated, it is both easy and fast to release the COHO XC from the axel and move it where you want. Unlike other designs that requires individual-side axle release and small-part manipulation (and risk of part loss), the COHO XC truly is a fine piece of high-speed-low-drag bug out kit.

Furthering the low-drag theme is the essentially tool-free design of the COHO XC. The yoke is attached to the frame with a long quick-release skewer, and the oversized rear fender mounts into frame tubes and is secured with cotter pins. As expected, the single wheel is locked into the fork with a traditional axle quick release skewer.

The COHO XC consists of a metal frame with durable nylon fabric completing the basket. A rigid fender accepts additional panniers (saddlebags), and throughout the frame are attachment points pre-drilled, threaded, and spaced for water bottle cages or any other attachment of similar bolt spacing. Another feature of the frame is that the top rails are level meaning an odd or oversized shaped load can be strapped to the frame without it pointing towards the ground. With all the packing goodness of the COHO XC it will be easy to forget the recommended 70 pound carrying capacity.

A key element of the COHO XC is the integrated kickstand. The spring loaded stand resembles an upside down set of old-school BMX bike handlebars, but the new-school advantage here is that the adjustable height kickstand not only folds away automatically when you start riding, but also is strong enough to support both the COHO XC and your bike keeping them upright assuming roughly level terrain.

The real test of the COHO XC was a fiery ride down a winding single track with all 70 liters of cargo space filled with bug out gear. On its own, the COHO XC performed splendidly. And compared to other past trailer designs, the COHO XC demonstrated what is possible when design evolution is set free to do its job.

The Burley COHO XC and I took a few three mile descents over varied terrain and hairpin turns. Even through mud and dropoffs, the COHO XC performed flawlessly. During the first run, I noticed the quick release attaching the yoke to the frame had loosened, but adding a little more tightness, it never loosened up again.

The effortlessness of the hitch mechanism seems to be something I should worry about, but only because it is so easy to operate. But too easy? In studying the design, I found the only real concern is that water could enter the cable housing that runs from yellow release handle on the yoke to the spring-loaded detents in the sockets where the axle balls fit. This would accelerate a RTTPOFS or rust-to-the-point-of-failure scenario. However, if the cable broke, I could easily disengage the detents and release the trailer manually by simply reaching into the sockets and depressing the detents with my finger. In a true SHTF, you could easily work around the ball-and-socket mechanism to the point of permanently securing the trailer to the axle, or building a simple but effective work-around to allow on-demand hitch and release of the trailer.

The handling of the loaded COHO XC requires a small adjustment in your riding habits. Due to the additional length, weight and potential sideways pull of the loaded trailer, the flow of the turn must account for the entire bike-trailer system. If the bike is turned too quickly, the trailer will add a Newtonian Law lateral tug on the bike requiring a course correction and balance adjustment. But when the bike and trailer are driven in unison, the entire system flows through turns and terrain like a champ. And when going downhill, you might even forget it’s there.

A key element of the single-wheel trailer compared to the more traditional dual-wheel trailer is that the articulated nature of a triple-wheel inline system (bike wheels followed directly by trailer wheel) provides multiple pivot points where road bumps and trail undulations are soaked up with a rocking motion rather than the aggressive ram-and-bounce approach of the dual wheel designs. The reason this articulation works is that as trail bumps and dips lift or lower the angle of the trailer while two-wheel designs raise and lower the entire trailer at once making for a much harsher ride and also a trailer than can easily get hung up on logs and curbs.

Even more, the width of the COHO XC fits within the width profile of the bike’s handlebars meaning you can zip through with trailer any opening or pathway you could have ridden through anyway. Not always true with dual-wheeled trailers, especially when turning. Even if you do encounter an edge, the wedge shape of the COHO XC as it extends off the bike will just force itself into alignment with the bike. And with a single-wheel design, there is no way you can hook a trailer wheel on an obstacle, tree, branch, fence post, or any other object small enough to fit between side wheel and frame and strong enough to destroy your trailer or throw you over the handlebars, or likely both.

Furthering the smooth ride of the COHO XC is a spring shock mounted between the frame and the rear wheel fork. The adjustable spring soaks up bumps and vibrations, and keeps the wheel on the ground as much as possible. Trailers are notorious for briefly leaving the ground when encountering bumps of a certain size. This phenomenon can cause the trailer to bounce sideways, and even hop off the side of a trail on its own. With a bit if spring actuated float, the trailer tire will grip the ground better under lateral forces over bumps and washboarded roads.

For the bug out, there is one feature that will likely not get used and that is the orange safety flag that rides atop a flexible pole. However, one flag component that will likely get some use is the bottle opener integrated into the flagpole mount.

The value of any particular piece of survival gear is based on its overall contribution to the survival equation with bonus points added for gear you can use now for fun and work. A $40k dedicated bug out vehicle that sits in your garage is an effective and desirable piece of kit, but perhaps not the most immediately functional. So for one 100th that price, you can have the next best thing, the Burley COHO XC bug out bike trailer.

The Magical Magpul Bipod

2018-11-18T13:43:00.002-08:00

The wizards at Magpul have done it again. This time with the humble rifle bipod. From its earliest start of two crossed sticks, to the dedicated but standalone bipods of the 19th century buffalo hunters, to the advent of the bolt-on bipods of bolt actions and machine guns in the 20th century, bipods have proved their necessity. One of the most popular civilian bipods is the ubiquitous Harris. The spring-loaded adjustable length legs of the 12.3 ounce Harris have pinched skin and caused blood blisters for over six decades. And still it remains popular. Until now, that is because the industry disruptor extraordinaire named Magpul Industries just showed up to the party and heads are turning. By mixing their special alchemy of hardened steel, anodized aluminum and proprietary plastic polymer, Magpul has delivered yet again another product that not only outperforms all others in its class, but makes everyone need one even if they didn’t yet know it.

Futureland
So what is the Magpul Bipod? Well, let’s start with what the Magpul Bipod isn’t. It isn’t two pounds. It isn’t $300. It’s isn’t spring-loaded. And won’t give you a blood blister or cut your finger no matter how many times it’s deploy it. And just what is the Magpul Bipod? Well, it is now the finest 11.7 ounce, $109, button-deployed bipod on the market.

Available in two colors and three attachment options, the Magpul Bipod has raised the dusty old bipod bar so high that unless there is another company out there like Magpul, we won’t be seeing a better bipod offering any time soon. And we all know Magpul is a singularity.

The Magpul Bipod, for such a simple and elegant design, has a remarkable portfolio. In addition to being a six-position, adjustable length, pan, tilt, 45-degree, reversible platform of stability, it keeps its footprint small and personality sedated. Personally, I opted for the Picatinny rail option for the widest application across my rifles. The dual-bolt clamp grabs the rail, securely tightened with either a larger slotted screwdriver or 1/8th inch hex wrench.

Isosceles Rules
The key to the Magpul Bipod’s performance is its ability to lock up solid when under load. The geometric magic of the triangle is in the amazing property where a triad of corners connecting three lines eliminate movement and distributes the force equally across the entire geometric structure. So no matter how much play there is in the system when not under load, when forward pressure is added to the equation, the Magpul Bipod steps up and locks down.

The Magpul Bipod has no loyalty to any particular triangle whether acute, obtuse, scalene, isosceles or even equilateral. The variability of the triangles along with the added 50 degrees of pan and 40 degrees of total tilt makes the Magpul Bipod a wildly effective stability enhancement. The polymer and 6061 T-6 anodized aluminum legs extend four inches beyond their initial 6.3 inches. The pair of glove-friendly buttons, one each for leg deployment and leg extension, snap to attention through spring-detent only. Not a blood blister in sight. For those who don’t get the reference, the Harris bipod is known to retract with sudden force often catching a bit of skin in the mix. Don’t worry, it happens to everyone, and like having a mean dog for a pet, you learn to keep your distance.

New Shoes
The legs of the Magpul Bipod have aggressive rubber feet, but if your mission requires something even more overt, the legs will accept Atlas-pattern bipod feet whether spikes, skids, or spiky skids. A single roll pin holds the current shoes in place so swapping them out is as easy as swapping out a flat trigger guard with a Magpul enhanced trigger guard on an AR15. Easier actually.

When combining the tilt of the Magpul Bipod with a single full leg extension, you can get over 45 degrees of single direction offset. The average roof, pretending for the moment that you have SHTF overwatch in your neighborhood, is 26.6 degrees. Any roof over 37 degrees is considered a steep slope. In fact, a roof slope of 45 degrees would be difficult to stay on without ropes. So the Magpul Bipod will easily perform as needed across all useful domestic ridgelines.

And should your immediate needs not require any panning (side to side swing of the rifle), you can spin a disk that sits between the bipod and mounting platform to lock out the panning feature. This adds a measure of additional stability to situations where you are guaranteed a perpendicular intersection between bipod face and target direction.

Before the Magpul Bipod, my favorite bipod was the Elite Iron Revolution Bipod. It is truly a feat of engineering, and has no loyalty to pretty much anything. It works just as well upside down as rightside up essentially allowing the rifle barrel to spin freely but solidly within the bipod’s center. The two problems with the Elite Iron Revolution Bipod compared to the Magpul Bipod are that the affordable steel version Elite Iron starts at $600, and second, the 34 ounces of bipod is over three times the weight of the Magpul Bipod. All that said, the Elite Iron works well for those heavy rifles in the upper thirty caliber numbers and well into the forty-plus calibers.

Size Matters
In the crotch of the Magpul Bipod is a manly one-and-a-quarter inch diameter knob that locks or loostens the pan and tilt. A quarter turn is plenty to access those features, but if you want to reverse the direction of the Magpul Bipod legs, you will need to spin the manly knob about four revolutions. And why would you want to reverse the leg direction? Simple. First, the bipod legs are usually mounted at the most forward position of the available rail, and since bipod stability is often a function of the forward pressure load on the bipod (lightly pushing the rifle away from you to strengthen the angle of the bipod), you would want the deployed bipod legs to be pushing against their housing rather than against the release mechanism. But this usually puts the feet of the stowed bipod in front of the muzzle essentially extending the overall length of the rifle package.

By spinning the bipod around pointing the feet towards the stock, the Magpul Bipod extends only a quarter-inch in front of the mounting point. I have several covert rifle cases that easily hold my ARs but not with the bipod pointing forward. A quick spin of the center knob (which, by the way, does not fully unscrew so there is no risk of loss or rifle wardrobe malfunction) the Magpul Bipod spins freely allow the rifle system to smoothly seat into its minimum case.

The knurled knob at the center of this angular masterpiece is a massive improvement over previous bipod designs. But also of note are other two pairs of buttons controlling the legs. A 7/16th inch diameter metal button releases the legs to re-stow them. Both legs can be deployed their 90 degree rotation without any button pressing. Because there is no button-press needed to put the Magpul Bipod to work, it’s possible to drag the bipod feet on the ground or other object while bringing the rifle barrel upward. This causes the legs to snap into position and remain there until the release button is pushed.

Control. Alt. DELETE!
Just south of that button is an 11/16ths by 9/16ths inch rectangular button that when depressed releases the leg to extend or retract, or stop along its path in one of the five intermediate detents. Since the release button is on the moving section of leg, the operation can be quickly and efficiently done with one hand. Just push the button and pull the leg out. In contrast, the Harris bipod only had two built-in leg length choices; all in our all out. And worse, the legs were spring loaded into their short position, not locked up by any other means. And since the retraction button is unfortunately on the upper leg segment, combined with the loaded spring of the leg when in the extended position, when the retraction button is pushed whether intentionally or not, the lower leg screams home sliding into the upper section at lightning speed often catching a bit of skin or cloth along the way. Hence “Harris Bite.”

Actually the two-position Harris leg is not quite true. There is a set screw with a knob that holds the leg in place with a turn. However, the leg is still spring loaded with only the set screw holding it still so the briefest turn of the set screw knob sends the snapping violently home. Further, it requires two hands, one to hold the leg in position against the spring tension, and the other hand to turn the set screw. And pretty much the same mess happens with the overly aggressive springs driving initial leg deployment and retraction. Watch your fingers.

So Magpul has done it once again with the Magpul Bipod. By combining its engineering talents and in-house materials science, Magpul has created a rail accessory you can be proud of, and will actually improve your rifle’s performance along with your own. So do yourself and your rifle a favor; BYOD: Bipod Your Offense and Defense.

TANDEMKROSS 10/22 Ultimate Trigger Upgrade: Fall in love with your 10/22 again!

2018-11-04T18:42:00.002-08:00

Like the occasional sore throat or stubbed toe, factory 10/22 triggers are just a fact of life we live with. They crunch and grind along through their take-up. Then they hit a wall until the pressure on the trigger shoe dents the finger pad. The kra-chunk of the release is less of glass breaking, and more of opening a can of beer. We lowered our expectations due to the reliability and durability of the 10/22 trigger, but never gave up hope. Ruger heard our cries for help and released the aftermarket BX trigger upgrade. Ruger’s drop-in trigger module swapped out completely the entire factory trigger unit. For those of us who drank the BX Kool-Aid, we were impressed. Not necessarily how good the BX replacement is, but more of how bad the factory trigger really was. And compared to other trigger upgrades in our ARs for example, we knew it could be even better.

Enter the Ultimate 10/22 Trigger Upgrade from TandemKross. An exquisitely machined and presented trigger parts group that literally turns the 10/22 into an entirely new gun. From the aggressively textured wide flat shoe, to the polished tool-steel sear and hammer, to the precision spring, the entire Ultimate Trigger Kit is everything a top-shelf trigger must be. And the older your 10/22, the bigger the difference in upgrade experience.

Metamorphosis
By any standard, the aftermarket components for the Ruger 10/22 is deep. So much so that its easily possible to replace every single piece of a Ruger 10/22 with non-Ruger parts. Kind of like my favorite axe. It’s always been the best axe I’ve ever owned even though I’ve replaced the handle three times and the head twice. In fact, on one of my 10/22 builds, I’m just a few parts shy of a non-Ruger Ruger 10/22. And even if I swap out those final few parts, the non-Ruger will still be my favorite Ruger.

One part in particular has always defined the 10/22 and that is its exceptionally consistent trigger. No, not that the trigger consistently delivers, but that it consistently disappoints. The crunchy 10/22 factory triggers were just something we put up with, likely leveraging the low 10/22 price point to defend our low trigger standards. Even Ruger seemed not to care. It was as if a poor trigger was just another part of the 10/22 Rite-of-Passage that nearly every gun owner passed through. The Ruger 10/22 snuggled in nicely between the Schwinn Varsity and the high mileage F150. You know, somewhere between grade school and your first real job. Iron sights and minute-of-tin-can accuracy were plenty for those days, but now that we know that precision and accuracy should be givens, not dreams. The dated philosophy behind the archaic 10/22 trigger has come to an end.

By using electrical discharge machining (EDM) for the finer points on the hammer and sear, TandemKross in collaboration with Brimstone Gunsmithing has brought the mid-20th century 10/22 fully into the 21st century. Brimstone Gunsmithing, located on the opposite end of country from TandemKross (in Washington while TK is in New Hampshire), has tremendous experience with triggers of the 10/22 variety among others. Compared to many aftermarket triggers, the starting price of $135 for the TandemKross Ultimate Trigger hardly induces sticker shock. Many triggers at twice that price are common.

Learn your Gun
The installation of the TandemKross Ultimate Trigger is straightforward with just a few places where choice matters. There is an excellent video on Youtube that walks you through the process. For those gun shy about the inner workings of your guns, I suggest two things: First, do work on your gun but start with the outside stuff and work your way to the inside stuff as you gain skill, confidence and tools. Second, anyone worth their prepper salt should have at least passing knowledge of how a bolt group and trigger system works in common guns like the 10/22 and AR 15. And the easiest way to learn them is by doing an upgrade.

The video for the TandemKross Ultimate Trigger walks you slowly through the disassembly and reassembly of the 10/22 trigger group. The only hiccup I noticed is the orientation of the hammer spring. On the video, the spring is blocked in view so it takes a moment of sleuthing to make sure it’s oriented correctly. It’s one of those things that makes perfect sense after you know how to align it.

The first time I installed a TandemKross Ultimate Trigger it took me about 25 minutes, partially to do it right, but mostly to savor the wonderful experience of upgrading a gun with my own hands. The second time I did it, again in no hurry, took about 15 minutes. The video does the main trigger work in about 12 minutes of the 19 minute video. And for those new to 10/22 disassembly, the trigger group/receiver assembly may not fit back into the stock unless the safety selector button is halfway between on and off. Forgetting that is a common point of frustration.

Upgrade and Up-Upgrade
Two version of the TandemKross Ultimate Trigger are available, each in two different colors, red and black. The standard TandemKross Ultimate Trigger is for the factory 10/22 trigger group. The other offering is a TandemKross Ultimate Trigger with an extra part for upgrading the Ruger BX Trigger group. Which of course begs the question of why upgrade and upgrade? Easy answer. Because it truly is an upgrade to the upgrade. The entire feel and operation of the trigger is improved including the aggressive and colorful flat-faced shoe. Sadly, the $89 BX trigger that Ruger sells within its own aftermarket catalog should really be the standard trigger that every 10/22 comes with. It’s a good starting point with still plenty of room for improvement.

The days of substandard out-of-the-box performance should be over. But alas, Ruger, like many gun manufacturers, still sleeps well at night knowing that many of it’s guns could be so much better with just a little elbow grease and a few drops of polishing compound. As evidence of this Ruger has no shame in comparing its stock 10/22 trigger with its own BX trigger in a graph that highlights just how bad their own original trigger really is. In fact firearms seem to be one of the last strongholds where our tolerance for low manufacturing standards are still alive and well. Imagine if your truck or phone or hiking boots had disappointing flaws from the get-go. And worse, there is an entire segment of the economy devoted to fixing your just-purchased gun problem.

Anyway, at least in our current 10/22 reality, that’s how it is. Or perhaps not? During my upgrading of two different 10/22 rifles with TandemKross Ultimate Triggers, I noticed that my most recently purchased 10/22 was considerably more polished and smooth in finish work that the other one that was from the 1990s. In fact the earlier one was shockingly crude inside compared to the more current one. So that means that the older your 10/22, the bigger the perceived upgrade.

10/22 2.0
According to TandemKross, “The design of the factory spring and plunger requires a heavier spring in order to have consistent, positive resets. The “Ultimate” Trigger Kit does away with this design, replacing the spring and plunger with a single coil of music wire spring that flexes and rebounds with zero friction, binding or other trigger “noise.” This is absolutely true. In fact, so wonderful is the TandemKross Ultimate Trigger that it makes your 10/22 perform like an entirely new gun.

In my scientific trigger pull tests, the TandemKross Ultimate Triggers constantly broke at 3.2 pounds with very limited take-up and almost no overtravel. Comparing the TandemKross Ultimate Triggers to the stock trigger was more Venus and Mars than night and day or apples and oranges. The factory Ruger 10/22 trigger broke weakly at almost twice the poundage, and three times the travel. And the ride was pretty bumpy along the way. In my force vs. displacement tests, the stock trigger broke at just under six pounds, and 0.15 inches of travel. The 3.2 pound snap of the TandemKross Ultimate Triggers happened at around 0.10 inches of travel (I forgot to zero the displacement sensor so the travel is from -.05 to +.05).

Further, my graphs clearly show a distinct difference in break. The TandemKross Ultimate Triggers is instantaneous while the factory Ruger trigger seemed to need some time to think about breaking as indicated by the slope of the line rather than a vertical drop. While the factory trigger may sound to your ear like it’s obviously made up its mind when it’s time to break, the graph shows some hesitation. Compared to the redesigned sear, hammer and spring of the TandemKross Ultimate Trigger, the Ruger trigger takes its sweet time to punch the firing pin while the Ultimate Trigger shows no detectable hesitation.

Furthering the TandemKross Ultimate Trigger experience is the glorious aluminum shoe. By increasing the face area as well as flattening it, the index finger has a solid and predictable resting position that can pull evenly with little risk of slippage or rolloff. The textured surface provides a solid purchase whether skin or glove, and ensures a defined trigger shoe edge to work with. The shoe is similar to other TandemKross offerings including the Victory Trigger for both Ruger Mark and 22/45 pistols and the Smith & Wesson Victory .22 pistol.

So put a TandemKross Ultimate Trigger into your Ruger and fall in love with your 10/22 all over again. It really is that good.

The Vortex 8x36 Solo Monocular: Plenty of Power in Half the Space

2018-10-30T14:38:00.003-07:00

A monocular is little more than half a binocular. At least in principle. But in reality, more is less, and more is more.

A pair of binoculars gives a wonderful view of the world. Your eyes can relax and enjoy the far away for hours. But binoculars weigh more. Cost more. require eye alignment and diopter adjustment. And, if dropped may never again preform worth a hoot.

Monoculars, on the other hand, are much more (and less) than half a pair of binoculars. They actually weigh less than half a binocular, cost less than half a comparable binocular, contain fewer moving parts than a pair of binoculars, and incapable of going out of binocular alignment. Monoculars combine (there’s no choice really) the image focus with the individual eye adjustment. That all said, monoculars do have their downsides, but if a monocular is your thing or your need, then one glass tube to consider is the Vortex Solo 8x36 monocular.

Be a VIP

Vortex is a major player in the outdoor optics space. From binos to rifle scopes to red dots to spotting scopes, Vortex Optics. delivers a range of goods from budget overseas glass to the highest of the high end optics that sit comfortably in the four figures.

And then there is the Vortex VIP warranty. It truly has to be experienced to be believed, but hopefully you won’t need to experience it. Personally I have used it three times, and all were more than I expected. And in two cases, brand new kit showed up rather than fixed or re-manufactured gear. I should say, however, that I have also received amazing service from Leupold and have no doubts that although Vortex promotes their warranty, other top notch companies also exceed expectations.

The specs of the Vortex Solo 8x36 monocular are as follows:

Weight: 9.7 ounces

Thickness 2.6 inches

Length: 4.9 inches

Field of view at 1k yards: 393 feet

Eye relief: 18mm

Street price: $100 plus or minus

Dissecting the specs, the fun begins with the eight power. 8x is down the middle of the magnification for handheld optics. 6x is for the opera. 7x is for use on boats. 8x is for active land use. Nine and 10x is on the upper end of power for handheld optics. And 12x and above are for special purpose binoculars including bird watching and astronomy. The reason eight-power is the norm and ten is the top is because any less is of little help and any more is too hard to hold still for useful viewing. If you hike up a hill, you won’t be able to hold a pair of 10x binos still enough to get maximum use from them. Same with monoculars. As your heart pumps and your lung cycle, so do your optics bounce.

Invest in Plastics

The Vortex Solo 8x36 monocular feels stout yet light. But not so light to feel cheap. the rubber armor both protects against bumps and bruises as well as provide some sure traction for your fingertips and gloves. The coating covers a durable but non-metal housing. To reduce costs, the case materials are not the magnificent elegantly-machined magnesium of a professional Nikon camera or Leica Ultravid binoculars.

The grab-and-go nature of a monocular give the user a fast, lightweight, small viewing option designed more for speed and carry than actual long-term viewing. One of the main reasons for buying a higher-end optic is for sustained viewing and for those jobs where sorting out fine detail is critical. Binoculars are excellent at giving the user a rich closeup picture of the world, but it comes at a cost. The moving parts of a binocular weaken it. And any misalignment of the optical barrels makes them near useless at best and completely useless at worst. But either barrel used in isolation of the other still has significant merit. So why not just skip the middleman and run one barrel. Thus the Vortex Solo 8x36 monocular.

The monocular is like a small telescope meaning you have to close or cover one eye for best viewing. While open-eye viewing might work with 1x-3x scopes and red dots, at 8x keeping the second eye open causes you to struggle between which reality to follow. You cannot overlap the imagery in your brain because the magnification scales are much too different.

Slow is Smooth and Smooth is Fast

But the good news is that you can quickly focus a monocular without an additional individual adjustment. Adding to the focus speed is that the rotation of the focus ring from closest to farthest is about a quarter-turn. And if you are glassing targets beyond 20 yards, the focus range is about a tenth of a turn. The Solo has a minimum focus distance of about five yards which is a noted problem for close up work.

The Vortex Solo 8x36 monocular, like most worthwhile optics these days, has an O-ring sealed housing that prevents water from entering, and keeps the fog-reducing nitrogen atmosphere inside the Solo inside the Solo.

The only ornaments adorning the Vortex Solo 8x36 monocular are its belt clip, something Vortex calls a utility clip, and the embossed model name along with a lanyard (included) port 90 degrees counterclockwise from the belt clip. An extendable eyecup helps position the Solo for both naked eye use and viewing through glasses. A minor case is included with the Solo, but the case does not fully enclose the monocular. Also of note is that no lens covers are included, or in my opinion needed.

The magnified image produced by the Vortex Solo 8x36 monocular is fine for general hunting, route finding, and homeland security. However it is not exceptional. But at $100, it is acceptable. The central field of view has a fairly sharp image with good contrast, but the peripheral area loses its crispness rapidly and the far edges are blurry. As an optics snob who usually carries Leica, Leupold Gold Ring, or Nikon Premier optics, this monocular is not something you would enjoy using hour after hour. But it is fast to use, rapid on target, quick to focus, and instantly provides an 8x view of the world that is plenty sharp enough to do your work or get on with your hunt.

Choose One

Vortex makes four choices of monoculars in combinations of 8x or 10x power and with 36mm or 25mm objective lenses. For me, the best combination is the 8x by 36mm. While a few more x of power might be nice, the real challenge is holding it still for effective viewing. And with a monocular there is much less to grab compared to a pair of binoculars. The 36mm objective provides the light-gathering needed for early morning and late evening. During a bright afternoon, even the smallest objective optics work well. It’s the edges of day where the larger objectives become critical.

The Vortex Solo 8x36 monocular is a handy solution for short-term observation. The small size and speed of operation are its advantages over binoculars. And in the SHTF, advantages are what it's all about.blished by Google Drive–Report Abuse–Updated automatically every 5 minutes

The SOG Field Knife: An Excellent Cheap Blade

2018-10-03T14:20:00.001-07:00

SOG has produced many fine knives including several now made in the USA again. I have a few and enjoy the heck out of them, but my favorite SOG ride retails for over $200. But for one-eighth that amount, SOG has an excellent basic knife that has a fine handle, an excellent blade, and a pretty good sheath. Normally I shy away from cheap blades, but this time I’ll make an exception.

A knife made in China is not automatically a bad thing. Patriotism aside, the negative issues most common with overseas production is poor quality control, substandard materials, and in the particular case of knives, inappropriate steel tempering even if the steel choice could be considered plenty good. However, SOG has a rich history of offering China-made blades that don’t suck. But many of their Chinese knives don’t rock either.

For some reason the Swedish-made Mora Knife is an acceptable non-USA made blade. German blades are exceptional as often are English blades. And Finish blades are tops even when they are made in Japan. And Japanese blades are truly some of the world’s best.

But China? Let’s just take that one knife at a time. The SOG Field Knife retails for a whopping $30 with a street price of under $25. That’s about five bucks more than a MORA. Or about a hundred and fifty dollars less than what usually catches my attention. At the minimum.

The SOG Field Knife checks in at a paltry 3.8 ounces or well within an acceptable weight of an EDC folding knife. However the blade is acceptably thick at 0.13 inches, and with an overall blade length of four inches its plenty of knife general outdoor tasks including those for bushcraft, tactical applications, hunting, and short-term survival needs.

The handle of the SOG Field Knife is a thermoplastic rubber that works well, but under hard use will likely not last a lifetime. Even a dog's lifetime. But that’s not the point of this knife. The grippy rubber handle has an index finger notch and a contained finger area ending just before the tang meaning the blade metal extends all the way through the handle and out the other side. A reasonable finger guard is molded into the grip and serves its purpose well. The protruding metal is solidly jimped and can be counted on to transfer 100% pounding force to the very tip of the blade on the southernmost blade end.

The sheath is a hard plastic form-fitting blade cover that is mostly no-nonsense. It holds on to the SOG Field Knife through a friction grip on the knife handle. Works now, but I doubt I will trust it in a year or two. A cut-out in the sheath creates a small window to access to the blade for shielded cutting of cordage.

The overall length of the SOG Field Knife is about eight and a half inches. That’s enough for most uses, and is a highly respectable size for this price point. The blade steel is fairly unexciting at a 7CR17MoV, or in other words, a room temperature stainless with acceptable knife properties. 7CR17Mov is a step above 440 Stainless which is the go-to steel for many budget knife makers. The SOG Field Knife seemed to hold its edge well and honed right up on a ceramic stone.

With its hollow grind and clip point, many good things can happen. Add to that the choil encouraging placement of a finger forward of the handle proper, and a jimped thumb landing on the spine, again forward of the handle, gives the SOG Field Knife some fine motor skills.

For general survival and bushcraft tasks, the SOG Field Knife scores high enough minimize concerns. Give it extra points of the low price, and the SOG Field Knife is a winner worthy of budget-conscious attention. And here’s were my rubber words meet the road. I am a user of the SOG Pillar since its creation. The SOG Pillar is an American-made CPMS35VN super-steel knife that weighs twice as much, an inch-and-a-half longer, and much nastier. But at arm’s reach, the Field Knife looks quite similar to the Pillar but with a street price at least six times lower.

While I don’t endorse the SOG Field Knife as my first choice, second choice or even tenth choice in a true SHTF event, it is still an excellent choice when price is a serious consideration. Or you just want anther knife.

Craft Holsters: A Solid Shoulder rig for The Ruger Alaskan .44 Magnum

2018-09-26T15:14:00.003-07:00

I fully appreciate all the effort designers put into holsters, but when the cows come home (or the fat lady sings if you live in the city), the proof is in the pudding. Now, neck-deep in metaphors, I’ll cut to the chase; a finely crafted leather shoulder holster rules the day when packing a multi-pound chunk of stainless steel bear-repelling hardware.

Look, I get that city folk respect their CCW-IWB-OWB-APNDXcarry holsters, but those people are moving from home to bus stop to office workstation. Me? I move from home to 4x4 to great big wide open Big Sky Montana. And my low density 41st State is jam packed with reasons to carry a hand cannon in a shoulder rig.

Craft Holsters is a rock solid supplier of some of the best holsters on this planet especially shoulder holsters among their over 250 offerings. But before we go too far into the holster, let’s look at the concept. Shoulder holsters have been around forever with a Hollywood cred to back it up. From cowboy western to Dirty Harry, to Miami Vice, to Die Hard, to John Wick. If anything, the holster consuming public (which is no doubt every reader of this) may be a little gun shy when it comes to shoulder rigs due to nothing more than a lack of confidence and perhaps need.

Shoulder holsters do extrude some serious gun creed that a belt-mounted holster cannot come close to unless accompanied by a flat dark earth thigh strap (if you know what I mean...and I know you do).

However, in my case a shoulder rig is just what the doctor ordered. And trust me...I’m a doctor. Obviously by now you know that Craft Holsters supplies an excellent array of holsters for both city and outdoor needs, not just bothering to sell low hanging gun fruit for simple carry uses and those complex ones that need a little explaining Craft Holsters delivers the goods on advanced needs too. As one who fits into the latter category of complex needs I find the Craft Holster shoulder option an outstanding variation that fits neatly between my belt rig and my heart-covering chest rig. Dare I say the best option?

The shoulder rigs by Craft Holsters are backed up with solid knowledge about the history and use of shoulder carry. Here’s the Craft backup on that intel, including a quick vid of how to draw from the shoulder rig. The particular one under discussion here is the Vertical Roto Shoulder Holster w Double Mag Pouch. And put a finer point on it, the Ruger Alaskan will make this Craft Holster its home.

The leatherwork of this gunleather is phenomenal. The numerous adjustments and locking screws allow a wide range of custom fits and carry options. The classic shoulder deployment is a cross-draw with the strong-side hand. It takes some practice to draw with the the support hand since the gun is carried below the support-side armpit. But if the shoulder rig is appropriately fit to the wearer, it will provide enoug
h resistance to allow a gun to be pulled free even from a bit of a contorted angle. And speaking of fitting, the Craft Holsters Shoulder Holster has two belt loops that anchor the holster system to your body. The choice of using the belt anchors may depend on what you anticipate. For rough stuff, definitely strap in.

Of all my carry choices, the Craft Holsters Shoulder Holster satisfies a wide range of carry needs. No matter the outerwear, the wearing of a backpack, or simply the need for a more covert option compared to a in-your-face-chest-presentation, the Craft Holsters Shoulder Holster delivers.

The ammo supply on the Vertical Roto Shoulder Holster w Double Mag Pouch is either in the form of a pair of rectangular magazine pouches, or two cylinders for speed loaders. And even if your plans don't require extra ammo, the counter-balance effect of a weighted mag pouch or two makes the entire system ride better.

The Craft Holsters Shoulder Holster is composed of three main pieces. Obviously there is a gun container, followed by a strap system, and finally the accessories composed of two speed loader compartments. The gun holding aspect is absolutely top notch! No seriously. I’m not overusing the exclamation point. The workmanship and fit is as good as it gets, and the snugness is so right that it took a bit of work out of the box to get the Alaskan and the leather to play well together. Once fitted, there is nothing more secure than this. Now I know that reading between the lines some might worry that quality it is optional, but let me be clear that it took a moment to get the leather stretched, but after a few tries, the snap snapped and the leather locked in a perfect fit. I would not want it any other way! And you can take that exclamation point to the bank! That one too.

The leather of the Craft Holsters Shoulder Holster is top notch. It wears well and provided ample security and fit, and will grow only better with age. The roll-out of the revolver upon deployment provides three levels of extraction. Once the retention strap is popped free of its snap, the Alaskan can be slid straight free. If a 45-degree rotation is needed, then so be it. The Craft Holsters Shoulder Holster accommodates a quick low-angle deployment, as well as a massive 90-degree plus rotation out of the shoulder configuration if needed. No matter the need, the Craft Holsters Shoulder Holster will deliver. So think of being rolled in an tree-lined alley by a grizzly bear. Yea. That’s what I’m talk’n bout Willis!

The Craft Holsters Shoulder Holster is not just carried, but worn. It blends into your wardrobe and daily routine. The adjustments offer significant options to customize the fit as well as presenting the firearm at the exact position you expect. And that’s a deliverable you can bank on.

A Bag of Grey: Prepare to go Transparent

2018-07-07T21:07:00.001-07:00

The concept of a Grey Man, or pretty much a grey anything is simply using the word grey as an adjective to describe transparency. Many people think that Grey means blending it, but that can be just as dangerous as standing out. Blending in means you are one of the many, and of equal value as a target. Instead, “Going Grey” in my mind is the physical and mental adjustment you can psychologically force upon others to shut off all alarm bells. Going Grey means disappearing into the background noise of whatever environment you are Greying into. In a city you should attract no more attention than a phone pole, or a stairway, or street sign even if that means standing out just like a phone pole or stairway or street sign does.

Transparent, not Opaque

Going Grey also means providing others with just enough information for them to create their own narrative for you. People are exceptionally good at creating explanations or inferences for what they see. So give them just enough narrative rope to hang themselves.

The challenge of Going Grey is that you must look Grey and act Grey while not really being the Grey. Humans, like all predatory animals, are keenly aware of actions inconsistent with intent. If the intent is to be harmless, then anything off that mark should pull the fire alarm! Why would that harmless looking man circle back around behind me? Why would a coyote stop running when the dog stops chasing it? Why would that car drive by me twice? How come that person keeps glancing my way? Why did those people stop talking when I walked by? Why is that car backing into the alley? How come that guy didn’t look up when there was a loud noise? To Go Grey, you must behave so predictably as to become the yardstick from which inconsistent behavior is measured. And, of course, you have to look the part.

Hold my beer and watch this!

Outside of acting lessons, you can practice your Grey Skills by going passive. Let the whims of the world dictate your movements like a leaf in the wind. The key is flow. If you move out of the natural flow, you are quickly identified as something to pay attention to. Like a log floating in a river, your presence will be noted, but then ignored. That is until you snag on something and immediately fall out of flow creating many downstream changes.

During an extended backpacking trip in Alaska, a herd of caribou hung out downhill from our camp. As the days wore on, we became keenly astute to their natural rhythms. The flow indicators were how fast they moved, where they were looking (both individually and as a group), how many were laying on the ground, how quickly they turned their heads, the density of their distribution, and how long they stood still. In essence, the caribou were our alarm system for anything non-caribou that approached. Like any good hunter knows, you can tell a lot about what is going on in the big picture by noticing small details. The sum of their parts is the big picture but you don’t need to connect very many dots before the outline of the picture becomes obvious.

It’s one thing to fool the inattentive, but quite another to become transparent to someone who is watching. I remember observing a “homeless” man on a park bench near Battery Park in New York City. Something just seemed odd about him but I couldn’t immediately put my finger on it. See if you can follow this: Something was off about someone who was off to begin with meaning that something wasn’t off that should have been off.

The homeless man’s posture was just a little too straight. His attention was a little to sharp. And his actions were just a little too stereotypical especially with the vodka bottle in his hand. Slowly the picture of an undercover cop behind those ratty clothes and bad manners emerged from the situation. So when I ran his further actions and appearance through my lens of “cop” everything else he did fell into place. I could even triangulate his attention allowing me to connect the dots until I could see that where I was standing was not a safe place to be. Something was about to go down and I wanted no part of it. A few minutes later, the cacophony of sirens proved my theory correct.

The homeless cop is just one of many examples of disruptive flow that I’ve experienced over the years and around the world. And I know many soldiers who have keenly honed their flow detectors during their hot desert tours. It is extremely hard to act differently from what’s actually on your mind so to truly become transparent, you must believe you are transparent and act accordingly. Your attitude may be more important than your appearance. And you might have to risk not looking around which is the exact opposite of the whole head-on-a-swivel thing. Like a deer, you might have to trust your psychological camo to do the job even if it means letting the danger get awfully darn close.

Another quick story. It was a pleasant afternoon when I was walking the dog. There was a housing complex across the street from the park where I was at, and I noticed a couple normal looking guys exiting a car in the parking lot of the park and walking across the street to the housing complex. Everything looked 100% normal until one of the guys looked behind him as he crossed the street. Nobody does that! Alarm bells went off in my head. Then I noticed that where their car was parked was just out of sight from the housing complex entrance. I gave a quick call to 911. You know, see something, say something. Ten minutes later, the men I saw cross the street were in handcuffs and being shuttled away in the back of a police car. While it was all great entertainment for me, it also drove home the point that in order to truly be Grey, you must act Grey even at the risk of missing something behind you. Remember, nobody looks backwards unless their guilty. A head on a swivel is also a flashing light!

Dress Up to Dress Down

One of the few famous Dolly Parton quotes is “You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap! “ Not the same with the Grey look. The physical side of Going Grey is a combination of clothes and accessories. And lucky for you, a Grey Wardrobe can had for a few bucks at the Goodwill store. From head to toe, the Grey Costume must neutralize its wearer. No particular item should stand out and be an identifying characteristic. You want to make it hard to describe what you are wearing, thus ringing no bells through association or curiosity. No bright colors, but not all in black either. Aim towards navy blue, black, dark green, and brown, and of course grey. All just dirty enough to be real, but not so much to be a mockery of being unclean. Dress in obvious layers as if you were wearing all your clothes at once. Cover every inch but your hands and face if temperature permits.
Choose a knit stocking cap over anything more modern. And avoid unworn shoes or boots. In fact, shoes are one of the fastest ways to categorize people, and even cops playing hide and seek. Just as my footwear sticks out in New York City, so too does a city dweller’s shoes here in Montana. Brands matter. I can tell those brands and styles native to the US compared to those worn overseas. And I can tell those shoes preferred by city dweller’s compared to those who live around here even if it’s the same type of shoe. Montana has more than its share of tourists so I get to practice my skills often. Even locally bought boots are not worn with the same effort as the locals do. Same with cars. Same with outdoor gear. Same with the way the person interacts with the environment.

You can have on all the tactical garb you like under your Grey Suit, but don’t let it adjust your attitude. Your exterior must be believable, not like a Sierra Club bumper sticker on your Hummer. Here is a possible shopping list to begin your Grey Journey, with bonus points for weathered, stained, dirty, faded, repaired, and too-big-for-you items. Mostly I manufacture my grey clothes locally, but when needed, I supplement my wardrobe for a buck or two. Remember, you are not going for the full homeless look, just the surviving on the edge look.

Hat: Dark blue or black knit stocking cap and/or lightly stained baseball cap with meaningless logo.

Coat: Old olive drab ancient military coat, beat up dark colored down coat, or dirty brown canvas work coat like a Carhart. The elbows must show wear.

Insulative layer: Hoodie sweatshirt of grey or dark blue. Full zips are best for their quick change, and easy access to interior items.

Main pants: Darker colored work pants with much wear and staining. Should be too big and if way too long can be “hemmed” with scissors to mildly long or too short. Holes are fine since you will be wearing another pair of pants under this pair.

Insulative pants: Another pair of similar work pants but of a different color so it is easy to see you are wearing two pairs of pants. Or you can choose a lighter layer if warm. Either way, you don’t want anything obviously as “cover.”

Footwear: Beat up work boots are best, but make sure the laces are heavily worn and show signs of being broken and tied back together. Better yet, have laces that are too long or short and tie up the boots accordingly. The soles must be well worn, but skip the duct tape since that is a dead giveaway that your condition is short term.

Grey Luggage: This is both for you and your advanced kit including gas cans. Imagine a string of bright red gas cans strapped to the roof of your Bug Out Vehicle. What can scream “Resources!” like a pile of full gas cans? Instead contain your precious gas cans in trashy looking luggage not so feebly tied onto a roof rack. And what screams “cheap crap you don’t want!” more than crappy-looking suitcases tied to a car with fraying yellow polypropylene rope.

Once you have your new threads, lay them out and look for things that stand out, or would catch someone’s eye, or could be used in a description of you. Avoid all patches, discernible writing, brand labels, and strong color contrasts.

Gone Grey

Before you ask, I’ll go ahead and share where I got my experience. I love to travel with reckless abandon. I’ve had my passport taken by border guards in Yugoslavia. I’ve had East German soldiers point their machine guns at me while hanging out around one of their bases (yea, I’m that old). And I’ve walked right through a wall of French riot police by pretending to be a photojournalist. That last one is a bit of cheating since I actually was a photojournalist in a previous life. I could go on about adventures in the seedier parts of Barcelona and New York City. How about getting pulled over, illegally searched, and then let go by the Birmingham, AL police.

And being passed over by muggers in South Africa because, as I found out later, they could not tell if I was a local or a tourist (how do I know? I went and asked them). In every case, I went as grey as I could, and forced every hint of my confident attitude or the chip on my American shoulder dissolve into a bland bowl of tasteless oatmeal. And that skill has served me when at security checkpoints, in unwanted confrontations with authority, and when passing through intensely sketchy areas like a dark park in New Orleans, an alleyway in DC, under a bridges in Prague, a closed train station in Hamburg, the Shanty towns of Cape Town, through racially charged neighborhoods in Chicago, across “Needle Park” in Zurich at night, or a dark pathway in LA. Not everything goes a planned, and I’ve had to run from danger, but mostly it works. I’m not an expert in these matters, just a fool who pushes his luck over and over, but keeps mental DOPE mixed with sociology and psychology. So with all that said, you also need to set boundaries and, “You’ve got to know when to hold'em. Know when to fold‘em. Know when to walk away. And know when to run [like hell!].”

Come out and Play

Here are some fun exercises to hone your skills:

Wander the isles of better stores looking for their loss prevention staff (shoplifting, or shrinkage as they like to call it). Many stores have loss prevention employees that look for shoplifters, or provide “enhanced” customer service. Something is always off with these guys and gals. See if you can detect them following others around. Or see if you can draw them out with minor (but legal) actions.

Invade personal space. Get too close to people and events to initiate a response. I’ve often “invaded” secure areas like staring at a camera on an FBI building, or forgetting something during a TSA baggage search, or asking security a non-standard question like “Wow, is that an MP5?” Nothing big or dangerous, but this game serves two purposes. First, it identifies the players and rules. And second, it’s good to practice being innocent.

Play stupid. One of the biggest problems when playing stupid around family and friends is the desire for someone else to jump in and help. I’ve asked directions from multiple people (to triangulate the information) only to have a friend jump in and answer my question with the previous person's information. You need to practice hiding what you know.

Rehearse your story. At some point during an engagement with a security person, a decision will be made if you are a threat or not. If you have a story ready and engage enforcement personnel, you can tell in their body language when they drop their focus on you and shift it elsewhere. Eye contact is broken, they might step back, their chin goes up, their gaze goes back to scan mode. As long as you are credible, you pose no threat, but it takes a moment or two for that decision to be made. Just don’t over do it or you will re-engage their defenses.

Grey equals transparent, and transparent equals sincere. Without believing in your own story, nobody else will buy it either. Going Grey is one of these few survival traits that can save your life by doing nothing.

A Field Review of the Fenix HM50R Headlamp: Spoiler Alert...an almost perfect headlamp

2018-03-10T16:37:00.001-08:00

I’ve been on a quest for the perfect headlamp pretty much forever. And I’m as close as I’ve ever been to headlamp happiness. The Fenix HM50R Headlamp has almost all the features I want in a useful and highly productive form factor. Where the Fenix HM50R Headlamp really shines in the small details that refine its design and use. But to appreciate the nuances of the Fenix HM50R Headlamp, one would need to have developed frustrations with previous designs. So here are some obvious improvements with the Fenix HM50R Headlamp. First and foremost is the light throw. With a turbo mode of 500 lumens, this light screams in the dark. And the steps down in brightness of 130, 30, and 4 lumens are exceptionally good choices give all types of darkness the proper amount of light.

For comparison, my first headlamp was four D-cell monster with a dim incandescent bulb that probably threw two dozen lumens on a good day going downhill and with the wind. The pound of batteries were worn on the belt in a big red plastic case. A wire ran from the case to a bulbous unit mounted on a two-inch wide rubber strap. At the time it was like the light from a Maglite but with the advantage of a headlamp. Overall, it was awful, but since it was the only affordable option in town, we didn’t know any better. Today, however, our standards are much higher, our expectations much greater, and our tolerance for poor design much lower.

Operating Operationally
In order to control headlamp lighting, a simple interface must power the light on and off and through the settings in an intuitive way that is watertight and works easily in the dark by feel as well as when wearing gloves.

Another consideration is beam control. Headlamps by design are to be worn on the head. This means a significant amount of control is possible just by moving one’s head. This works with gross movements, but what about when precision is needed such as with close-up work (think medical or mechanical interventions) or when moving through terrain with hands full and limited head movement? Generally a headlamp points forward or rotates down placing the center of light closer to the eyes. Lateral adjustments are from simply revolving head strap around the head.

The Fenix HM50R Headlamp is essentially a cylinder in a cuff meaning it can spin 360 degrees around the vertical. The cuff is a rubberized plastic material that connects light to the headband. My Surefire Minimus headlamp uses the same attachment concept, but in a heavier, beefier design that requires a tool to adjust the tension. Normally I would prefer a Surefire light over almost any other brand, but the number of design flaws in with the Surefire kept me looking for a better light even after I dropped more than a Benjamin Franklin on it.

Batter(y) Up!
The Fenix HM50R Headlamp runs on a single CR123 battery which is my preference with headlamps, powers this light for two hours on full power and 128 hours on low with 14 hours and 48 hours respectively for the middle two settings. However, the Fenix HM50R Headlamp ships with a rechargeable 700mAh 16340 battery that extends the top end light by half an hour but lowers the runtime somewhat. The included battery recharges in the light through a micro-USB port, or outside the light in a charger. A similar Fenix light, the HL50 caught my attention with it’s ability to run either CR123 or AA batteries but required a extra tube extension if running AA batteries. That means one must carry the extra piece when running a CR123 battery in the light and nobody wants to do that. Well at least me anyway.

Plus the HL50 headlamp had a metal attachment ring that was captured in between the battery tube and the end switch in order to keep the light attached to the metal clasp on the headband. That meant that you had to disassemble the light in order to remove it from the headband. With the newer Fenix HM50R Headlamp, all you need to do to set it free from the headband is to pull it out from the rubberized collar. For reference, the Surefire Minimus also requires a tool to remove it from the headband because the entire attachment system must be dismantled,

So why would you want to remove the headband from the light? Many reasons, notably that the Fenix HM50R Headlamp is a great flashlight on its own. The 90 degree angle-head design is like a mini military “moonbeam” D-cell flashlight. By the way, the first flashlight appeared around 1899 and was powered by D-batteries. So for almost 100 years, the D-cell ruled the flashlight world. Today I have no D-cell electronics except for a pair of 1950’s era Civil Defense Geiger Counters.

What’s Your Angle?
As an angle-head flashlight, the Fenix HM50R Headlamp can stand upright, upside down, and sideways. Often tail standing a flashlight requires a reflective ceiling to capture the photons from escaping out into space. The Fenix HM50R Headlamp on the other hand can sit still on a table firing the light forward or upward if you like. On the Surefire side, even if you remove the light from the headband, only one end of the cylinder shape has a flat-enough face to tail stand.

The Fenix HM50R Headlamp has a battery charge indicator in the form of a glowing or blinking green or blue light in the switch. When clicked quickly, the switch lights up indicating the rough amount of charge in the battery. This is a tremendously welcome feature for several reasons. First, it’s always good to know your battery’s condition. Second, as a rechargeable flashlight, the Fenix HM50R Headlamp can be topped off before adventuring so a quick charge indication will tell you both if you need to charge, and with charging experience, about how long that will take.

And third, the subtle green or blue light does not interfere with the operation of the light whereas the Surefire Minimus begins an irritating blink sequence when its battery runs low. My lone complaint here is that the blue glow indicates a lower charge. Blue? Why not red? Red would make so much more sense, and Red is universal indicator of too much (redline) or too little (in the red). The meaning of blue must be memorized. And worse, if you use a Fenix rechargeable 16340 battery with built-in micro-USB port, the light on the battery glows red when low and charging, and blue when charged. So even within the Fenix family, a blue light means both fully charged and almost dead. May I suggest that the Fenix Flashlight engineers spend a few more minutes a week talking with the Fenix Battery engineers. It is those little things that are maddening.

Splitting Hairs
Regardless of the indicator light oversights, I highly recommend getting the ARB-L16-700mAh rechargeable batteries. The chief complaint about using CR123 batteries is their initial cost, and slightly less available presence in low-volume battery sellers like back road gas stations and small town grocery stores. So those same recharging superpowers that the Fenix HM50R Headlamp has are equally available in the ARB-L16-700mAh battery. Yes, the battery has its own port and can be charged just like a non-Apple cell phone.

Something to think about with headlamp batteries is that you just might have to swap them out in the dark...with cold hands...in a hurry...while on the run. With the Fenix HM50R Headlamp all you have to do is spin off the only cap, swap batteries, spin the cap back on, and fire it up. This is so very different from one of my 3-AA headlamps where the entire light must be unsnapped from its headband bracket, then cracked open like an oyster, then replace each AA battery in the proper configuration, then reseal the housing in the right direction, reconnect it to the bracket in the right orientation. In other words, you need time, patience, and an understanding of the battery replacement sequence prior to the lights going out.

Bounce Check
Another great feature of the Fenix HM50R Headlamp is the minimal weight. My other Fenix AA headlamps had some heft to them causing the light to bounce up and down on my forehead when running or biking, and being a noticeable weight on my head. So much so that a hard bump can knock the headlamp around if not wearing the strap that runs over the top of the head. With the Fenix HM50R Headlamp, no third strap is needed which makes donning it much easier especially when helmets and hats are involved.

The durability of the Fenix HM50R Headlamp seems above and beyond. The aluminum chassis of the light conveys solidity to everyone. The fine threaded aluminum cap with O-ring seal is part of the IP68 rating of this light. IP68 decoded means IP for International Protection standard. 6 means complete protection from dust, dirt and sand for eight hours. And the 8 rating means water resistance at 1.5m for at least 30 minutes.

Head of the Class
Fenix seems to have upgraded its headband material. Compared to my other Fenix lights seems less saggy (if that’s a word) with a tighter textile weave and with a grippy strip across the forehead. A few features missing from the Fenix HM50R Headlamp include that there is no strobe, no red light (to preserve night vision) and no SOS mode. You know, if it comes down to when I need to telegraph an SOS signal with my headlamp till the battery runs dry, well then I’ll regret the missing feature. But I will also likely forget that feature even exists if I ever have to use it.

So as noted, I am thrilled with this particular Fenix HM50R Headlamp. While there is some obvious room for improvement, the room is small and probably only apparent to those who have used many other headlamps and developed specific preferences. Either way, I have no reservations about this headlamp for general use, emergency use, and survival use.

Thank Goodness for Hollywood’s Seven Gun Skills

2018-03-10T16:31:00.001-08:00

Hollywood is an easy target for the teaching of poor to impossible gun skills. The number of errors and impossibilities in any gun-filled movie gives the general population a wildly distorted understanding of guns, shooting, and expectations of a bullet; all a good thing in my survival book. As long as potential adversaries are living in a fantasy world, there is a direct and severe survival advantage to a confrontation where Hollywood’s magic has taken its toll.

The list of humorous gun behavior is long. From the inevitable click whenever a gun is pointed, to the ability to send someone airborne with a well placed hit, to anything and everything sparking when touched by a bullet, we come to expect the fairy tales of film firearms. But all that comic book action can be a good thing. Here are seven wonderful misconceptions that are sure to take the neophyte gun owner into bad territory when it really Hits the Fan.
1. The pre-shot pause: Most movies build tension during an armed conflict through dialog and well planned pauses. What that teaches is indecisiveness and introspection at the absolute wrong moment. When a couple of cowboys with antique wheel guns are squaring off fifty feet apart there is a poker-faced dance taking place. Not just draw speed but also hipshot accuracy. But in a true survival situation, Magpul got it right with its unfair advantage catch phrase. No reason level a tilted playing field by a calling time out. Act fast and without discussion.

2. The lack of aiming: This fallacy hardly needs explanation. It’s misfires on two fronts. First is the wildly skewed probability of a successful hit that Hollywood encourages. And second is the ease at which one can hit a target with a moment or two of actual aiming. Especially moving targets. Aiming a gun takes practice and is a perishable skill so knocking a few cans off a fence post twenty years ago is not of much comfort today. But the opposite is true. Even a little occasional practice can keep your shots in the center of mass rather than in the ceiling.
The bottomless supply of ammo: Usually the easiest criticism of any Hollywood gunplay, the belief in endless ammo is pretty common. Outside of Dirty Harry counting his shots, most shooters have no idea how many bangs went bang and most importantly how many bangs have yet to go bang. Add some stress to the poop salad and who’s counting? Right, nobody. So plan accordingly because they aren't.

3. Weightless guns: Anyone who has really carried a long gun around for any length of time knows that the weight and size of the rifle makes a difference on what you can do and where you can go. Not many of the untrained can run through a forest with a rifle, nor tread water let alone swim while carrying a useful firearm even if the stock is made of wood. Walking from pickup to range table is not a workout. Ten hours of stalking during a mountainous hunt is a good start. Even after a couple hours of carrying around your rifle I can guarantee that you will want to set it down no matter how much you think you love it.

4. Easy long shots: Whether a headshot from 200 yards while standing in a row boat (Bob Lee Swagger) or knocking a helicopter out of the sky with a .380 (James Bond) or bouncing a metal bucket at a quarter mile with a Sharps rifle, (Matthew Quigley), taking time to aim can make an accurate shot possible, but still unlikely. The movie Shooter did put an opposite spin on this theme as well by making a long shot seem superhuman. So illusive in fact that only a few snipers on earth could do it. In reality only a few snipers on earth are ever given the training and opportunity for a verified quarter-mile plus shot, but anyone with a bit of money, time, skill and a wide open space can ding steel at a thousand yards.

5. Loud but not too loud: It would really a be a downer if the good guys always went deaf during a shootout. In reality there would be very little dialog following gun fire. Just a lot of confused looks and bleeding ears. Now double all that when shooting inside a car. Triple it when shooting next to someone’s head. In real life, guns are absolutely silent until they're not. And when they are not, gunfire is one of the loudest things anyone ever encounters in life. That fact is hard to portray in the movies, and really is a buzzkill for plot lines. Actual gun loudness is ignored. Perhaps that’s why silencers are so common in movies. It’s a Star Trek fix to an obvious physics problem.
6. Faith in bad shots: The film vaults in Hollywood are stuffed full of movie footage where thousands of rounds zinged back and forth with not a meat hit in sight. There’s some truth to the accuracy outcomes of spray-and-pray, but the statistics of sustained auto fire in general directions lean heavily towards something bad happening. The happy takeaway here is that the uninitiated might suspect a positive outcome when hiding behind a telephone pole waiting for your reload.

We all owe Hollywood a collective thank you for planting the seeds of misconception in the general population. Tactical advantages are where you find them. Long before Hollywood, about the fifth century BC to be exact, Sun Tzu penned (or penciled, or scratched or whatever the heck they did back then) that letting the enemy believe the world is what it seems is truly an Art of War.

“Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate.”

Six Things To Get Before North Korea Goes South

2018-03-10T16:24:00.000-08:00

It’s not hard to imagine what might happen if the US and North Korea get into a nuclear pissing match. The nuclear option involves mass destruction, radioactive fallout, and a bit of global destabilization. So with the instability of both the situation and the predictability of the situation, you know, given tweets and all. So here are Five Specific Things to get squared away care to survive. And all that squaring away must be able to go mobile on a second’s notice. This short list, of course, is on top of your regular preparations and bug out plans.

1. Food: Get a supply of dehydrated food. My choice is #10 cans of dehydrated Mountain House food. The number of days, weeks, months, or years of food is up to you, your scenario, and your budget. A way to calculate your timeline is to follow this very rough basic math: Women burn 2000 calories per day. Drop that to 1500 and she will lose a pound per week. Men burn on average 2500 calories per day with a 2000 calorie daily diet causing a weekly loss of a pound. So you can do the arithmetic of both what amount of food you need for your comfort and duration, and what trajectory of starvation is acceptable.

Canned freeze dried Mountain House food has a 30 year shelf life and a two week once-open life. All that’s needed is water. If no water, then food is not your immediate problem. And in case you’ve never tried freeze dried food with just cold water, you are in for a pleasant treat. While it takes a little longer soaking time, it’s no different that when you let a hot-mixed meal sit too long. Like cold pizza, you might actually like it more. Just don’t forget the can opener.

2. Water filters: When on the run from a nuclear blast, you won’t have time to pack all your supplies and you certainly don't want a half-ton of water slowing you down and threatening to roll your vehicle on a turn, or pull you over a cliff. A water source and filtering must be in your plan. And like the food, you will need to do the math of how much water you need and can filter. My plan begins with at least 20 gallons on board in five gallon tanks. Any larger and they are hard to move, carry, and distribute around your vehicle for driving balance. The larger tanks often invite waste and spillage when transferring contents to smaller containers and cups.

Backpacking pump filters are a great idea, but you might have more time than freedom to pump. Instead consider something like the Epic pitcher filter; a Brita on steroids, if you will. That way you can be making a supply of pure filtered water while doing other essential tasks like driving or preparing camp.

While it might be prudent to consider a filter that removes radiation, the reality is that when on the run such a filter will have a short life and give no indication when it is no longer effective against radioactive particles in water. Unlike dirt and organics that clog a filter, there is a finite amount of surface area on the radioactive absorbing materials in the filter and when they are full, nothing changes except the radioactive particles now flow right through the filter like its not there...because it isn't anymore.

If you have to cut financial corners, do it elsewhere. Water is not only the basis for life, but a fluid that is consumed internally daily and drenches mucous membranes where contaminants can get a foothold creating hundreds of ways to kill you.

3. Fuel for your vehicle: As you can imagine, an nuclear blast is a traumatic experience for those not vaporized, incinerated, or irradiated. The panic will be instantaneous and permanent. Swinging by the gas station is not an option, and neither is stopping for long when you are outrunning a gruesome, painful invisible death sentence.

Go grey with your gas cans. I’ve seen cars headed into questionable situations with as many as half a dozen bright red gas cans strapped to the roof like a parade float. Going grey with your gas means putting the gas cans into duffle bags or second hand suitcases or travel bags. A pile of visible gas cans is probably the fastest way to get robbed.

The quantity is up to you, but using the Mt. St. Helens model (see #5 below), you will need 1000 miles of gas in a worst case. For many vehicles that’s two full tanks or a 20 gallon onboard start, and another 20 in four five-gallon cans. Minimum. You might arrive, but then be out of options because you are out of gas. Drive a guzzler or tow a trailer and count on doubling the above prognosis or halving your potential.

4. Wind speed meter: Sure you could just toss up some dust or dried grass, but keep that as your backup plan. What you really need is a definite wind direction and speed. Those two tidbits might be the most important pieces of information when on the run. Little wind and you can outrun it. Strong wind and you might have to head into it. It all depends on the distance from and prevailing direction of contamination as well as the natural barriers like mountains, valleys, and drainage.

My analog here is the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. The path of the ash was mostly east and then turned south near the eastern edge of Montana. So it covered all of eastern Washington, the north half of Idaho, all of Montana and North Dakota, most of Wyoming and Colorado, two thirds of South Dakota, finally dipping just across the border into New Mexico. The lesson here is that the ash followed the wind, the fastest escape route might have been to head south west towards the source at an angle even if it meant going into the cloud. Of course ash and radioactive fallout are two completely different things, so studying maps now will give you some idea of where to head if you know the location of the source.

There are iPhone/Smartphone options where a little wind meter taps into the headphone output port. Or a bluetooth solution like a Weatherhawk, or Pasco Scientific. And stand-alone devices like the handheld Kestrel and Oregon Scientific anemometers.

5. Radiation Monitor or Geiger Counter: Radioactive materials as part of fallout from a nuclear blast will follow the path of the wind. So two pieces of intel are needed; first, you need to know if there is an uptick in radioactivity or not. There are minimalist solutions that just change color when the radiation level increases. And more sophisticated devices that sound an alarm. The problem with those first two levels of radioactive indications is they are non-specific, non-directional, and non-quantitative. Moving up the ladder another rung is a stand-alone meter like the yellow 1950s civil defense Geiger Counters. However, while state-of-the-art 60 years ago, many more options are available today. And if you are planning on using “Old Yeller” you better have a five-gallon bucket of D batteries!

Companies like Vernier Technologies are a great source for a choice of on-the-run Radiation Meters, with a Bluetooth option talking to your iPhone. And a quick trip to the Amazon.com will give you plenty of choices starting at a buck and a half (that’s $150 to the rest of you).

6. Potassium Iodide tablets: When out shopping, you might want to pick up some potassium iodide pills to protect the thyroids of you and your loved ones. According to the PubChem open database of information about chemical compounds,

"Potassium Iodide is a metal halide composed of potassium and iodide with thyroid protecting and expectorant properties. Potassium iodide can block absorption of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland through flooding the thyroid with non-radioactive iodine and preventing intake of radioactive molecules, thereby protecting the thyroid from cancer causing radiation. In addition, this agent acts as an expectorant by increasing secretion of respiratory fluids resulting in decreased mucus viscosity."

So stop wondering about it and just get the pills.

Final Shot

The last thing you want is to try and get your act together when the news report sounds like a Tom Clancy novel. You must assess the situation. Make a decision. And go. Not figure it out. Lay out some options. And then go shopping. The window of opportunity is smaller than almost any other catastrophic man-made event. There are no major surprises here. A nuke could fly through the air exploding over somewhere in the USA. and won’t matter one bit if we turn North Korea into bacon. The damage here is done, so the rest is up to you. If you don’t believe me, please watch the classic movie from 1983 called “The Day After.”

The Epic Smart Shield Water Filter: Truly Epic!

2017-11-25T17:38:00.002-08:00

Call me paranoid, but I’ve used my MSR backpacking water filter in homes and hotels on three continents. That’s not when camping, but in actual cities where I’m absolutely sure the water passes all industry standards…on paper. Anyone who ventures closer to the equator than not knows the perils of drinking local water, using ice made of the local water, and even bathing in so-called clean local water. Unless there is a riot outside your door, or a terror threat in progress, there is no greater challenge to your health than what’s in the water you drink.

The explosion of micro filtration devices like LifeStraw, Sawyer, and others is evidence that 1) there is a need, and 2) we care enough to use them. We are the lucky ones who have a choice. Given the endless supply of contaminated water on this planet and the mindboggeling number of ways water can make you sick or kill you, leaving the purity of your drinking water supply up to the local government or hourly-wage workers checking monthly that all’s well is foolish from every perspective. Even bottled water is questionable given that the standards for bottling water are no better than those same rules that regulate the water in every major US city.

Jumping off the Brita Wagon
Gravity filtered pitchers were all the rage when they appeared on grocery store shelves. The Brita movement was most people’s first taste of what filtered city water was like. Of course the trend caught fire and became the household standard for decades. Unfortunately, the Brita concept is based more on looks than quality. Brita filters do remove some contaminants, but no where near what’s necessary to actually raise the quality of the water to reasonably high standards.

 But over those decades, we have learned more about the bad stuff in our water, and even the stuff we don’t measure. And also the fact that the Brits filter won’t remove much of the bad stuff, and even less of the other bad stuff. Luckily there are choices today. I’ve been running a Culligan Reverse Osmosis system in my house since last century. But dropping a grand on a multi-stage under sink self-fauceted system is not for everyone. So when it came to equipping my mountain home with a filtration system, I turned to Epic Water, a Boulder, CO based company that cares more about clean water than any other company.

Epic makes an affordable, effective, and simple to install under sink system along with its line of filtering bottles and pitchers. I’ve had an Epic Water Pitcher for a year now and it never fails to impress. Here’s a video showing how it removes the colored dye from Gatorade compared to a Brita…which doesn’t.

Sub MOA
For under a hundred bucks, the Epic Water Epic Smart Shield is a single canister multi-stage water filter than can be inserted directly into your cold water line. Using the bypass coupler, the cold water line is diverted through the filter, and back into the existing line. It really is that simple. The press-fit couplers are an industry standard that I’ve used for decades with no issues whatsoever.

The replaceable canister can be swapped out in a quarter turn, and the cost of all that clean pure safe water is often less than what many pay for a month of water service. Often half or a third! So while you throw a wad of cash at the local water company each month, do the smart thing and purify your water supply with a solid filter system like Epic Water.

And don’t even get me started if you have kids. I honestly believe that there is no better start in life for a child than fresh clean water. The stressed on the earth’s fresh water supply has never been greater, and it seem each month there is a new threat. From arsenic to lead to pharmaceuticals to mercury to biological agents, water is the source of life, but also a constant threat. There’s not much you can do about most world problems, but there is a solution for clean water: its called Epic Water.

The Designated Marksman Carbine (DMC)

2017-11-13T14:17:00.001-08:00

The concept for the Designated Marksman Carbine or DMC has been around for awhile now, but not in the pure DMC form. Instead it was either hopping up a 5.56mm to maximums, or dumbing down a larger cartridge so it could be shot effectively off-hand. To really capitalize on the Designated Marksman Carbine concept, I had to do it myself to ensure the spirit of the DMC was in play for my imagined needs.

The Designated Marksman Rifle or DMR is a middle ground between a battle rifle and a sniper rifle. It is usually a semiautomatic in the pattern of the M16 or AR15 rather than a bolt action hardstock version that could be mistaken for grandad’s hunt’n rifle. Almost. The removable box magazine options of the DMR allow a larger capacity than bolts, and the manual of arms is often nearly identical to the battle rifle like the M4A.

The DMR is an accurate long distance shooter when compared to a battle rifle built with a 16-inch or shorter barrel. But compared to the 24-inch barreled sniper rifle, the DMR is a medium distance shooter with near-MOA accuracy out to 500 meters any day of the week and 800 meters on Sunday. But the DMR is not without it’s issues. First and foremost, it is yet another rifle to ruck around the battlefield. And second, it requires a DM or designated marksman to operate with it. A third issue that may or may not be of concern is that the DMR usually takes a different larger cartridge compared to the battle rifle with accompanying need for different mags, different bore brushes, and it is likely mounted with a heavy optic that prevents fast operation in close quarters.

Just as the DMR ran interference between the carbine and the sniper rifle, I saw a need in my personal preparation for something that closed the gap between the AR15 carbine, and the bolt action hunting (think sniper) rifle capable of reaching half a mile with enough energy to make the trip worthwhile. While the 55 grain .223 round can reliably touch targets at 700 yards, it won’t make much of a statement when it’s get there. Even if the 5.56mm bullet extracts its pound of flesh, its effectiveness is limited to flesh and not hide, leather, canvas, plastic, glass, wood, sheet metal, and especially not sheet metal. At 800 meters, the .223 bullet drops into double digit energy. That’s almost a 90% drop compared to the energy the .223 has at 100 yards and might even be less than a traditional .22 long rifle at 100 yards!

Contradiction as Opportunity

So while the need for a Designated Marksman Carbine seems obvious, I’ve found many of the off-the-shelf AR10 (.308 in an AR pattern) carbine rifles to be less reliable than I’ll tolerate. I don’t live on the gun range, and don’t imagine that a dark future will have covered bays or sunny days on the square range. Therefore, any AR10 in my preps will need to be above average and with hand-picked Designated Marksman Carbine components.

In a nutshell, the AR10 I built up started with a matched pair of Mega Arms upper and lower receivers with the Mega Arms nickel-boron finish. The receivers are named the Maten presumably for “Mega Arms Ten” instead of AR10. Umm. Whatever. I was hoping the Maten was some exotic jungle dwelling apex predator that captured prey at long distance.

The parts that matter include a single stage CMC drop-in flat-shoe trigger set at 3.5 pounds, and locked in place with anti-roll pins. An Aero Precision stainless steel 16” barrel with matching Aero Precision bolt with phosphate finish. The handguard is a smooth round aluminium beauty from Unique AR, an McCall, Idaho based ARtisan company that makes CNC artwork where a boring quad rail used to live. For a build like this Designated Marksman Carbine I wanted a smooth round handguard to allow for an unobstructed rest when on rough or non-level surfaces.

Level Headed

A rifle is only sighted in as well as it’s leveled. A perfect vertical alignment between optic, barrel and gravity is imperative if you want to know with certainty if the bullet will hit is mark. Since the optic is not affected by the pull of the earth, but the bullet it, sighting in a long gun means dialing in the intersection between crosshairs and bullet drop (or rise). Like shooting a basketball towards a distant hoop, the arc of the projectile’s flight whether ball or bullet is only as precise as it’s vertical alignment with gravity. If a rifle is tilted, the arc is different so the accuracy is compromised. For close shots, the difference is minimal but still, the offset iron sights should be on target for a 45 degree counter-clockwise rifle rotation.

Back to the round handguard, when a railed handguard is places on a compromising surface, it either tugs the rifle in a rotational direction as it searches for stability, or balances precariously on a point causing the rifle to teeter back and forth. A round handguard can sit still on many for surface shapes.

For those shots where a bipod is preferred, a bipod is available. Sitting out near the muzzle, it usually won’t interfere when not active, but the free-floating barrel allows the bipod to be at the furthest point away from the stock providing a rock-solid platform on such a short marksman sight radius.

Welding Flesh

Rounding out the other end of the Designated Marksman Carbine is a Magpul UBR or Utility Battle Rifle stock. What makes this an Unusual Buttstock Replacement (UBR?) is that the cheek weld remains fixed and only the shoulder pad section moves. The two benefits of this design are, first the position of face to sight (cheek weld) remains constant regardless of the position of the stock. And second, the lockup of the stock in any position absolutely rivals a fixed stock in solidity and quietness. Of course that does come with a bit of a weight increase, but it’s not as bad as it seems given that the UBR comes with its own buffer tube.

In the middle of muzzle and stock is a Leupold 3x-9x tactical scope on a Mark 2 integrated mount. The premise behind integrated or single stage mounts is that the scope has only one large point of contact with the rifle rather that dual scope rings. Dual rings can work great and are the staple of hunting rifles, but in that case the scope was not to be removed unless another sight-in session was possible. Integrated mounts like this Leupold maintain zero much better, and can cross rail lines between receiver and handguard if necessary without much if any loss in accuracy. In the case of this Designated Marksman Carbine, the Leupold mount resides completely on the upper receiver rail. If you scope has long eye relief you might have push it further down the barrel crossing real estate lines that can introduce alignment disputes.

Since the point of the Designated Marksman Carbine is to manage the territory between 300 and 800 meters with enough dignity to bother with, the .308 Winchester seems a perfect round. It's almost as common as the 7.62 NATO, and just as good. Plus it’s one of the most common rounds available surpassed only by the 9mm, .223/5.56, and perhaps the 12 gauge. In other words, don’t worry about availability. But if you want something smaller like a 6.5 whatever, or larger like a .33x, I won’t be able to share ammo with you. And likely nobody else will either. That said, I appreciate the finer nuances of the recent calibers and cartridges for long range shooting, but there is no room in the Designated Marksman Carbine concept for nuances.

Magpul is THE source for magazines, providing a mild choice of capacity and color for the AR10 platform. With cartridges as large at the .308, weight adds up literally twice as fast compared to the .223. A boxmag of twenty .308 rounds is about the same as a box of forty .223s. Further, the size of a container holding noticeable and anything longer will mess up the rifle’s ability to move freely when bipod or resting low. This is the reason that hunting rifles and most sniper pipes don’t use or even have so-called high cap mags. Accuracy trumps volume every time. However, the Designated Marksman Carbine is not a ridiculous choice for CQB and janitorial work, but it is near the threshold of overkill and awkwardness. So considering a more-than-20 .308 mag is not foolish, just not as practical as it might seem.

Can It

Cans, suppressors, silencers, regardless of what you call them, they are an excellent idea for many reasons. With a noticeable reduction in the loudness of a rifle shot, there is also a reduction in stresses on the trigger pull from flinching and apprehension. Setting off a 60,000 PSI explosion inches from your face is bad enough, but a literally defining concussion is something to be avoided. The can on this Designated Marksman Carbine has a muzzle brake built in that really does noticeably reduce recoil to a pleasant level. With a recoil impulse up to four times more than a .223, while not scary for most shooters, it certainly is not enjoyable. Recoil is just a fact of life so lessening that fact is always a welcome change.

Home on the Range

Mobility is a key to Designated Marksman Carbine success so building a go kit for the Designated Marksman Carbine was the next logical step. As a carbine with collapsible stock, the entire rifle and bipod minus the can easily fits into a 36-inch gun case, the 5.11 Vtac MK II Double Rifle Case in particular for this project. Thirty-six inches is just a yardstick. It’s barely noticeable in the big picture.

Rather than a tube or pouch-type gun case, the 5.11 Vtac MK II Double Rifle Case completely unzips along three of the four sides turning it into a 36” by 24” range mat. Not as good a as a dedicated mat, but far better than nothing and much better than a tarp.

Other additions to the Designated Marksman Carbine Go-Kit include a Leatherman MUT multitool for the AR platform, a wind speed meter, A Sig KILO2400 Ballistic Rangefinder (with Applied Ballistics/SIG app on iPhone), a flashlight that can turn on in lowest mode (non-tactical), a camo baseball cap, and ear protection. And on the ear pro side, if possible I carry electronic ear muffs that can amplify the local sounds and take a radio input if needed. Regular earplugs/earmuffs block all sounds to a degree so it easy to miss things like someone sneaking up on you. Amplifying the sounds through electronic earmuffs is truly a bionic upgrade. They ate also a go-to for inhouse personal protection when you really want to hear those bumps in the night.

Another addition to the go package is a tarp of 3-D camo material. Behaving as a ghillie suit for a prone shooting position, the tarp is a quick and versatile concealment option that runs double duty as a hunting blind as well.

Gearing up for when it matters is never inexpensive or flawless. Choices have to be made, and money must be spent. Moving forward on your preparation plan ends in action. All the best intents will be meaningless if there is no action before the deadline.

Gear Review: Fiskars X7 Hatchet

2017-10-30T07:30:00.001-07:00

Fiskars is a village in Finland that gave it’s name to a company back in 1649 owned by Dutch guy named Peter Thorwöste. Mr. Thorwöste started a blast furnace and forging operation that went from ironwork to copperwork and ultimately in 1832 cutlery in 1832.

Cut to today. Fiskars is a household name for inexpensive and innovative cutting and chopping tools that often contain plastic components and bright orange colored accents. Oddly, or perhaps more a contradiction, the plastic-handled Fiskars hatchets and axes have a near rabid following on the scale of the all-steel Estwing choppers. I guess that’s proof that function trumps form.

For a $25 plus or minus hatchet, the Fiskars X7 Hatchet is surprisingly effective. In fact, the hollow-handled X7 does something that almost no other hatchet can do: place a vast majority of the weight of the tool on the cutting head, yet be strong enough for real chopping.

Hatchets are designed for one-handed operation, and as a chopping tool, the there are two simple machines at work, but only one that requires mass. The handle is a lever that moves the rotational energy into a larger diameter circle of motion. That leverage is consolidated onto a weighted head in the shape of a wedge (two inclined planes base to base). The weighted momentum of the hatchet head is where the action is. When the blade (known as a bit) hits wood, the sharp end of the triangular head burrows into cellulose spreading apart the grain. If the wood wins, the bit stops. If the bit wins, the wood splits apart forever.

The shape of a hatchet head has a couple traits that tell the story of how well the tool will do particular jobs. Splitting hatchets like the Stihl go from narrow to wide very quickly. While the modern tomahawks like the Estwing and the CRKT remain quite thin. A deep wedge will split rapidly, but loose speed into the workpiece almost immediately. The narrower the wedge, the deeper it cuts, so if your workpieces include things like animal carcass and human skulls, you might want some deeper penetration. In the middle are the camp-style hatchet and axe heads that run general duty but are limited in their splitting and battle qualities.

The Fiskars X7 Hatchet is a solid performer for basic camp woodworking tasks especially when weight is at a premium. Its weight-forward design chops above its pay grade, and that with a total weight of only 22.75 ounces. The balance point on the Fiskars X7 Hatchet’s handle is about one inch south of the head. For reference, the balance point on a classic Estwing solid steel hatchet is about two inches south. The Estwing, by the way, has a handle about an inch shorter than the Fiskars X7 Hatchet, and weighs about seven ounces more.

One of the most unique features of the Fiskars X7 Hatchet is that its hollow plastic handle can be used for a mild survival kit. Just north of the excessive swelling at the base of the handle is a lanyard hole. The palm-side of the handle base is called a heel, with the finger side named the toe. The X7 has a very pronounced toe. So pronounced that I can hang the hatchet by the toe on the web of my hand (between thumb and index finger).

Back to the lanyard holes. There are actually a pair of them, one on each side of the emptiness. With 11 inches of emptiness filled with survive (I’ve taken to use the word “survive” as a noun lately), a bolt with wingnut or some other fastener can secure the tools within the grip. I’ve played around with different kit stuffed into the Fiskars X7 Hatchet handle including a half-dozen feet of paracord, a CRKT Pazoda folding knife, and a Swedish Fire Steel minus the cord and striker. The Fire Steel fits rather snugly so I first inserted most of the paracord, then the knife, and then tied a loop of paracord on the Fire Steel with a small section of paracord sticking out the bottom of the handle. A bolt and wingnut secure the kit. When extracting the kit, once the bolt is removed, the paracord is pulled popping out the Fire Steel and the rest comes tumbling out. The paracord is also an effective noise dampener for rattling objects since the hollow plastic tube of a handle resonates sound quite well.

Another option for fun is to drop a trio of orange Bic lighters into the handle followed by a little tinder to snug things up. Add the bolt, and you’ve got a fire kit. Of course this route is more orange than function.

While I’ve not had personal experience with a Fiskars handle shattering in the cold, I have heard such tales. I’ve also see pictures of broken Fiskars hatchets and axes. Fiskars is known for great warranty service, but ideally you shouldn’t have to use it. Another concern is that if the handle does become useless, the design of the Fiskars X7 Hatchet head is more like the primitive stone axe heads that contained no eye (hole through which a handle is inserted). Instead, to reclaim the cutting prowess of the hatchet, any handle remnants still attached to the head would need to be removed, and the head could then be lashed onto a branch or wedged into a split stick and tied in place.

The chance of handle breakage increases as the temperature drops and the handle length increases. The “FiberComp®” plastic material is surprisingly durable and the tube design is probably stronger than a solid plastic or fiberglass handle. Further, solid handles of steel and fiberglass are known for effectively transmitting the shock of a wood strike directly to the nerves in your hands and arms.

The bit is coated with a non-stick film somewhat like a frying pan. This allows the hatchet head to penetrate further into the workpiece, and slide out backwards with less effort. The factory edge is plenty sharp to use right out of the box, but I did manage to chip it with less effort than usual. The Fiskars X7 Hatchet has a traditional compound bevel edge meaning the approach to the edge is smooth but just before reaching the edge, there is a sharper drop angle to the edge proper. This double bevel is fairly easy to sharpen second only to the flat bevel where there is only one angle.

I also felt the edge dulled faster than some of the convex and traditional bit grinds, but that could also be the steel. However, when I used an axe sharpening puck to clean up the damage, it took much longer than my carbon steel axes and hatchets. But the Fiskars X7 Hatchet was back in service in no time since we are only talking a few minutes.

The widest metal on the head of the Fiskars X7 Hatchet is only five-eighths of an inch. While the narrowness reduces this tool’s splitting capabilities, it does boost its knife-like fine motor skill duties. With a hand wrapped around the head, it's easy to feather sticks for fire starting, and process fish and game.

Although the Fiskars X7 Hatchet is not anywhere near what I would consider an heirloom hatchet, it is a workhorse, and an inexpensive one at that.

Gear Review: The Camillus Carnivore

2017-10-27T22:23:00.001-07:00

There is a reason that knives are lumped into named categories, and that is because the knife profile of that particular category has been honed (pardon the pun) over decades or even hundreds of years.

Whether cutlass or cleaver, Bowie or barlow, choice of shape, thickness, blade steel, edge, and hardness have all been chosen to support the mission of the knife. But what happens when a knife design crosses between categories? Well, compromises have to be made, and the user of such a tool must work within the constraints of those limitations. An such is the case with the Camillus Carnivore.

The Camillus Knife Company has been in business, in name anyway, since 1896. It has been a supplier of many military contracts including the famous four-blade folder used by U.S. Forces. Basically is it a metallic version of the iconic Boy Scout pocket knife.

While Camillus might push the All American Company image, it cannot claim all American made. Most of the product line seems to be made in China now, with a few high dollar blades forged in upstate New York.

The Acme United Corporation, an even older conglomerate, bought Camillus in 2009 rolling it into their portfolio of “innovative cutting, first aid, and sharpening products.” So much so was the innovation that in 2011 Camillis signed up with world famous survivalist Les Stroud, aka Survivorman, to design and market survival tools. However the Camillus Carnivore, as yet, is not one of them.

By combining the traits of a large machete-like blade with that of a diverse survival knife, the Camillus Carnivore can run double duty as long as you abide by the rules of limitation. Most machete-sized edged tools utilize a spring steel of moderate hardness (or softer hardness to use an oxymoron) that gives great physical flexibility and ease of sharpening. Stainless steels, on the other hand, don’t like to be bent, and resist the sharpening stone more aggressively than carbon steels. In the case of the Camillus Carnivore, a “Titanium bonded” stainless steel, presumably a 440 Chinese variety. The bonded property presumably is an inexpensive way of hardening the very edge of the blade. It is common among disposable edges like razor blades, but presents issues with actual hand knives in that the resharpenability of the blade is more difficult. But that might not really be an issue with a knife like the Camillus Carnivore since it seem to be more of a here-and-now survival tool that might have limited use in the long term. But it was never designed as such, nor should you expect it too. That’s the difference between a $25 knife and a $250 knife. Both work as advertised.

For a large blade that sells for between $20 and $30, one should not have high expectations for the handle. And with the Camillus Carnivore, you might be surprised...or not. The grip of the Carnivore is hard plastic covering with an exposed tail section that ensures that all accurate pounding will skip the grip and focus the force completely on the blade. That’s a good thing, and something I’ve stressed with expensive knives like most of the Fallkniven variety.

The featured-filled blade has multiple tools from it’s long sharp edge, to the gut hook/cord cutter, to the tanto-esk blade end, to the serrated saw section, to the prybar tip. But it that very tip that has created some of the issues that has given the Camillus Carnivore more than its share of negative reviews in the past. Remember that difference between spring steel and stainless? Well a blade of stainless does not like to be used in a prying fashion and tends to snap rather than bend. A spring steel blade might go up to a 90 degree bend before giving up. So some users of the Camillus Carnivore bent the prybar, which is easy given the foot between the handle and wedged tip, thus snapping the blade and then lopping a whole pile of stars off their review.

Another defect that isn’t is the inability of the tip to penetrate. I figured the case, but in the field I repeatedly tried to puncture a rusty tin can. No go. But you could say it more of a feature than a bug. By providing a solid prying surface, in order to avoid tip breakage, there best not be a tip to break. And thus had the Camillus Carnivore. A blunt-nosed long-beaked cutting/chopping tool.

My field tests of two versions of the Camillus Carnivore, the X and the XZ, in two different lengths, has proved them worth their price. As choppers they both excel and the blade-forward weight provides a great platform for aggressive and precision wood striking. Of course, the blade works well for blade stuff like cutting and slicing as long as it's sharp.

Surprisingly, the sawback of the Camillus Carnivore really does work well as a saw. I've tried many other saw-back blades including Gerber, SOG and others, but most fail spectacularly. They cut no better than a serrated knife, and mostly just scrape the wood and clog their teeth.

As a survival tool, the Camillus Carnivore is worthy of bug out bag carry. Not everything has to be heirloom quality and serve the next generation with the same vigor as a decade ago. So for a unique edged chopping hand tool that you will use within its limitations, then the Camillus Carnivore is one to consider. Seriously.

The Ruger Alaskan: Bring Enough Handgun

2017-09-30T13:06:00.002-07:00

There has been an explosion of carry pistols and what I call “city variants” of guns over the past couple decades. From a Glock in every home, to more concealed carry permits that ever, to a wide choice of magazines about the topic in the grocery store. It’s no wonder that notable wheel guns seem a bit of an oddity these days. Especially the larger caliber “hand cannons.”

Mr. Callahan

While I won’t completely dismiss the “Dirty Harry effect” on big muzzle wheel guns, I do find the .44 magnum a proper load when follow up shots might not be an option. Like with bears for instance. Now I’ll admit I am a fan of bear spray. I hear endless city folk and even plenty of suburbanites complain that pepper spray is ineffective, full of drawbacks, and nowhere near as good as a firearm. Basically that tells me that there are some holes in their knowledge about bears, bear spray, and firearms.

First of all, pepper spray is effective on bears. I find it a little funny that there seems to be plenty of survivors (mauled maybe, but living to tell the story) who sing the praises of pepper spray, and plenty that don’t. The one thing they all have in common is they lived. I’ve drawn down on bears with both pepper spray and rifle. Luckily I never had to fire the pepper spray, but I have the gun. One black bear took two 30-06 shots to the gut, and three more 30-30s to its midsection and hindquarter before I got a clear view to put a fourth 30-30 into its head. Bear and moose hunting is probably the closest to African dangerous big game hunting as you can get in North America. Hogs might fit there too in the cheetah/lion category.

Bear spray is a deterrent to an attack. I might not thwart it entirely, but the painful sting of cayenne in the bear’s eyes and nostrils is a pretty good start. And accuracy, while helpful, is not required. Just aim in the general direction and let the cloud do the talking. However, wind, distance, expiration date, and duration of the spray all set limits on the experience for the bear. And, of course, when the spray can in empty, it might be game over unless you have a backup plan.

A Little Big

Enter the Ruger Alaskan. A massive handgun stuffed into a small package. The Alaskan, or Super Redhawk “Alaskan” as its billboarded on the right side of the barrel, is an overbuilt stainless steel six-shot revolver of excessive proportions except in barrel length. At only two-a-half inches, the barrel is frightening from the shooter’s side. When Dirty Harry was bragging about the power of his magnum, he had about six inches more out in front to weigh down the recoil and keep the muzzle somewhat in the same direction as the target after the bang. But surprisingly, the Ruger Alaskan is quite manageable, and due to its weight, balance, and heavy rubber Hogue grip, the Alaskan is nowhere near the squirreliness of snub nosed .357’s.

When shooting .44 shorts, you can double-action all six cylinders in a row grinning all the way. .44 magnum rounds certainly remind you that they are not for the weak or fainthearted, but again nothing to be scared of. However, the +P+ Buffalo Bore heavy loads do send a tingle up your arm. It’s not that the muzzle flips, but more like swinging an aluminium baseball bat into a brick wall. It takes a second or two for the recoil jolt to transform into a sharp sting. But if you ever do “need” to fire the Alaskan, you won’t notice the recoil. I guarantee it.

When talking blunt force trauma, the .44 is an ideal cartridge. But unlike hollow point bullets popular for those unfriendly human encounters where you want to disrupt organs and bleed out the foe, the idea behind a hard cast flat nosed bullet is pure bone-breaking concussion. If a bullet fragments early in its journey through an angry bear, it will have little to no effect in any time frame that matters.

As Isaac Newton penned 300 years ago, force equals mass times acceleration. That means that the force of a .44 magnum can approach that of a 30-06 rifle bullet if the .44 bullet weighs twice as much, say 340 grains compared to 165 grains, but only traveling half as fast, say 1400 fps compared to 2700 fps. So when playing at the upper tiers of pistol power, you are treading far into the realm of rifles.

And More

The Ruger Alaskan is more overbuilt than the other Redhawks in a couple ways. One of the most beautiful aspects of the Ruger Alaskan is that the entire main frame is one solid piece of stainless steel that completely surrounds the cylinder and extends to the muzzle. Traditional revolver designs have the barrel screwed into the main frame. Not the Ruger Alaskan. Another visible feature is the thickness of the top strap that runs from rear sight to barrel. So beefy is the top strap, among other parts, that it is one of the very few listed handguns that Buffalo Bore suggests can handle it’s most powerful solid cast bullet +P+ cartridges. Don’t bother looking for a Smith & Wesson on the list. There isn’t one.

Packing the Heat

For Alaskan carry in bear country, I have three solutions. The first is the standard Galco Dual Action Outdoorsman belt holster made specifically for the Ruger Alaskan. It is a beautiful piece of gunleather and the first choice of most Ruger Alaskan owners.

My second carry solution is for more specific activities including hunting, backpacking, and fly fishing. It is the Galco Great Alaskan Shoulder System chest holster right for the Ruger Alaskan. A nearly identical holster to the belt version but with a trio of straps that snug the holster to your chest, belly or sternum depending on need.

Often the belt space is hidden inside waders or under a backpack waistbelt, or occupied with other kit. And there is risk that you might not be able to reach your belt area depending on the turn of events. Plus with a belt holster you have to commit to a carry side, in my case on the right hip. Drawing the Ruger Alaskan with the left hand from a right hip is not easy under the best of circumstances, and if you “need” to do it, the circumstances are certainly not best.

Drawing from a chest holster with support hand is still not the quickest but much easier. The final solution I use is to plop the pistol into the Hill People Gear Recon Kit Bag. This critter is like a thin fanny pack that rides securely on your chest. I prefer this method of carry when on cross-country skis, snowshoes, or mountain biking.

For extra ammo (being optimistic) I use the Galco 2x2x2 ammo pouch

when carrying in leather, and orange Tuff stripper clips with the Recon Kit Bag. Unlike auto pistols, carrying a handy 18 rounds of .44 magnum is quite a bit. Of course if out in the sticks for more than a week, I would up the round count to at least a couple dozen bangs depending on my other guns. If rifle hunting, not so much. If my only carry, then very much yes.

Home on the Range

Once you get the hang of the sights, the Ruger Alaskan will shoot all day long making a hockey puck-sized group. That’s from a rest, of course. On a bench or table, anything works. But for the open field, I prefer the Primos Gen 2 Bipod Trigger Stick. It allows me to hold the Ruger Alaskan at eye level, and I can quickly put all six rounds into a five dollar bill at 25 yards which is plenty good for hunting. Of course if I take my time, I can keep those shots around Abe. With a little work, you could probably feel comfortable deer hunting out to 50 yards with the Ruger Alaskan. And in a survival situation the ethics of fair chase take a back seat allowing you to push your luck. There are plenty of reports of Ruger Alaskan owners keeping everything inside a dinner plate at 150 feet.

For bears, however, there is a different equation at work. But first a joke: Do you know how to tell if a bear is really charging you or bluffing? Answer: If it's a bluff, the bear will stop. And within that joke lies the problem. You have very little time to decide if how you will respond. If the bear gets too close, it won’t matter how many shots you get off. If the bear is bluffing, or just curious but not an immediate threat, well then you can quickly mess that up. And having an injured bear running around is all kinds of bad.

Looking for Action

The trigger on the Ruger Alaskan is fine. Quite fine, in fact. In single action the trigger trips around five pounds. Expect a dozen or more pounds of pull to snap off a round in double action. But if you can hold this gun safely, you can pull a 12 pound trigger.

The cylinder on the Ruger Alaskan spins counter-clockwise so keep that in mind if you need to load one more round. I also played around with three different Ruger Alaskans in .44 before deciding on the one I liked. The cylinder play was a hair too much for my taste in the first two. Well one was quite a few hairs off. But the third locked up like a rock. When dropping almost a grand on a narrow use pistol, perfection is part of the deal.

Should the need arise to have a handgun with this kind of power be needed for chores other than dispatching pesky four-leggers, the Ruger Alaskan is up to the job. The list of guns for survival is as deep as it is wide. But there is a popular convergence around those calibers of the .22 variety and millimeters in the nine to ten range. Most lists would put the Ruger Alaskan outside the top ten so I would have suggest that this particular gun is more on the experienced preparation list, or for those living in the proper geography.

Ruger’s naming this the Alaskan is no accident. But it works fine in Montana, Idaho, and parts of Wyoming. For those states whose bears are smaller than my dog, I would suggest something else. A 10mm perhaps. But when it comes to sheer firepower for close quarters combat in the wilderness, the Alaskan is in a class by itself.

Are You Drinking Radioactive Water?

2017-09-30T12:42:00.001-07:00

Radiation is a popular word, but often thrown around for effect. The particular type of radiation of concern here is called ionizing radiation. Ionizing or charged particle radiation is different from sunlight that has commonly understood radiation such as ultraviolet and infrared radiation. The sun is often pointed at as a source of safe radiation in order to muddy the contaminated waters by those who have a selfish interest in underreporting the risks of radiation.

Whether around the world or in small town America, there seems to be an undeniable truth in that any news of detectable radioactivity discovered in drinking water will be 1) suppressed and 2) the quantity of radioactivity will be under reported when the news does go public. From Chernobyl to Fukushima, and especially to Texas, the story is the same.

The radioactive contaminants that we are concerned about in water are mostly alpha and beta particles. Alpha particles are from radioactive decay where essentially a helium 4 nuclei is released. Alpha particles are relatively large consisting of two protons and two neutrons but can only travel an inch or two in air. Paper can block alpha particles as can dry skin. Unfortunately if alpha particles are ingested or contact mucus membranes, they make a real mess of things especially cells and DNA.

Beta particles, on the other hand, are smaller than alpha particles and are either an electron or positron. The smaller mass of the beta particle allows it to travel further from the source, up to a few yards in air. Beta particles zip right through skin and a few sheets of paper, but can be blocked by thick plastic. However, the main risks from beta particles are from when they are ingested.

Yea, but...

There are many natural sources of radiation in water, and groundwater sources are often more at risk than surface sources like reservoirs. There are also plenty of man-made sources and actions that increase the natural amounts of dangerous radiation in drinking water supplies. What makes this go from bad to worse is that the presence and quantity of radioactive materials in water are often either not measured in the first place, averaged over time or a cluster of wells, or wildly under reported through statistical and legal gymnastics. The bottom line is that the science does not lie, but the sources of the science can manipulate and withhold the facts when it suits them. And history has shown us over and over that it suits them.

Bone-seeking radioactive particles are no joke. They are cumulative and do cause cancer. There is no safe minimum consumption or exposure limit for them, and you absolutely cannot trust a government agency to monitor water systems for radioactive concentrations or even notify you if they are detected. Even worse, if you are informed that there is a problem, it is very likely a long-standing issue and what you are told is most certainly underestimated. In fact I would bet that any reported level of contaminant in a water system that is barely under the threshold of concern is a fake number. There are statistical tricks and legal parkour maneuvers that provide any necessary adjustment to avoid expensive fixes in the name of public safety.

Sound the Alarm

Since it has been demonstrated many times over time and over continents that radioactive contamination in the water supply will go unreported, under reported, and downplayed. So it is up to the drinker of water to be vigilant and take precautions when necessary. And that’s you.

While there are 10-minute tests for other water contaminants like lead, testing for radioactivity takes a special piece of equipment as well as a deeper understanding of what the results mean. In fact, the Geiger counter comes in handy to test your water filter, if you have one and know how to use it. But sadly if you do detect radiation yourself, your life just changed; both inside and out.

Most traditional water filters are limited in their capabilities to handle radiation. But some are better than others. Since water itself does not become radioactive, the radioactive particles can be filtered out similar to other contaminants. But unlike a clogged filter filled with sediments, metals, and parasites, a filter filled with radioactive particles is itself now, to put it bluntly, a component that could be in a dirty bomb.

Activated carbon can remove a common radioactive element found in water namely iodine-131. But when the load capacity of the filter is reached, you might not know it. It seems the best bet for the consumer is a combination of active charcoal and a reverse osmosis filter like the Epic Pitcher.

In the News

One would go crazy worrying about invisible radiation in water given the amount we need to consume, cook with, and let flow across our skin every day. But there are indications when worry might be more necessary. Such as when there is a nuclear event in the news. Fukushima was a big one, but provided a test not unlike when a volcano spews ash and we can see how much lands and where. Globally, radioactive fallout from Fukushima was detected everywhere one looked. And even right here under my Big Sky. In this article from The Japan Times (http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/02/03/national/fukushima-radiation-level-highest-since-march-11/#.WK5XNRIrLsE) it is clear that the Fukushima situation is far from over. In fact the February 2017 article states the radiation level in reactor 2 has reached its highest radiation level since core meltdown in 2011.

So even if you have no immediate concern about radiation, you should have a plan and the supplies to act on that plan.

Five Cheap Things that can get You Killed

2017-09-23T19:28:00.001-07:00

There is no shortage of inexpensive survival items that can actually get you killed. Counting on your kit is essential when things go dark yet when it really matters, there is also no lack of folks who are fine with trusting their survival to the lowest bidder. And that doesn’t even include the issue of redundancy of cheap things. Of course it’s your call as to where you draw your quality and expense line, however less-but-quality always beats more-but-poor-quality. And that goes double in a survival situation.

Cutting to the chase, let’s take a look at five essential survival items that can get you killed if you err on the side of cheap because there is often a very good reason why quality kit costs more even though the higher price might only add a 10% increase in performance or accuracy. But it is in that narrow 10% where survival is found.

Compass: In reality, a compass only points north. That is its job with the rest of the navigation up to you. While usually no problem, a faulty compass can mislead you into a false sense of orientation. Unfortunately a compass will always point somewhere. Unlike a knife that doesn’t cut, or a flashlight that doesn’t turn on, a compass will behave as if all’s well even when it’s not. And worse, a compass may give incorrect information ranging from slightly off to completely backwards, and anywhere in between. This list started with the compass because it is the most likely to be sold in cheap kits.

Compass Rules of thumb: Stick with the brands of Silva, Suunto, or Brunton in that order. The bigger the compass, the likely more accurate and durable. Keep your compass away from shock, magnets and temperature extremes. If you are comparing compasses, keep them at a foot apart or they will alter each other's needle’s direction.

Knife: Cheap knives are a pet peeve of mine. Not that you need a high-priced custom blade, but since the knife is an essential component of any survival kit, cutting corners with your cutting steel is a bad idea from every angle. Like the compass, a knife can be deceiving. Even cheap blades can cut something. Where the cheap knife becomes dangerous is when the knife must perform under pressure. Quality directly affects steel strength, ability to hold an edge, and the obvious need to be resharpened. Cheap folding knives can snap in half, unlock when least expected, and fail in multiple mechanical ways. Cheap fixed blade knives can also snap in half, bend, chip, and dull quickly. And once dull, might not easily take a new edge. The deception with a cheap fixed blade is that until push really comes to shove, the true cheap nature of the blade may remain hidden. Spending more for a quality blade will yield many happy returns. But skimping on your primary blade is giving up before the battle even starts.

Knife Rules of thumb: Stick to USA made knives or known factories overseas from Finland, Japan, Germany, or England. Learn to sharpen your own knife, and keep it that way. But if your blade dulls easy, chips or rusts, start looking for another blade. Modern super steels are high performance and low maintenance. Leave the antiques for kitchen duty.

Flashlight: As the only electronic item on this list, the flashlight has more points of failure than other mechanical-only devices. Flashlights in the hundreds of lumens are available from a couple bucks found in the grocery store checkout line, to a couple hundred bucks from high-end manufacturers who cut no corners and only use the highest quality parts. With flashlights there are many things to consider, but the two primary concerns are 1) quality of the LEDs, and 2) quality of the circuits. The LEDs or Light Emitting Diodes, are the things that provide the light. They are made by the thousands if not millions, but not all are equal. When produced in mass quantity, there are vast differences between those LEDs that are rock-solid high performers, and those that merely look like LEDs but will fail rapidly. Failure often happens with the LED coming apart, falling off its panel, or burning up. Those companies that produce high end lighting tools test each and every LED ensuring only those with the proper performance pedigree get into the assembly line. And the circuitry connecting the LED to the battery is a solid electron pathway designed for not only the proper voltage, but also intense shock, water intrusion, corrosion, and general durability.

Rules of thumb: Buy name-brands like Surefire, Streamlight, 4Sevens, Pelican, and those lights with a reputable company behind the name. AA batteries are general purpose, but use the CR123 batteries for serious use. Avoid AAA unless you need a tiny light. Triple-A batteries are low power with short life.

Backpack: The humble backpack is often little more than an afterthought. A bag with straps. If it's a bag and got straps, then it’s good to go. The sad fact is that not only are backpacks unequal, but many are downright dangerous. As costs are cut, so are corners. But those cut corners don’t appear right away on the store shelf or online catalog. Instead those missing corners rear their ugly heads when needed the most. Straps tear. Hardware cracks. Seams rip. And zippers fail. Even the best packs can run afoul of Mother Nature, but a quality pack will fight to the end while a cheap pack already gave up the fight before ever leaving the store.

Carrying your life-sustaining gear is not a job for a second-rate pack. If you have to run flat out with your kit bouncing like a kangaroo on your back, any weaknesses will quickly start launching gear in all directions, And that’s assuming your shoulder straps don’t rip off leaving you with a little more than a laundry basket.

Backpack Rules of thumb: Quality, of course. But also avoid major zippers without stress relieving straps. It’s best to underload a larger pack than to overload a smaller pack. Carrying a pack over 20 pounds should have a padded waist belt that is used to hold a majority of the pack's weight. Load up your pack and take it for a jog. You will learn more in those five minutes than hours of thinking about it.

Ammo: I know it’s tempting to pick up a box or two of shells when on sale or even stockpile a case of some obscure brand of obscenely low priced cartridges, but you might just be making the biggest mistake of your life. An exaggeration? Perhaps, but cheap ammo can be dangerous to both you and your firearm. Inexpensive ammo can only be made by cutting some serious corners. The powder may be impure or corrosive, the bullets asymmetrical and scratched, and the cases out of tolerance. And even if the gun cycles and goes bang, the cases may be non reloadable, the primers bulged, the velocity a variable, and the accuracy involves luck. Some would argue that cheap ammo is fine for practice, but you wouldn't use cheap gas in your Bug Out Vehicle when times are good, or run dime-store batteries in your valuable electronics just because you are safe at home.

Ammo Rules of thumb: Stick with new, name brand ammo. Keep it dry and cool. Practice with the same ammo you will count on when you really need it. Watch for sales, but always lean towards quality over quantity. Always.

This list of five cheap things that can get you killed is far from comprehensive, but many of the same lessons can be applied to the rest of your gear.