how two of my favorite toys function

 

any wealthy benefactors out there who want to send me a gift…

I’ll take me one of these.

 

gear evaluation: the liger belt

For the last few years I have been wearing a Liger Belt. It wears quite comfortably, no biting, pinching or edges and for all appearances looks like a leather dress belt. I purchased the black/black combination and it goes quite nicely with any pair of pants I own from uniform to jeans/Kakis to dress pants. The “Ligerthane” material looks like leather but feels like plastic. It claims to be impervious to sweat, solvents and abrasion. There is no stretch to it and it is custom cut. You have to actually measure your waist through your belt loops when sizing. Do not just use your pants size. The toughest part with donning the belt is that the buckle hook is a tight fit to the belt holes. The documentation claims that after continuous use that it wears to an easy and secure fit.

The material has a “tacky” feel to it and it has to be fed trough the belt loops, I suggest that you place your holster, mag carriers, cuffs etc where you want them on the belt before cinching it. Items tend to “lock in place” and stay where you put them. The belt wont easily shift or roll under weight, which is good. I use it as an under belt for my duty gear when I go to work and it has been standing up admirably.

 

self-equalizing anchors

A handy ropecraft skill to have is knowledge of how to set-up self-equalizing anchors. Many times while you are climbing or rappelling you will find that there are few solid “single-point” anchors available. Instead of a large, deeply rooted Oak tree you find that you have 2-4 smaller trees that just don’t leave you feeling confident. Or you could be setting up a belay point 800′ up with a series of cams or chocks being the only thing between a secure belay and screaming death. In these situations you will want to share the load between these anchors so that each of them is receiving only part of the load. You also want a system that will hopefully survive if one of your anchor points fail. Most self-equalizing set-up’s share the characteristics of the simple 2 anchor system I have illustrated below.

The first thing you do is take a loop of cord, rope, or tape and form a figure-eight. You then take a locking carabiner and clip it across the crossover point.

Two more “biners” get clipped to either side of the “eight”.

The two “anchor biners” are then attached to your anchors and the load is placed on the center carabiner. This splits the load forces equally between the two anchor points. If you have set your system up properly and one of the anchors fails, the center biner is still attached to the loop and will hopefully remain attached to your remaining piece of protection.

 

SWAT rocks for sale!!

One of my brother in blue bloggers over at Spartan Cops talks about gear, tools and the “chicks dig it factor” in one of his recent posts called Ever buy a SWAT Rock? An excerpt goes:

“What’s a SWAT rock?” the handler replied.

“One of these.” He said as he grabbed a small stone off the ground and threw it at a car deep in the parking lot. The sound the rock made hitting the car caught the attention of the searching dog and made him investigate that area and eventually find the suspect.

The instructor continued. “A SWAT rock is the same thing except you paint it black, put it in a bag labeled SWAT, and sell it to guys like me for $14.95. Paint it black and I’ll buy just about anything.”

Many of us in this line of work, or subject of interest, have fallen into this mode of thought. I think that to some extent we all still do, it’s just as you get older and “wiser” you start to recognize that you just want something because its “cool” and don’t bother trying to justify it in any other way.

As long as the “SWAT rock” works and you don’t mind paying 3X its actual value for it then who am I to judge?

If you neglect your training because all your time and cash go into “SWAT Rocks” instead of lessons and ammo..well then you are a fool.

 

Magpul Dynamics – Equipment Setup

Nice little vid-clip from Magpul regarding dodads for the M4 platform.

 

cool webpage

 

http://www.magpul.com/

 

I could watch this webpage all day just for the images and quotes that run in the top frame.

 

flipping out

 

Something I was exposed to at the FBINA was the tire flipping workout. Flipping  large tires is an explosive movement that emulates many combative movements. I used to do 440 sprints (some were simply “jogs” I admit) followed by 10 chins and 5 flips in series. Other workouts include flips followed by jumps into and out of the tire. Some folks include a sledgehammer and mix in flips with hammer striking. I would like to continue doing them but a large tire in the backyard killing the grass isn’tsomething the wife or neighbors are going to be prone to approve of. If you have the opportunity to give them a try I highly recommend them. Start out right though, if you bite off more than you can chew you can wind up hurting yourself more than helping.

 

Todd Jarrett on retention holsters

God Damn! How I wish I had the time, money and opportunity to shoot often enough to have this guys skills.

 

on pistols and holsters

 

Next to the flame wars over caliber effectiveness and autos vs. revolvers, the next most discussed pistol issue would have to be holster choice. The options for discussion are numerous; inside the waistband our outside? Ankle carry, shoulder rig or waist? Retention or scabbard? Leather or Kydex? and on and on.

IMO many people get too far into the weeds when talking about holster choice. As I see things, the primary concerns for for civilian carry should be something that safely retains the weapon, something that prevents accidental discharges, presents the weapon consistently and is comfortable and convenient enough that you will wear it. The “top of the line” holster you never wear is a waste. Having the weapon on you when needed is first and foremost.

Many people confuse the requirements law enforcement has regarding weapon retention with what a civilian is most likely to face. Uniform cops or detectives that “open carry” have to be concerned with gun grab attempts because the bad guys know that you have a gun on you somewhere. Undercover cops and civilians don’t typically have the same concerns. Decent retention and ease of access from under clothing are larger issues. I own a number of holsters from pricey leather to cheap polymer. My pistol pictured above is in a Fobus, polymer holster. A few years ago an “issue” with these holsters came up:

This caused a big stir in the gun nut community. People were afraid that while walking through the grocery store that some tweaker or terrorist was going to attack and break their weapon off of their hip. My problem with the whole hullabaloo is that the holster isn’t designed for external, level III style carry. Its a beautiful holster for when I’m carrying under a sweater and my Buffalo winter overcoat. Its fast on the draw with no straps or levers to deal with. It has a positive “click” retention on the trigger guard and wont bounce out on its own. However Id never carry it exposed if I were on duty or working a plain clothes detail simply because its a paddle holster, nevermind the possibility of it breaking in a struggle.

You must choose equipment with the purpose you intend to use it in mind. If you want a holster for range carry, or casual low-risk concealed carry, you can use these less expensive holsters. If you are in a position or job where a real possibility of a struggle over your weapon exists, you should get a high end holster and belt rig, with added security features. However, even a level IV holster can be defeated given enough time and intellect on the part of the BG. Safety features only buy you time to try and prevent the disarm.