Yes, it works…no you can’t get one. Sometimes it’s good to want. Look for a report on lots of new SureFire goodness later this week.
Archive for January, 2011
Surefire YoYo
Monday, January 24th, 2011N.Tel – What’s It All Mean?
Sunday, January 23rd, 2011Last week we reported that OTB was rebranding to “N.Tel”. This is not the true story. OTB is in fact coming together with athletic and tactical wear fully under the New Balance banner. The N.Tel is actually the philosophy that drives how the entire team at New Balance does business. NB looks at the military as a collection of athletes and designs clothing and footwear with this in mind. The game might not be the same as traditional athletes but the level of commitment and need for stamina and physical prowess is still there. NB has a set of capabilities that they bring to a challenge and they listen to their customers to see how they can use their skills to solve problems.
We sat down yesterday at Outdoor Retailer with the team and we can tell you that in addition to the OTB line and New Balance’s System 7 there is some really cool new products on the way including Berry compliant Merino pieces that will blow your socks off.
A Few More Shots of SHOT
Sunday, January 23rd, 2011
Who knew family fishing trips had corporate sponsorship
SOD Gear made a good showing starting day two
The knife component of the new Silynx C4Grip
Duro Introduces Two New MultiCam Print Fabrics
Saturday, January 22nd, 2011Duro Textiles, the exclusive distributor of MultiCam introduced two new fabrics at SHOT Show. The first, seen on the left below is LiteLok a 100% nylon, double layer fabric. It is 35% lighter than 500D Cordura and has been used in solid colors for many years for concealment cut armor vests. The ripstop weave gives it a very techie look and it boasts high abrasion and tear resistance.
The second fabric on the right of the photo is called Epsilon. It is a 40D x 70D nylon ripstop fabric with Nanosphere treatment. This gives it water and resistant properties.
For more information visit Duro online.
Craghoppers Releases New Bear Grylls Clothing at OR
Saturday, January 22nd, 2011
UK outdoor brand Craghoppers will launch in the United States in the Spring. The launch includes two lines: Craghoppers and Bear Grylls for Craghoppers. Bear Grylls is the host of TV’s “Man vs Wild”. A former SAS operative who broke his back in a parachuting accident in South Africa, he went on to be the youngest Briton to conquer Everest as well as climb remote peaks in Antarctica. All Bear Grylls products are designed, developed and tested in partnership with or by Bear himself.
One interesting aspect of the line is that they include NosiLife technology which has been tested independently by Europe’s leading test authority (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine). They claim it gives Craghoppers and Bear Grylls products the world’s only permanent insect-repellancy.
Check them out at OR in booth #38179 or online soon with www.us.craghoppers.com.
More on the Surefire High Capacity Magazines – Updated
Saturday, January 22nd, 2011Note: We have updated story from earlier in the week.
I was finally able to get my hands on Surefire’s new High Capacity Magazines yesterday at the Pre-SHOT Show Aimpoint military shoot. I wanted to see how they worked and what the production fit and finish would look like. They seem to be well conceived and produced. They are available in 60 round and 100 round sizes. You will notice that once you get about 20 rounds into the magazine you can begin to feel the spring tighten up as the rounds are separated. Additionally, the design is quite reminiscent of a US GI mag in that it has a removable base plate for maintenance and cleaning. Also, ATS Tactical is working on a magazine pouch for them but Surefire expects many companies to have their versions of pouches available once these begin to proliferate.
Surefire High Capacity Magazines
Finally, despite numerous articles stating that the new magazines would be a perfect match for the USMC’s new M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle manufactured by H&K, they aren’t. As in most things H&K the engineers overdid it and came up with a better way to build a mousetrap. In this instance, the mag well has a different cant to it and the portion of the magazine that flares to accommodate the increased capacity is too high to seat in a 416-style mag well. This is the same reason you have to use Magpul’s EMAG rather than the PMAG.
Added: Much like the PMAG, the HCM will fit in some 416s. In fact, one of our readers brought to our attention that a 416 was used in a SureFire produced promotional video (see below). Unfortunately, the HCM currently does not work with ALL 416s and their derivatives so, it would not be in anyone’s best interest to pair them with the M27 at this time since there is no way to tell which guns will accept which magazines. H&K reps informed me that they will be doing some testing with the HCMs in the coming weeks. SureFire is going to work through this issue.
Overall, the new magazines will definitely have a place although anti-gunners are taking advantage of the recent tragedy in Arizona to once again introduce legislation to ban high capacity magazines. Unfortunately, we went down this path once before and it hurt the commercial base to the point that issue 15 round magazines for the M9 Beretta were junk because there was no profit-based incentive to produce quality magazines.
If you are at SHOT Show see them at booth #13968 or visit www.surefire.com
Gear Design Contest Winner Announced
Friday, January 21st, 2011There were 29 entries for the Gear Design contest. Thank you to all who entered. Truthfully it was a tough decision but in the end, only one entry could be chosen as the winner. Based upon true requirement, ability of the design team to develop an innovative solution and then transition the design to a product that will impact the warfighter, Kristopher Walter’s concept of a carrying solution for the AT-4 and M72 LAW was selected. The design team feels they can work with develop a solution that will be adaptable to numerous munitions and one of the big draws to this design was that it will affect a large audience since everyone is using rockets.
Anyone who has ever been stuck humping a rocket can tell you that they are a true PITA and based on the awkwardness of the load, there is a certain degree of design challenge involved. Congratulations Kris! Also, thank you to Bearse USA who will produce 50 samples for Kris and Juggernaut Defense who will work on the design. Look for articles on the process so you can get a behind the scenes look at the process of turning an idea into reality.
We Told You They Were Coming
Friday, January 21st, 2011Months ago we promised you that Arc’teryx LEAF was going to release new Knee Caps.
Here are the Coyote versions. They will be joined by Crocodile and Foliage will go the way of the dodo. Look for them before summer.
