Deceptex, Hyperstealth’s bold new direction in commercial camouflage production now has revealed its 225th camouflage pattern. The naming convention for the original sets of patterns was based on the NATO phonetic alphabet. This newest bunch has adopted the World War 2-era alphabet. With thousands upon thousands of potential patterns in Hyperstealth’s vault it will be interesting to see what else they release and how they name it.
Whiskey-5 is a recurring SSD feature that asks “Who, What, Where, When, & Why” of industry leaders. It is intended to give you a more in-depth look at the individuals and firms that make our industry unique. We have found that these basic 5 questions are the most basic keys to understanding. Past Whiskey-5s have included such industry heavyweights as Kryptek, Wild Things Tactical, ADS Ventures, First Spear, HyperStealth and many others. Today, we tell you a little more about the sometimes misunderstood Tactical Fanboy, which is associated with this site.
Who Tactical Fanboy. The Lighter Side of Tactical. An unabashed Look at Tacticool.
It’s a part of the SolSys Group serving much the same readership as Soldier Systems Daily—though more during non-duty hours. Tactical Fanboy is written by a cadre of writers and gamers, including current and former military personnel, battle-hardened FPS game veterans and at least one homeless guy in an alley behind an internet cafe. The team is commanded by the ineffable Tactical Fanboy himself, spawn of the Editor at Soldier Systems Daily.
What
The elite (pronounced eeee-light) fighting blogger team at Tactical Fanboy writes about a wide array of things. From weapon and gear news to life skills, movie reviews and television previews, first person shooter game updates to op-ed pieces on everything that our demographic enjoys. To wit, guns, boobs, gear and intel. Information that lets you get your dork on, sneak peaks at kit used operationally in the AOR and on indoor and outdoor MilSim ‘battlefields’ and WARNORDs of approaching game and movie releases. Appropriately curved, scantily clad, sometimes tattooed women (with guns, boobs and gear). Informational articles, weird stuff, op-ed pieces and general interest blog posts come from many different perspectives.
Tactical Fanboy Actual on the job.
In addition to Tactical Fanboy Actual, the team includes (among others) such distinguished individuals as TANSTAAFL, TFB Knuckledragger, Richard “Swingin’ Dick” Kilgore and Jake “Slim” Call (the Mad Duo), Parker, Longbaugh, an Elvis impersonator who has taken every Costa, Hailey, Vickers and Pincus class there is, Packy, Botasky, Darnell Fury (Dalton’s hillbilly cousin), Tarl Cabot and that Asian terrorist who was eating candy bars in Die Hard. We frequently consult other SMEs as needed.
Where
Headquartered in Virginia (and hidden there from the minions of Ninja Force 17), TFB has combat- and nerd- correspondents (frequently irreverent, often horny) all across the country. You will see TFB operatives at SHOT, E3, the NTOA Conference, SOFIC, the Milbloggies, the Consumer Electronics Show…you name it. The goal is to hit you with everything the discerning and rather less than uptight shooter and/gamer might enjoy. Especially guns, gear, boobs and intel.
When
Tactical Fanboy went live in January of 2011, we it’s less than a year and a half old. The very first few posts were presented for the edification and entertainment of its readers on 18 JAN 11. It has been going strong ever since (and in fact last month published its 1,000TH article).
Why
Tactical Fanboy was established when a few industry professionals began to worry that the “lighter” posts on Soldier Systems, which often included ribald or sardonic humor, were detracting from the serious material. In order to maintain one largely SFW, industry-specific daily (SSD), TFB was established. TFB is on the web at www.tacticalfanboy.com and https://www.facebook.com/Tacticalfanboy
SSD will be attending SOFIC on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. If anyone would like to meet please let us know through email.
The carbine is a BHI-15 outfitted with a Trijicon sight and SureFire mini suppressor. The magazine is a Magpul PMAG fitted with a MagPod prototype. Look ma, no stoppages!
Yesterday, questions arose over information published by SSD regarding the PG-7 grenade. A rather distinguished reader read the comments and shot us a link to this three year old video showcasing the standoff for the PG-7 grenade. Notice that there isn’t any (minimum arming standoff). This round doesn’t spin to arm.
On day 3 we concentrated on former Soviet bloc marksmanship weapons like the SVD and FRK (PSL) as well other foreign weapons such as the Moison Nagant, SKS, .303 Enfield, G3, and FN FAL. The SVD isn’t a sniper rifle by any stretch of the imagination. It just isn’t built to the accuracy level needed for true sniper operations but it does offer a more accurate alternative to the standard AK.
As usual the day began with lectures and hands on practice. This time with the RPG-7. Unfortunately, due to the availability of rounds, we were unable to do any live fire. This block of training was followed by Russian marksmanship weapons in addition to various .30 weapons from around the world.
Later in the day, at the unknown distance range, we employed the guns we went over in class as well as a couple of others. We also had the opportunity to fire the BHI-15 with SureFire mini suppressor. The video is of the FRK also know as the PSL. Think of it as an AK blown up to 7.62 x 54R. It kicks pretty hard.
The day ended with a great deal of weapon cleaning and individual testing which consisted of a huge pile of parts laid out on a table. Students had to assemble the weapons and perform a function check, all the while answering questions regarding ammunition and nomenclature.
Today the class will meet on the range to conduct some weapon drills followed by a final Practical Examination which is the culmination of everything we have learned. They’ve kept us in the dark about what will happen but I’ll tell you more in my next installment.
Who thinks they can name all of the weapons contained in this rack, left to right? I’ll give you a hint. I shot all of them yesterday at the BHI Foreign Weapons Course.
